On 23/08/17 15:44, Derek wrote:
On Wed, 23 Aug 2017 00:07:45 +0100, Jim S wrote:


NEVER let a fuchsia EVER dry out entirely. Hanging ones can dry, but on the
other hand you cannot overwater them.

True in the summer, but a basket watered and then frozen during the
night, will suffer, keeping the basket on the dry side, during the
winter, but not bone dry will keep it warmer.

Not true, I'm afraid. Water has the highest latent heat of fusion of any
substance, so it would take a lower temperature, or a longer time at a
fixed low temperature, to freeze water than an equivalent weight of
anything else, including soil.

It is possible that a drier compost may lead to less damage when frozen
as there may be air spaces in which the roots do not get crushed when
the compost freezes. This is, however, a very unlikely situation.

--

Jeff

On 23/08/17 15:58, Bertie Doe wrote:


"Derek" wrote in message ...
To guarantee a hardie surving in the UK, through a harsh winter, ie
2010, the root ball must be well insulated, four inches minimum of
earth around it. So that one planted outside in the ground, should
survive, one in a pot may not.
Of course you can be lucky, but the poster wanted to know the 'best
way'

Although we're in SE Cornwall, we're 5 miles inland and 500' amsl and east
facing. The 2010 winter killed our 5 year old wisteria, 4 consecutive nights
below minus 5C. 4 outdoor hardy fuchsias survive to this day.

There is no chance of cold in the UK (even in north Scotland) killing a
Wisteria. It is much more likely that something else killed it. One
possibility is graft failure (which I grant may be exacerbated by
frost), but even so if you leave the "dead" wisteria in the soil you
will find that after a year shoots start appearing from the rootstock.
Unfortunately they will be of no use for ornamental purposes!

--

Jeff

In article ,
Jeff Layman wrote:

There is no chance of cold in the UK (even in north Scotland) killing a
Wisteria. It is much more likely that something else killed it. One
possibility is graft failure (which I grant may be exacerbated by
frost), but even so if you leave the "dead" wisteria in the soil you
will find that after a year shoots start appearing from the rootstock.
Unfortunately they will be of no use for ornamental purposes!

Yes, in the strict sense. But the way that frost kills many plants
in the UK is by damaging the tissues and giving fungi an opening
while it is above freezing but too dark and cold for the plant to
start growing. It's really our wet, dark but not frozen winters
that are the problem. I'll bet on something like that.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 24/08/2017 10:01, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Jeff Layman wrote:

There is no chance of cold in the UK (even in north Scotland) killing a
Wisteria. It is much more likely that something else killed it. One
possibility is graft failure (which I grant may be exacerbated by
frost), but even so if you leave the "dead" wisteria in the soil you
will find that after a year shoots start appearing from the rootstock.
Unfortunately they will be of no use for ornamental purposes!

Yes, in the strict sense. But the way that frost kills many plants
in the UK is by damaging the tissues and giving fungi an opening
while it is above freezing but too dark and cold for the plant to
start growing. It's really our wet, dark but not frozen winters
that are the problem. I'll bet on something like that.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Wisteria is properly hardy and will go down to extremely low
temperatures, well below anything we can get in the UK, the reason for
growing them in protected places such as south and west walls is that
while the actual plant is hardy the flower buds are not and emerge to
early in the UK to be free of all risk of frost damage in the open. The
RHS reported many (in the thousands) of Wisteria dying during those cold
winters, put down to primarily "Graft Failure" caused mainly by the lack
of hand eye skills of many of the grafters! it only takes a small gap
which water can get in for frost to push the two parts apart (I was
surprised as I would have thought deep planting would over come this) In
my view Wisteria are much better off on their own roots and I only do
them from cuttings

--
Charlie Pridham
Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk

On Thu, 24 Aug 2017 09:01:39 -0000 (UTC), (Nick
Maclaren) wrote:

In article ,
Jeff Layman wrote:

There is no chance of cold in the UK (even in north Scotland) killing a
Wisteria.

Yes, in the strict sense. But the way that frost kills many plants
in the UK is by damaging the tissues It's really our wet, dark but not frozen winters
that are the problem.

'Wet cold Kills', we have all be told that plants don't like sitting
in wet conditions.

In article ,
Derek wrote:

There is no chance of cold in the UK (even in north Scotland) killing a
Wisteria.

Yes, in the strict sense. But the way that frost kills many plants
in the UK is by damaging the tissues It's really our wet, dark but
not frozen winters
that are the problem.

'Wet cold Kills', we have all be told that plants don't like sitting
in wet conditions.

