Fuchsias are known to many as indoor plants. But we want to introduce you to one of them, which will decorate not only a window sill, but also a balcony, a flower bed, and in container culture it will have no equal, it will leave a stunning impression!
it fuchsia hybrid "Professor Henkel" - plant 60-90 cm tall, which is easy to give a different habit. When grown in a container, it will hang freely almost to the ground, with regular pinching it can be shaped into a ball, and if you put a bamboo support in the center of the pot, fix the stems on it and regularly trim the plant, you get a colorful pyramid. The pinches are done no later than 6-10 weeks before the expected flowering time.
Fuchsia "Professor Henkel" is magnificent with dark green foliage and coral tubular flowers that have 4 small pointed limbs at the end. For its original hanging flowers, it is sometimes called "Lady's Earrings". The flowers are large, up to 10 cm long. In inflorescences, where there are more than a dozen of them, flowers do not open simultaneously, extending the flowering period (from June to September). However, they can be called flowers only conditionally, in fact, they are bright sepals, and real flowers are hidden inside them.
Vases with fuchsia in summer can be taken out into the garden, decorated with them on the terrace, patio or placed next to the garden bench. At the same time, it must be remembered that she is a sissy, does not tolerate frost at all, tolerates a minimum temperature of at least + 1.7 ° C. The optimum growing temperature is + 16 ... + 18оС.
Location sunny or slightly shaded, preferably protected from the winds.
The soil the plant prefers drained, rich in humus. Heavy clay garden soil will not work for her. The soil mixture can be made from clay-sod land, peat and sand (3: 2: 1). The reaction of the soil is in the range from acidic to neutral (pH 5.6-7.5).
Breeds fuchsia hybrid only cuttings. They are cut 5 cm long, slightly below a pair of leaves, the lower leaves are removed and the internode is buried in the soil in cups. Organize a greenhouse with regular ventilation. Rooting lasts 10-12 days, and after a month the plants are ready for planting. Cuttings root easily in water. When planting rooted plants, they are buried 10 cm in order to stimulate the development of adventitious roots.
Care... The plant needs constant moderate humidity, only a slight drying of the top layer of the soil is possible. Watering is needed carefully, without waterlogging, otherwise the roots rot, the leaves wither and fall. Spraying is carried out on the leaves.
To preserve the decorative effect of the plant, the faded inflorescences are cut off, this simultaneously stimulates the growth of young shoots and subsequent flowering. They are fed once every 2 weeks with a half dose of a complex mineral fertilizer with microelements, once a month - with lignohumate or potassium humate.
Winter content... There is only one difficulty in growing this plant, it lies in the need to preserve the mother liquors for spring cuttings. In winter, the plant is kept at a temperature of + 5 ... + 10 degrees with limited watering, best of all in a cold greenhouse. In the spring, with the improvement of light conditions, fuchsias shorten the stems by a third, raise the temperature of the content, increase watering and gradually spray them with lukewarm water. Cut shoots are used for cuttings.
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