Fuchsia isn't football, but its blooms are even better than a match

Bicycle kick

 Ming Ming

Su Yunying 

00:00/03:17

At the mention of the name fuchsia, many flower lovers may immediately think of the spectacular bicycle kick in a football match, but today we're going to talk about a beautiful potted flower! Huashao feels it's much prettier than a match......

The fuchsia's flower shape is very distinctive, like little red-and-white bells hanging among the green leaves, extremely showy. Growing a pot on your own balcony or beside your desk is very suitable; it not only makes the indoor environment more beautiful, but also helps purify the air. What's more, the fuchsia's flowers also have medicinal effects, promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis and cooling the blood to dispel wind. People mostly use it to treat rheumatic joint pain and pain or redness and swelling caused by traumatic injuries.

So how do you grow a pot of fuchsia at home?

Choosing a pot and soil

Choose a clay pot with a diameter of 16-24 cm. Mix the potting soil from garden soil, river sand, peat soil and compost in a 6:1:2:1 ratio. After potting, water thoroughly, then place in a cool spot to recover from transplanting, avoiding strong light, and keep the potting soil moist until the plant establishes; once established, gradually move it into the sunlight for care.

Watering and fertilizing

During the seedling growth period, the water demand is not high; water once every 2 days to keep the potting soil moist. During the vigorous growth period, the water demand is greater, so keep the potting soil moist at all times; especially after flowering, increase the water supply even more, watering once every day: 7-8 days is the dormant period, so water less or just spray water on the leaves; from late summer, as the temperature drops, gradually resume watering so the fuchsia resumes growth. An important part of cultivation and management is pinching on time; the number of pinchings and the specific timing should be determined by the plant's growth vigor and the needs of its shape.

The principle of fertilizing is to apply little but often; no topdressing is needed at the seedling stage. Start fertilizing after the 2nd pinching, applying a light fertilizer once every 15 days; during the flowering period, add 1-2 applications of 1.2% potassium dihydrogen phosphate solution; stop fertilizing after the temperature rises in late spring and early summer; do not fertilize during the summer dormant period; in autumn, as the temperature drops and the fuchsia resumes growth, fertilize normally again; stop fertilizing when the winter temperature falls below 10°C.

Pruning and repotting

During the seedling stage, 2-3 pinchings are suitable: the 1st when there are 3 pairs of leaves, leaving 2 pairs of leaves and pinching, which can encourage branching; about 4 weeks after the 1st pinching, when the new shoots have grown 6-8 leaves, do the 2nd pinching, remove the excess buds and keep 5-7 branches; the fuchsia's flower buds form in the leaf axils of new shoots, so after pinching at the seedling stage, you should still pinch once every 2-3 weeks during the growth period. Plants cultivated this way have many uniform branches, abundant flowers, and a full shape.

When repotting, take the plant out and put fresh soil into the new pot. Then, plant the plant into the fresh soil. After repotting, it needs a period of recovery from transplanting. Fertilizer application must be ensured, once every ten days, such as thin cake fertilizer or a mixed fertilizer. Then there's light, which must also be sufficient, but not too strong, as that makes recovery harder. The most important thing is water and fertilizer. Once these are ensured, the plant will recover quickly.

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