Need some advice about fuchsia plants...

[evepet]

I've put trailing fuchsia in a couple of my balcony railing containers, along with trailing verbena, sweet peas, some ivy, etc. Everything is going great, but the fuchsia looks a little depressed. It's growing and flowering.... just doesn't seem as perky as everything else does. The containers are in morning sun from sunrise through to about 1pm. And I've been watering consistently... at least once daily (around 8am) and during the hot/humid stretches again in the early evening. I've read that fuchsia like their soil kept moist, so I don't think watering is the problem - most times I check the soil, it's still on the moist side. I'm wondering if they are just getting a tad too much direct sun to flourish? Any comments or advice??

[joan w]

Too much sun would be my guess too. Can you give them more shade?

[evepet]

I'm going to try removing them from the containers and transplanting them into a different container. I hope it's not too late to do this. They are planted at the end of each container, so I shouldn't have to interfere too much with the other plants. My problem is that these are 'over the balcony railing' containers and there is nothing I can do about the amount of sun they receive. To achieve my goal of giving the fuchsia less direct sunlight, I'm going to have to transplant them. I actually went to my GCentre today and bought a couple of trailing verbena to replace them with, as the verbena in the same containers are looking great. I also got a couple more fuchsisa plants too, so I can create a new more portable 12" square container that is nice and full of fuchsia, and put it in a shadier place on the balcony. I'll be able to move it around until I hit on the perfect spot for them. Fingers crossed...

[joan w]

Best wishes. I hope it works for you.

[evepet]

Best wishes. I hope it works for you.

Thanks Joanw. It's done now. Let's hope that all is OK.

[haili]

I find fuschias very picky and they often poop out for me halfway through the summer. They seem to do better in shade and bloom more if you pick the "berries" off. They like to be damp but not soggy all the time. My 2 baskets still look pretty good so far but are hanging in the shade.

[evepet]

I find fuschias very picky and they often poop out for me halfway through the summer. They seem to do better in shade and bloom more if you pick the "berries" off. They like to be damp but not soggy all the time. My 2 baskets still look pretty good so far but are hanging in the shade.

Thanks Haili. We'll see what happens now that I've transplanted them. Hopefully they'll do better with less direct sun. I know verbena does well, because it's flourishing in the other 'over the balcony rail' containers, so I'm looking forward to seeing the new verbenas that I planted yesterday do well. A nice hot pink and a plum colour.