How to keep fuchsia in the winter in the basement, cellar or apartment: preparing the flower for maintenance in various conditions, and also whether it is necessary to trim the plant

Fuchsia is a flower from the Cypriot family, growing in South and Central America. Growers with buds similar to a Chinese lantern are liked by gardeners, but they are in no hurry to buy it. They are stopped by moodiness in leaving, in particular the need to create special conditions for the rest period.

How does a plant winter? What to do and how to prepare a flower for winter? You will find answers to all these questions in this article.

Content and features of preparation for wintering

Fuchsia is a seasonal plant. Spring-autumn is a period of active growth, flowering and reproduction, and winter is dormancy. It needs good lighting all year round, but in winter it is watered less often, preventing 100% of the earthen coma from drying out and wrinkling of the bark. In the fall, they transfer the flower to a cool room (or artificially create coolness) and do not get upset, noticing the leaves are falling.

Where to begin?

We prepare the flower for winter - the plant is left in the fresh air until severe frosts. Entering it into the house ahead of time, interrupt the process of lumbering.
Since early September, do not fertilize the flower. Fertilizers are not needed, since by this month he is accumulating enough nutrients to overwinter and not die without them.
Autumn pruning will be required to prevent the crown from being pulled out, buds to be reduced in size and to prevent problems with flowering next spring.

Important! During pruning, remove weak and broken shoots, and shorten the remaining ones by 1/3. Otherwise, the laying of new buds will not occur. Old forks also need to be cut so that replacing shoots appear. It is necessary to peel all the leaves on fuchsia.

Before moving the plant to the winter apartment, the inspection will not hurt. Yellowing leaves and dried stems should not remain on it. Otherwise, they will turn into a hotbed for fungal infections and harmful insects (rust, gray rot). Experienced growers recommend that before wintering treatment of fuchsia with a biological product based on rapeseed oil Rapsol. Such spraying protects it from aphids and other pests.

How to trim and save the plant?

Before wintering, fuchsia is cut off, not fertilized and sprayed with a biological product purchased in a flower shop to protect it from pests.

Basement or cellar

How to keep the plant in the basement, and what kind of care is needed? Not everyone has the opportunity to organize a winter of fuchsia on a warm glazed loggia of an apartment or in a bright greenhouse. Wintering goes well in a "dark" room - in the basement, garage or cellar. Before you transfer it to one of the above rooms, cut it, remove the leaves.

In the dark, she also "breathes", as well as in the fresh air, spending nutrients and evaporating water. In the room where it will be located, there should be ventilation. Otherwise, with its appearance, air humidity will increase in it, which will provoke an outbreak of fungal diseases. The optimum temperature for wintering fuchsia in the cellar or basement, where the temperature is - + 10⁰C.

Watch the video on how the fuchsia wintering takes place in the cellar:

In the apartment

Not all gardeners have a basement or a garage where you can move a pot of fuchsia for the winter. Some have no choice, and they are forced to bring him home. In the apartment, you can also provide a comfortable wintering, but only if it is regularly aired.

In early autumn, fuchsia cuttings are transplanted into "poor soil" with a small content of humus for the winter. This slows the growth of young bushes. If in the winter the florist notices that they are germinating, he must ruthlessly cut them and open the window wider to lower the temperature in the room. The shoots do not need to be thrown away. You can try to root them by placing them in water on a well-lit and “warm” windowsill.

If Fuchsia wintering in the basement, rarely watered - 1-2 times a month, then plants that winter in the apartment are watered more often.

Note! Due to the central heating, the earthen lump dries out faster, and a lack of moisture leads to the death of the flower.

On the day when the florist brings the pot of fuchsia home, he must open the window and set the double-glazed window to minimum ventilation. The window should always be open, except for days when it gets very cold outside.

During dormancy, fuchsia is even more capricious than during active growth and flowering. It reacts poorly to excess and lack of moisture. The lack of the necessary conditions for wintering, increased humidity and temperature lead to the appearance of insects. Fungicides and insecticides do not always help in the fight against them, and the plant can only be thrown away.

How to care for a flower on a windowsill?

Maximum ventilation of the windowsill. The pot is placed as close to the glass as possible.
Insulation of the bottom with polystyrene foam during transplantation helps to avoid rotting of the roots due to cold masses constantly breaking into the room through an ajar window.
Dry air protection will be needed if the apartment is hot. To do this, simply cover the fuchsia with a plastic film.
Watering should not be frequent and plentiful.
The plant must be treated with special preparations to protect it from pests.
In December and January, the plant is illuminated with lamps, as there is no sufficient illumination in the afternoon.

Watch the video about the problems of wintering fuchsia at home:

Do I need to crop?

Definitely you need to trim the plant for the winter, because this is an important step in growing and it’s very important to do it right. It is carried out twice a year. The first time is in the fall, when they transfer it from the garden to the basement or apartment and it is necessary to provide suitable conditions for hibernation, and the second in the spring to form a beautiful bush. Cut fuchsia in the fall after it fades, so as not to provoke the growth of 1-2 trunks and pulling up the bush. This procedure is necessary for the correct development of the flower next spring.

When to clean?

It is necessary to remove fuchsia in the fall, at the end of October they transfer the pot from the garden or take it from the dacha for the winter to the apartment or basement.

Care

Thanks to the work of breeders, fuchsia varieties appeared that winter on the street even in those regions of the Russian Federation where the temperature on the thermometer posts drops below -30 degrees Celsius. Before thinking about organizing her wintering, they will find out if it is winter-hardy or not.

Important! You can not bring winter-resistant fuchsia into the apartment: it feels in natural conditions - it is better in the garden than in the heat.

Caring for fuchsia in winter is easy. Do not fertilize it, but only water it as the earthen coma dries. It is advisable to maintain the temperature on the windowsill - + 10-15 degrees Celsius. It allows you to stop the growth of the plant until spring. A bad place for him is the northern window, because due to an acute lack of light, it is drawn out. The best time to “wake up” is the end of February. A winter-hardy plant is left in the garden (varieties Coralline, Baby Blue Eyes, General Monk, etc.).

Before wintering, they trim it, leaving shoots 5-10 cm long. If it grows in a hanging pot, take it out and transplant it into a pot or open ground with a small content of humus. For wintering, cover fuchsia with a layer of peat or dry oak leaves. To protect against moisture, a layer of plastic film is laid on top of it.

Possible diseases

When fuchsia is in winter, it is affected by a fungal disease - rust. It appears due to the fact that the florist neglected the recommendations and did not create conditions for a hassle-free wintering: the room is warm, dark and humid, and not dry and fresh. He watered the plant more often than necessary, hid it from direct sunlight and did not ventilate the room.

So that the fungus does not affect fuchsia, it is treated with a 1% solution of Bordeaux mixturebut many neglect this procedure. They blame themselves for this when dark brown spots appear on the leaves. In most cases, a diseased flower dies, and with it other indoor plants, if you do not isolate it from others and break off the leaves affected by the fungus on them. Noticing rust in the early days, they save the plant by preparing a disinfecting mixture of 5 liters of water, 200 grams of green soap and 15 grams of copper sulphate.

Gray rot affects fuchsia in the event of humidification of indoor air. It is easy to determine which part is affected: it is soft and watery, and white plaque spots are noticeable on the leaf plate. To cure the plant, cut off the affected leaves, treat with special preparations and change the indoor microclimate to prevent re-infection of fuchsia.

Conclusion

It is easy to organize storage of fuchsia in the winter, and it is not necessary to transfer it from the garden to the basement or to the loggia. She wintered on the windowsill in the apartment, if occasionally watered and sprayed, smoothing the work of central heating.