Stopping for Showing

Stopping a Fuchsia, is the removal of the tiny growing tips of the plant and is used as a means, by which you can control the flowering of the plant. A tiny pair of sharp scissors is ideal for this job.

To have a plant in maximum flower on a specific date, requires one to work backwards from that specific date, to the final stop of the plant.

For instance, below is an example of this :-

Required Bloom Date			Stop dates
	Singles	60 to 70 days	June 14	-	June 4
August 13th	Doubles	80 to 90 days	May 25	-	May 15
	Triphyllas	90 to 95 days	May15	-	May 10

You must bear in mind that different cultivars bloom at different times after stopping, so you will find that you have to adjust the stopping dates.

When making the final stop, be sure that the complete plant is stopped at the same time, even if there are hundreds of growing tips to be taken out.
This ensures that virtually every bloom opens at the same time.

Some varieties naturally flower early, others late. The flowering of the fuchsias, is also dependent on weather conditions, sunny and warm, the plant flowers early, cool and dull, later flowers.

If you have the room to grow several plants of one cultivar, stop some at the early date, some at the late date and possibly one in between, this way you then have at least one plant that is near perfect on the day of the show.