Fuchsia (Fúchsia) is a genus of perennial plants of the family Cyprus (Onagraceae), which has about 100 plant species. She comes from Central and South America, New Zealand.
The date of the fuchsia "in the light" was in 1696, when the famous botanist Charles Plumier during his third expedition to the West Indies discovered a new plant and dedicated it to the German botanist and physician Leonart von Fuchs, calling it fuchsia.
Since then, it has become one of the favorite plants of flower growers around the world, thanks to its luxurious, long-lasting and amazingly beautiful flowering. Today there is even a purple color "fuchsia", named after this flower.
Fuchsias are shrub, tree (only in conditions of natural growth) or carpet. Depending on the type of their flowers can be single or collected in racemes, axillary, on thin pedicels, drooping. They can also have the most diverse colors: white, pink, red, purple. In addition, there are varieties of fuchsia with a double color.
Fuchsia - growing and care
Fuchsia is a light-loving plant, however, it does not tolerate direct sunlight, so it should not be kept at the window, it is better to find a place in the back of the room.
The temperature of fuchsia should be moderate or cool, since its increase above 20 ° C can cause the plant to drop flowers and leaves and even lead to its death. In winter, fuchsia should be kept at a temperature not higher than 10 ° C, since at this time it will have a period of rest. By providing the plant a proper wintering, you can speed up flowering and extend its duration.
Watering fuchsia should be abundant, so that the soil was always wet. By the end of the growing season, watering should be gradually reduced so that in winter, when the temperature of the plant is lowered, it is moderate, in order to avoid rotting of the roots. If you want to successfully grow this flower, then you need to remember that you should not put a pallet under the pot, because if it happens that there is no water drained in it, it can cause the death of the plant.
But fuchsia loves high air humidity, so you should try to increase it, especially on hot days, by spraying water around the plant from a spray bottle or placing a pot on a tray with pebbles so that there is water under the pot, but it does not touch its bottom. This is necessary to ensure that the stomata of the plant are longer open and the best growth of the vegetative mass occurs.
To bloom did not linger, it is necessary to form a plant in time. Do not often turn the flower so that it does not throw off the buds. If you are going to plant fuchsia in combination with other plants, you should be very careful about the choice of its neighbors so that they have similar conditions of detention, and also apply such planting methods in which the root systems of the plants do not intertwine.
In March-September, fuchsia should be fed with mineral fertilizer for flowering houseplants.
Fuchsia - replanting and reproduction
Fuchsia needs to be replanted annually in spring. The soil for transplantation should consist of 3 parts of clay-turf and 2 parts of peat land, to which 1 part of sand is added. When choosing a pot, you need to remember that fuchsia feels equally uncomfortable both in too tight and too loose pots.
Cutting off the shoots and shortening the roots, the flower is transplanted into the nutrient mixture, put on the sunny window and provide him with abundant watering and spraying. If everything is done correctly, then young shoots will start growing very quickly and flowers will soon appear on them. You can delay the onset of the period of flowering fuchsia until late autumn or winter. To do this, they should be kept in a dark place until June and then taken to the balcony. To prevent flowering during the summer they should be cut several times.
The shoots that were cut during transplantation are used to propagate plants by cuttings. Fuchsia can also be propagated by seed, however, in this case there is no guarantee of preserving all the characteristics of the mother plant.
After rooting cuttings, after about a week, they are seated one by one in small pots and placed in a bright place, but without direct sunlight. Then, with the onset of summer, they are transplanted again. By providing new fuchsias with good watering and fertilizing, you can get luxuriously flowering plants. However, if you rearrange the pots with flowers from place to place, then they will begin to fall buds.
Fuchsia - diseases and pests
Good agricultural technology is the main means of preventing various diseases of fuchsia. Even if we make some mistakes in its cultivation, then if they are eliminated, the plant can cure itself. For example, from exposure to direct sunlight, spots may appear on its leaves, and if the flower pot is rearranged, they will disappear.
Sometimes the plant can be affected by rust. In this case, the appropriate fungicides should be applied, as is the case with any fungal disease.
Fuchsia can also suffer from pests: aphids, weevil, mite, whitefly. The first three species can be easily destroyed by exposure to insecticides such as Aktelic or Gaupsin, which is not toxic to humans. But with the whitefly cope harder, as the flower will have to repeatedly treat insecticide from the group of neurotoxins, a single dose - on the leaf and a double - at the root. The infected plant should be kept separate to avoid the spread of the whitefly.
Of course, it will seem to someone that it is very difficult to grow fuchsia. But after all, any plant requires attention, patience and care, and such gentle and elegant beauty can no longer be found. "Dancing flower" - so called fuchsia flower growers. And if you don’t regret your time and energy for him, this adorable dancer will decorate your home for a long time and will delight you and your loved ones.
