How to Propagate Fuschias

Because they resemble earrings, fuchsias are sometimes called lady's ear drops.

Gardeners like to grow fuchsia for their dainty, pendulous flowers in shades of pink, red, purple and white. They grow best when temperatures don't exceed 75 degrees F and the humidity is high. Although the plants will grow in the shade, best flowering occurs when they receive full sun in the morning and filtered sunlight in the afternoon. Whether grown indoors or out, raising fuchsias can be addicting. Fortunately, they are easy to propagate both with cuttings or seeds.

Things You'll Need

• Nursery pot
• Vermiculite
• Peat moss
• Liquid rooting hormone
• Rubbing alcohol
• Heat mat
• Grow lights or cool white fluorescent lights

Instructions

Propagation With Cuttings

1. Fill a small nursery pot with equal parts of vermiculite and peat moss, and combine well. Water the planting medium until it is soaked. Poke a planting hole in it and set the pot aside to drain.

2. Choose a stem to root. It should be a stem that is not growing straight up, pulled from the bottom portion of the fuchsia. Pull the stem from the plant where it joins the older wood, rather than cutting it with shears.

3. Dip the bottom of the stem into liquid rooting hormone diluted with rubbing alcohol instead of water, as directed on the label. The rooting hormone must be applied immediately after taking the cutting.

4. Remove all of the leaves except for two at the top of the fuchsia cutting.

5. Place the cutting into the hole in the planting medium.

6. Set the heat mat to 75 degrees F and place it 6 inches beneath grow lights or cool white fluorescent lights. Place the pot on the heat mat. Allow the lights and mat to run for 24 hours a day until the fuchsia cutting has rooted.

7. Mist the cutting as often as possible with water. The cutting has rooted when new growth appears.

Propagation With Seeds

1. Fill a small nursery pot with equal parts of vermiculite and peat moss - combine well and moisten.

2. Wash the seeds immediately after removing them from the fuchsia berries.

3. Lay the fuchsia seeds on the surface of the planting mix and do not cover them. Mist the seeds with water from a misting bottle and keep them moist in this manner throughout the germination period.

4. Place the pot on a heat mat set 6 inches below grow lights or fluorescent lights that are running 24 hours a day. The heat mat should be set to 75 degrees F. The seeds should germinate within one to two weeks.

References

• Crescent City Fuchsia Society; Tips for Growing Fuchsia
• American Fuchsia Society; Fuchsia Propagation; Peter Baye;