"divingbrit" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 21 Jul 2015 21:08:18 +0100, "Phil L"
wrote:

I've tried everything and I'm still getting 80+% failure with these
things.

Taking 100's of cuttings every year, a few simple rules, and you
should get 95%+ success rate

, some say use hormone powder,

Not nessary. (in fact if the powder is older than 6 months, chances
are its no good for anything)

I've been taking a 3-4 inch cutting from just below two leaves and
removing
any flower buds, I've been taking off surplus leaves leaving just two plus
the growing tip.

Cutting far too long, I never take anything longer than 1" but apart
from that you are correct. If the leaves you leave are still larger
than your small finger nail, cut those in half as well.


once they go into compost, they're shrivelled up within days.

over or under watered, and try putting them in the shade.

I've tried various light levels from full sun to full shade and not really

part shade is fine, but not full sun.

I've tried them with and without clear bags (for humidity) and this hasn't
made much difference neither.

Try coffee jars! (thats the way I do mine)

Do they have a preference with regards to compost? - I've tried three
different brands and not noticed that any is better than another.

compost should open and mixing with vermiculite helps, personally I
use any cheap compost as long as I add sharp sand and vermiculite

Is fertilizer a good or bad thing?

Not required

Is it the wrong time of year?

No, cuttings can be taken at any time, but I take most of mine in
september.
But I don't take cuttings if it is too hot, and certainly last month
was too warm

- I thought if I took them late, they wouldn't
have time to root before winter.

Small plants are easier to get through winter, thats why I take
cuttings in September.

Now coffee Jars!
Check this out
http://www.divingbrit.co.uk/fuchia/v...ghlight=coffee


Derek
Lincoln http://lincolnfuchsiasociety.info/


I have taken 22 cuttings today and put them in a mixture of perlite, sand
and compost.
They are all around an inch or two.
I've given them all a light watering and placed them in a makeshift
propogator, I don't have any glass jars, empty or full so the coffee jar
thing will have to wait until next year, but thanks for the tip.

The propogator is a semi-transparent square plastic container, 20 litres
when originally full of veg oil but long since cleaned out, it's lay on it
side with one side (now to be known as the top) cut out and the plants are
in small pots inside this, the top is sealed with cling film for now.

It'll get four hours of sun per day in the position it's in, the rest of the
day is shaded.
The four hours it will get are in the morning and as i said, the sides are
semi shaded anyway.

I'll empty out any surplus water tomorrow ans seal with, probably glass but
maybe plastic, I'll let you know how they are in a few weeks.

Ta!