Diseased fuchsia?

Beez

Hi, I am wondering if someone could identify what is wrong with my fuchsia please. It is the second year running it has grown like this. Last year I cut all the weirdly growing parts out. It started off ok this year until a month ago. Is there any way I could save it, as it is a cutting from my Grandad's that I had years ago. Thank you.

BobTheGardener

Probably Fuchsia gall mite.  There's a link to a pdf you may find useful at the bottom of The British Fuchsia Society web page: https://www.thebfs.org.uk/

Beez

Thanks. I will check it out.

Berkley

It looks identical to the problem I had last year with a row of lovely fuchsias I have under a window. I concluded it was gall mite and cut off all the plants down to within a few inches of the soil. I also made sure there were no leaves left over winter on the ground. I really wasn’t sure what would happen this year - but they are all fine, probably better than before. 

Beez

Thank you. What time of the year did you do that? So far I have cut out all the diseased parts, but the plant is still about 3 feet high.

Berkley

The second week in September. Obviously it wasn’t what I wanted to do, but the problem was obviously very bad and I felt I just had to sacrifice the flowers .... do hope your plant will be fine next year. Don’t leave any manky leaves on the ground!