Why my indoor Fuchsia is wilting?

Question

I have this new Fuchsia plant which until yesterday was pretty good in shape. many buds are there and blooms were also coming

I try to keep this plant moist. For that I use wooden skewers. I put it in soil for 10 minutes and if it is completely dry or well.. almost dry, then I water it. From today morning, one branch of this plant is wilting. Other branches are completely fine… Also, no bugs are there.

I don’t keep them in sun (indoor plant) and for last couple of days the weather is around 12 degrees C and no sun as well. No bugs. I use Perlite soil.

Could anyone please help me to save this plant?

PS: Here is pic of the wilted plant (I took the photo just after watering lightly).

PS: Sorry for the trouble. I just discovered that I broke a branch accidentally while repotting the plant. It was the same branch which is in the image.

Answer 1

If a plant suddenly wilts in one clearly separated place like a single branch and the rest of it seems perfectly fine, it’s a good idea to check for mechanical damage first. Wilting means the flow of water to and from the leaves is severely reduced or blocked. Check the place where the wilting part starts: One of the simplest causes is that the branch got broken or damaged somehow.

For large trees, you have a second place to check: the roots. The rule of thumb is that the root system mirrors the canopy. When large roots are damaged or severed (think digging for constructions), the corresponding branch may die. To a lesser degree this is the same for shrubs, and damage to the roots can cause a plant to “cut off” parts of the top growth.

Answer 2

Stop sticking wooden skewers into the soil - every time you do that, you risk root damage, which might be what's happened. It also looks as if the soil in the pot is very wet indeed, and whilst fuchsias don't like to dry out completely, they don't appreciate very wet soil either. Another possibility is, if you repotted into this pot you have now, some root damage may have occurred during that process, but if that was longer than a week ago, its unlikely to be that.

The way to check when it needs water is to touch the top of the soil with your finger - if it feels just about dry to the touch, water thoroughly, allowing any excess to drain away freely from the bottom of the pot, and empty out the tray it's standing in after 30 minutes. The other way to tell is lift the pot to see how heavy it is - over time you'll be able to tell by its weight whether it needs water or not. This plant, like most, will prefer to dry out slightly between waterings - but not so dry the soil shrinks from the sides of the pot.

Fuchsias aren't really indoor plants either - they are sold in their thousands during May (in the northern hemisphere) and are intended to be planted outdoors in June, often in pots, baskets and other containers as part of a summer bedding display. They don't usually like being indoors much.