How to Root Fuchsia

Root fuchsia cuttings to propagate additional ornamental plants.

The red, pink, lavender and purple flowers of the fuchsia plant dangle from their branches like holiday ornaments, making them a cheerful selection for hanging baskets and bedding plants. If you want to increase your fuchsia display or if you want to grow more fuchsia plants to share with others, take cuttings from your healthiest plants and propagate them. Root the cuttings properly before transplanting to baskets or to the garden bed.

Things You'll Need

• Knifes
• Seedling pots
• Potting soil
• Household alcohol
• Rooting hormone
• Water
• Clear plastic
• Hanging basket

Instructions

1. Clean and disinfect the knife, pots and any other garden equipment used in rooting your fuchsia. Use household alcohol for spraying or dipping the equipment and use fresh, sterile potting soil for planting.

2. Locate a healthy shoot on the parent fuchsia plant and make your cut approximately six inches from the tip. Cut the shoot just above a leaf node. Make the cut a clean one so that the parent plant is not harmed.

3. Count down three sets of leaves and then cut the shoot away just below the third set.

4. Remove the set of leaves at the base of the cutting.

5. Make a hole in the potting soil. Dip the base of the cutting into rooting hormone and plant it an inch or two deep in the soil. Tamp the soil lightly around the cutting and then water it.

6. Cover the new plant with clear plastic to create a humid environment for the first few weeks. Do this by putting a plastic kitchen bag over the plant or by cutting away the bottom of a washed gallon milk jug and setting it directly over the potted cutting.

7. Pinch out the top of the cutting after about a month.

8. Prepare the plant for transplanting. Place it outdoors in its original container for several days to acclimate it to outdoor conditions and then plant it in a hanging basket or set it out in the flower bed.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep the water level consistent. The plant should not dry out completely, nor should it be continuously soaked.

• Pinch the tips of branches as the plant grows larger to increase the number of branches and to keep the plant from becoming leggy.

References

• University of Missouri Extension: Home Propagation of Houseplants
• Garden Action: Fuchsia Propagation from Cuttings

Resources

• University of Illinois Extension: Fuchsia
• University of Alaska Fairbanks: Growing & Overwintering Fuchsia, Geranium, Dahlia and Tuberous Begonia