Fuchsias with their exotic, colorful flowers are popular ornamental plants for balconies and terraces. The perennial (but not winter-hardy!), mostly bushy-growing plants become woody as they get older and can therefore be easily trained into standard trees.
How do I grow a fuchsia trunk?
To grow a fuchsia stem from a cutting, remove all but the top four leaves, plant it in sand-peat mix or potting soil, and continue removing new shoots until the desired height is reached. Then form the crown through targeted pruning.
The right location for your fuchsia stem
Like so many fuchsias, fuchsia trunks prefer a bright location, but where they do not want to be exposed to direct sun. Although there are some sun-tolerant varieties, fuchsias, as typical rainforest plants, need light shade. A moderately nutrient-rich, loose and humus-rich soil is suitable as a substrate. Above all, pay attention to good pot drainage, because fuchsias do not tolerate waterlogging.
How to train a cutting to become a fuchsia standard
In order to successfully train a young fuchsia cutting into a fuchsia stem, you need a lot of patience - and the right variety. Choose a strong-growing fuchsia that grows as upright as possible (some semi-hanging ones are also suitable) and cut cuttings about 10 to 15 centimeters long from it in July.
- Remove all but the top four leaves.
- Plant the cuttings in a sand-peat mixture
- or alternatively in commercially available potting soil.
- Place the cultivation pots in a protected place.
- The cuttings are rooted as soon as new leaves form.
- Plant the rooted cuttings in a mixture of sand and universal soil or potting soil (€6.00 on Amazon).
- Remove all new leaves and shoots.
- If necessary, support the young fuchsia with a plant stick.
Additional leaves and shoots are removed from the main trunk until it has reached the desired height. Now you can let it grow and shape the crown of the tree through targeted pruning.
Cut the fuchsia standard correctly
Regularly before putting it away for winter quarters, you should cut back the fuchsia stem by about a third to a half, with the flower shoots as well as yellowed and dried shoots in particular being removed. The actual topiary finally takes place in February, shortly before the end of the winter break. In doing so, cut back last year's annual shoots to a maximum of two pairs of leaves and also cut away dried and rotted shoots. Regular pruning is very important for fuchsias, otherwise the plants will age from the inside and produce fewer and fewer flowers.
Tip
Make sure to cut into the old wood as little as possible - depending on the type and variety, it will be very difficult for your fuchsia tree to sprout again.
