YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
Fuchsia rust, pye-weed and moving phormiums
Q
I have a lot of fuchsias in pots. Nearly all of them are losing leaves, which are turning yellow with dark spots. Is it fuchsia rust? Mrs C. Davies (via email)
A
It is possible that the symptoms you describe are those of fuchsia rust, but they may also be due to drought or other growing conditions. If it is rust then before the leaves start to go yellow, you will be able to see dust-like orange or yellow spores on the lower surface.
Fuchsia rust is a very debilitating disease and quite difficult to eradicate, but some success can be achieved by spraying with a fungicide in the spring. It is also important to be extremely vigilant and remove all infected leaves immediately. Plants that have been cut back for the winter should be dipped in fungicide before they are put into their winter homes.
If all this seems like a lot of hard work then you might be better off starting afresh with entirely new stock plants.
However, before taking such drastic action it might be worth changing their growing conditions slightly to see if in fact the problem is merely that they are not growing as strongly as they might be.
Fuchsias prefer full sun or very light shade and if they are in pots they need to be potted into John Innes No2 compost. Plants will benefit from being fed weekly with a balanced fertiliser from June to September and their compost should not be allowed to dry out.