Yes. Wisteria are pretty fungus-resistant (using fungus to mean any
unicellular endoparasite), but there aren't many other things that
will kill a rootstock. And, if I understand it correctly, wisteria
will sucker from its roots if its trunk etc. are killed - Charlie
may know more.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 25/08/2017 10:17, Nick Maclaren wrote:
Yes. Wisteria are pretty fungus-resistant (using fungus to mean any
unicellular endoparasite), but there aren't many other things that
will kill a rootstock. And, if I understand it correctly, wisteria
will sucker from its roots if its trunk etc. are killed - Charlie
may know more.

A unicellular endoparasite sounds more like a bacterial infection. I
can't think of any unicellular fungus which is a plant pathogen - but
it's a long time since I studied this stuff, and I could easily be wrong.

Andy

On 25/08/2017 10:17, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Derek wrote:

There is no chance of cold in the UK (even in north Scotland) killing a
Wisteria.

Yes, in the strict sense. But the way that frost kills many plants
in the UK is by damaging the tissues It's really our wet, dark but
not frozen winters
that are the problem.

'Wet cold Kills', we have all be told that plants don't like sitting
in wet conditions.

Yes. Wisteria are pretty fungus-resistant (using fungus to mean any
unicellular endoparasite), but there aren't many other things that
will kill a rootstock. And, if I understand it correctly, wisteria
will sucker from its roots if its trunk etc. are killed - Charlie
may know more.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Traditionally Wisteria used to be "Nurse Grafted" that is a piece of
seedling root is grafted onto a section of budded stem from the variety,
in theory this should mean no unwanted suckers. However all the plants I
have seen recently that are grafted have had normal stem grafts and
these will sucker from the rootstock if cut back, poor practice in my
opinion but the gardening public have been misled to believe Wisteria
must be grafted to insure a good plant.

If you know someone with a nice Wisteria then do hardwood cuttings in
January, the take is not great but you will end up with a nice Wisteria
on its own roots and it will flower from year one.

--
Charlie Pridham
Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk

On 27/08/17 08:31, Charlie Pridham wrote:
On 25/08/2017 10:17, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Derek wrote:

There is no chance of cold in the UK (even in north Scotland) killing a
Wisteria.

Yes, in the strict sense. But the way that frost kills many plants
in the UK is by damaging the tissues It's really our wet, dark but
not frozen winters
that are the problem.

'Wet cold Kills', we have all be told that plants don't like sitting
in wet conditions.

Yes. Wisteria are pretty fungus-resistant (using fungus to mean any
unicellular endoparasite), but there aren't many other things that
will kill a rootstock. And, if I understand it correctly, wisteria
will sucker from its roots if its trunk etc. are killed - Charlie
may know more.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Traditionally Wisteria used to be "Nurse Grafted" that is a piece of
seedling root is grafted onto a section of budded stem from the variety,
in theory this should mean no unwanted suckers. However all the plants I
have seen recently that are grafted have had normal stem grafts and
these will sucker from the rootstock if cut back, poor practice in my
opinion but the gardening public have been misled to believe Wisteria
must be grafted to insure a good plant.

If you know someone with a nice Wisteria then do hardwood cuttings in
January, the take is not great but you will end up with a nice Wisteria
on its own roots and it will flower from year one.

When we moved here 5 years ago there was a decent-sized "Black Dragon"
over the front pergola. I keep it pruned and it's still growing and
flowers well. The main trunk is now around 10 cm in diameter. Yesterday
I found several suckers had appeared near the trunk. The top looks very
healthy (and I can't see a graft - but that doesn't mean there isn't
one!), but I am wondering why it has started to sucker.

--

Jeff

"Bertie Doe" wrote in message ...



"Derek" wrote in message ...

On Wed, 23 Aug 2017 10:28:39 +0100, "Bertie Doe"
wrote:


I guess dryness has been the culprit in the past. Problem is, the £2
moisture probes you got in garden centres, had reliability problems. I
think
they also measured Ph.

Pick up the pot, a dry pot weighs a darn sight less, you will get to
know which ones need watering, the top can be dry, but the pot may not
need watering, as the roots have enough water.

That's a good idea. In fact I'll weigh the pot on day 1 and thereafter at
say, weekly intervals.

Thanks all for your tips and for the first time I have small indoor fuchsias
surviving the Winter.

On 6th November, I moved the 2 pots from the cold, east facing porch, onto
an indoor windowsill, which benefits from the GCH. Within 2 weeks both
plants had shed all their leaves. You are correct Derek, weighing the 2 pots
has done the trick. Every Monday I weighed each pot and topped up with water
(into the splash tray). The weekly weight loss has been 11% for both plants.

This morning I moved them temporarily back into the porch and took a pic
https://prnt.sc/i3uxdd as you see, the plant on the right, is replacing it's
leaves at a faster rate. I won't return them permanently to the porch until
say, mid March.