Beloved fuchsia dead? Please help :(

[gardeningnewbie56]

I have a fuchsia in my garden that is about 2-3 feet tall and blooms each summer with loads of gorgeous flowers. I’ve never had to prune or water it before.

This year though the mass of branches look quite brown and brittle. There are some new shoots coming through at the very bottom of the plant but most of the branches above look dead.

How do I know if these branches are definitely dead and if they are, what can I do now to save the plant? Could it be too late?

Thanks in advance.

My fuchsias are similar, and my mum's huge fuchsias too in a completely different part of the country. I think it was the cold wet spring. I've just cut back the very obviously dead branches and the newer growth is starting to spring up further. They'll regenerate, might take til next summer but they will.

Did you cut it back over winter? This is what fucshia do apparently, look awful and dead then suddenly the green pops back!

I’m no gardening expert but my fuchsia was looking the same last year and I chopped back all the dead branches (look and see if they look green inside further down) and this year it’s grown back loads.

I think they generally do better if they’re pruned back after they flower, but it’s not too late

You can cut hardy fuchsias pretty much down to the ground every year and they grow back from the base vigorously, so I would think it will be fine.

If no shoots appear on the brown stems in a couple of weeks you can cut these back to allow the low growth to come through.

I’d suggest you give it a good feed and keep your fingers crossed.

Just leave it be for a while, you’ve got new shoots coming through so it’s not dead, I guess it was the cold in May but all of my fuchsias look exactly as you describe so far this year, it’s taking so long for them to wake up, but they’ll get there.

This years weather also caused a much longer flowering season for the spring flowers too. It’s been weird.

Thanks everyone. Would you remove any dead branches now? Do I just keep cutting down towards the ground until I see green appear inside the branches? How far down should I go?

Sorry for all the questions - I’m really nervous that I’ll kill it as it’s lovely!

Just leave it be for a while, you’ve got new shoots coming through so it’s not dead

It’s odd how new shoots are coming through but there’s nothing sprouting on the old branches?

It’s very unlikely you’ll kill it, prune it back to a nice healthy set of buds and it will stimulate growth.

It might appreciate a bit of feed and water too as it has been very dry just recently.

Mine is exactly the same, I cut it back to just above the new green shoots and a couple of weeks later it's growing well.

@gardeningnewbie56

Just leave it be for a while, you’ve got new shoots coming through so it’s not dead

It’s odd how new shoots are coming through but there’s nothing sprouting on the old branches?

It's normal for hardy fuchsias to die back down to ground level after a hard winter. If the above ground branches are still alive, they will shoot in due course, if they are dead, they won't.

If you're nervous about pruning it, you can wait until it's done all the shooting it's going to do , then prune off any dead stuff.

It’s odd how new shoots are coming through but there’s nothing sprouting on the old branches?

Not odd for fuchsias. I've got one which sprouted from part way up, but the others are all coming from the base. They looked dead till quite recently. This one was bought as a standard several years ago, its made a nice bushy plant every year since the first.

Thanks all, this thread has given me hope!