When to transplant and start feeding young Fuschia’s

mchua

Hi, I bought two fuschia plug plants back in February, Dark Eyes and Winston Churchill.

They were so small and just wrapped in decorative paper/card that you just push it out of and then repot immediately at home.

They’re growing nicely and I’ve been snipping out the leading stems to help them grow more bushy.

My question is when to transplant again, and when I do, should it be into their final pot?  The roots aren’t poking out the bottom yet so maybe a little longer in these pots?

Thanks 

AnniD

They look nice and healthy 
Personally l would wait until the roots start showing through the bottom of the pots. You could try carefully tipping them out to see how the roots are doing. (I speak as someone with little patience 😁)

How big are the final pots ?

B3

Those push out plugs are really good. I've bought several including fuchsias.

mchua

Thank you.  I’ll leave them for a bit longer.  I’m not sure what size the final pot will be, but I’ll go one size up when I transplant them.  Is it best to only transplant once into their final pot, or can I risk doing it twice?

mchua

Hi so I’ve been hardening these off for 4-5 days now.  Winston’s getting some blemishes and turning a bit pale in some parts.

They were looking nice and vibrant green before I started this acclimatisation process.  The idea was to do this for about a week to 10 days, and then transplant into their final pots for outside.

Any ideas what happened?  They were in full sun for the first two days, then I decided to move them into a shadier area when I noticed a change in leaf colour. 

The leaves still look healthy in shape, just the colour is a bit off.

Maybe they caught a chill?

My first time growing fuschias.

Thank you 

mchua

I labelled it the wrong variety, it’s dark eyes. 

Obelixx

Might be too much sunshine.  I have some that go a funny colour if I don't get them into shade fast enough when the sun is strong, which it is now.

As for final pot size, some can grow to be big plants so just keep potting them on whenever you see roots poking out of the bottom of their pot.  I have some in 60cm pots now and have decided that's their lot so now I just refresh the top layer of compost and keep them fed with a slow release fertiliser for flowering plants (rose or tomato is good) and then an occasional liquid feed between drinks.

I keep mine on a bright but north facing terrace where they get no direct sun except very early and very late in high summer.

mchua

Ok thank you.  I haven’t started feeding these yet, should I wait till they get bigger?  I will pot them on today though. 

I did what @AnniD suggested and tipped them out to have a peek. The roots are established around the outside but not poking through the bottom.  

But they seem to have slowed down growing new shoots.  Maybe they just need a bigger pot with fresh compost to get going again? 

Obelixx

Yes.  Potting composts for mature plants only have enough feed for 90 days max and seed and cuttings compost have very little as they are intended as an easy medium in which seeds can germinate and small plants and cuttings can form new roots easily.

Pot them on and see how they go.  Give them an occasional liquid feed of rose or tomato feed too as that helps promote flowers as well as plant health.

mchua

Thank you.  Yes I’ve tried a couple of different MP composts, and some are definitely a lot more fibrous than others. 

That’s great, I’ll have a look at some fertiliser today and see which to get.  I have some tomorite here already too. 

Obelixx

That'll do for feeding.  Try a John Innes type loam based compost 2 or 3 for potting on but mix it with about a quarter to a third MPC for moisture retention.