What to do with Fuchsias at the end of winter?

I love fuchsias and always buy a few every spring to look beautiful in my garden until they are killed by the frosts ( in the UK).


Last year I bought a new greenhouse (unheated) and decided I would try to overwinter my fuchsias. I had a look at them today and they all seem to still be alive. They have lost all their leaves but seem to have tiny buds growing up the stems and some have little fresh green shoots sprouting from the base.





My question is...what do I do now? Do I cut the stems right down (although they have little buds coming) and hope for nice new growth from the base? Do I trim the stems a bit to neaten the plants , or will that just make them leggy, with new growth at the bottom and not much else? Or do I just leave them as they are and hope that will give them a good start to grow into big plants?


Thank You.

What to do with Fuchsias at the end of winter?
dear dont be afraid trim them ,dont let them get leggy. they will grow again. im a greenhouse manager . we always trim the fuscias dont be afraid. gl
Reply:Most certainly cut them back. This will give the plant energy to send out more growth. It will grow back lush and full.
Reply:It is important to cut them back very hard around march when the shoots are still very small. It is a good idea to remove old leaves and debris which can habour diseases e.g. rust spores. When the plants are beginning to grow strongly around april shake off a lot of the old soil and replace it with new in the same pot. A soil based compost is best. It is also an idea to plant bush fuchsia's deeper than there were originally in the pot. Pinch the stems to encourage branching and feed once or twice with a high nitrogen fertilizer. Around may or june they can be potted into there final pots. When the plants bud feed twice a week with tomato fertilizer. Alternating between tomato and high nitrogen fertilizer is useful as it keeps the plant flowering late.
Reply:From:


http://en.allexperts.com/q/Fuchsias-1639...





"All that is necessary is to keep them above freezing point and let them almost dry out before watering. When water is needed, water them thoroughly, rather than giving them a few drops. For fuchsias, I would hope a heated greenhouse means no more than 40F. They will grow rather straggly otherwise because of warmth and low light levels.


You could prune some of the longer growth down to a few inches. This would allow you to see the new shoots starting in spring. When this happens, prune hard - down to a couple of shoots on each branch. You could remove some of the old compost, at this point. Don't try to remove all. I still use a peat compost to restart plants - ever since I saw that peat in Ireland is used a lot in power stations."