Fuchsias root very easily and it a simple matter to take cuttings both to increase your stock of plants and to protect them from winter losses.

Cuttings in September & October from Semi-hardwood.

• I think this is the best method for those without a heated greenhouse.
• Cuttings are taken late in the season when the bark has started to harden and ripen.
• Select side shoots 6-10″ long and pull them off with a heel. A heel is a bit of the main stem attached to the base of the cutting.
• Insert the cutting with 4-5 others in a 4″ pot
• If growing several pots of cuttings plunge the pots into a tray of sand to keep them evenly moist and frost free.

Summer Cuttings from Green Tips

• Select cuttings 3″ long with two or three pairs of leaves.
• Cut the shoot just below the point where the lowest leaves join the stem. Trim off the 2 lower leaves and pot 2″ apart.
• If taken in July, pot on the rooted cutting before winter. Do not worry if they loose there leaves in winter they will regrow from February.

Spring Green Tip Cuttings

• Similar to summer cuttings they should be treated in the same way.
• Pot on as soon as rooted in about 2-4 weeks.
• Keep in gentle heat, shade from sun and gradually ventilate.
• Stop the plants at 4 pairs of leaves to get bushy growth and flowers from June and the rest of summer.

Short Tip Cuttings in Heat January – March

• This is the method used by our local nursery.
• Overwintered plants are pruned by removing all green shoots. Then syringed with tepid water once a day to induce dormant buds on the old wood to shoot.
• When new shoots have 3 pairs of leaves take the cutting leaving one pair of leaves behind.
• Pot in a 3″ pot with 2-3 other cuttings and place in a propagator.
• After rooting 10-14 days very gradually allow air to circulate.

More Fuchsia Cutting Tips

• Trim cuttings with a sterile razor blade.
• A home made propagator can be made from a pot covered with a plastic bag. Build a frame of wire or sticks to stop the plastic touching the leaves.
• Compost for Fuchsia cuttings should be open-textured to encourage roots. 1 part coir or peat to 1 part sand, nutrients are not required. Pot on into John Innes no. 1 with good drainage.
• Keep fuchsias frost free through winter.
• Cuttings tend to perform better than very old plants.

Read about Over-wintering Fuchsias and Fuchsias From Cutting to Show