Question:
When can I cut back my Hanging Fuchsias? They have become leggy and unattractive.Answer:
- Fuchsias should be pruned annually after the danger of frost has passed. The exact date varies with your proximity to the coast. March 15 is the average date.
- If you leave your plant completely untrimmed, it will look unattractive and bloom poorly. I’d remove at least 50% of last year's growth, or cut back to the edge of the hanging basket.
- Using pruning shears or a pair of sharp scissors, remove any dead, damaged, or diseased stems and branches. These are easy to spot because they are usually discolored.
- Cut these stems off at their base, just above a leaf node, the point where a leaf attaches to the stem. This will encourage new growth, which is critical because
- Fuchsias bloom on new growth. Fertilizing monthly will encourage new growth. Old-school gardeners would feed with Fish Emulsion, but any liquid organic fertilizer is acceptable.
- Once the plant reaches a desirable size, switch to 0-10-10 to promote larger blooms for the rest of the growing season.
- It’s also advisable to remove seed pods, berries, and any spent flowers. This practice, called deadheading, encourages flowering.
- Use your fingers or a sharp, clean pair of scissors. Snip behind the developing berry, as far back as you want, before you reach the next set of leaves.
Question:
We have a mature orange tree and a lemon tree growing next to each other. The lemons are fantastic, but the oranges are extremely sour. Our neighbor believes the orange tree is cross-pollinating with the lemon tree. How can we make the oranges taste better?Answer:
- Lemons, oranges, and other citrus fruits do not cross-pollinate with each other, so the lemon isn't causing the sour oranges.
- Sour oranges result from insufficient summer heat and from harvesting the crop too early, depending on the variety. Oranges need six hours of full sun from April through October and temperatures around 80 degrees in July, August, and September to be sweet.
- Naval Oranges ripen from December through March, while Valencia Oranges do not mature until June and July of the following year. Valencia and Naval oranges turn a bright orange color in late November.
- If you're not sure what variety you have, leave the oranges on the tree and taste them periodically throughout the summer and later.
- This is a common problem with oranges planted near the coast, but not so much inland. Again, this is due to the warmer summer.