The many faces of Fuschia
Q. Diane, who lives {quote} “in the hotter, dryer and colder half of Spokane, which may or may not be USDA Zone Four, depending on who you believe.”
I’m gonna stop you right there, Diane. Spokane has gone through several dramatically different zone designations over the years. One member of an Internet group called ‘Spokane Gardeners’ notes that {quote}: “Since 2023, most of Spokane has fallen within USDA cold-hardiness zone 7, though some portions of the area are also in zone 6. I've lived in Spokane for 38 years, and I remember when we were once a zone 5!”
Old USDA maps confirm that the area was once considered Zone 5, which is a lot colder than some of the current high guesses of zones 7 and 8. You can search your specific zip code online at the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map for what should be your current best guestimate. You’ll see why I dwell on this in a moment.
Back to Diane: “I have many houseplants, and most of them stay indoors year-round. I move a few of them outdoors around April/May (for sun) and bring them back inside in October. These consist of several pots of fuchsias (I can't bear to let them die over winter), a couple citrus and a bunch of hibiscus. I have been doing this for a long time with no problems--until the last two years, when white flies appeared in the middle of winter. I assume they were already on the plants in their eggs or larva stage, just waiting to hatch.
I hung yellow sticky traps around the plants, but they didn't help much. The fuchsias and hibiscus developed noticeable damage over the winter but they all recovered once they got outdoors.
“What can I do to these plants before bringing them inside to avoid the white flies? And how should I control the white flies indoors? I know you've advocated blasting the plants with fine streams of water to remove the pests but would that be too harsh on hibiscus and fuchsia leaves? I see the white flies on the plants for a short time in the spring after I move them outside, but by late summer I see no sign of them.
Is it possible to bag and fumigate each plant? If so, with what? I hate to use harsh, toxic chemicals that might kill anything beneficial but I will if I have to! I have a lot of little spiders (actual spiders; not spider mites) that live peacefully among my houseplants although they don't seem to help much with the white flies. Thanks for any advice you can give me”.
A. First off, don’t even think about using any kind of ‘fumigation’. Garden chemicals cause these kinds of problems; they do not cure them. Now, your USDA Zone is almost certainly a Zone 6 or 7, not a frigid four, and many varieties of fuscia are winter hardy in your area; many others are half hardy, like figs, and will survive outdoors with some winter protection. The website of the Northwest Fuscia Society has an exhaustive list of these traits by variety name. Hopefully, you still have the tags, and can look up what you have.
If your plants ARE designated as winter hardy, you could bring a few indoors for good luck and leave some out for the winter--planted in the ground while still in their pots in a protected location. (Diane sent us a photo of her large group of fuscia, so she should have plenty to spare.)
Now, on to the whiteflies!
These ghostly white winged insects are a perennial pest of houseplants. About a month before you’re ready to move your plants back indoors, take them to an outdoor table one by one. Wipe down the pots with a rag saturated with a dilute solution of soapy water, making sure to get under the rim and inside the drainage holes.
Then you MUST get a hose nozzle that you can adjust to deliver a SUPER SHARP blast of laser-like water. No ‘rinsing’. Use a setting that would clean your driveway! This should send any bugs and a few plant parts flying. Then cradle the plant in one hand and use the other to sharply spray the plant top to bottom. And don’t worry; the plants are not as fragile as you think.
Repeat this for each pot, always placing the newly cleaned-up plants in different areas. A week or two later, do it again. Then watch the weather forecast and take them inside before nights are predicted to drop below fifty F. to avoid transplant shock. Then immediately place two of those sticky yellow plant markers in each pot. Do NOT wait until pests appear to bring out the traps; the first whitefly you see stuck to a trap, take that plant to a bathtub and wash it down again.
Treasure your spiders; they’re helping knock down the flies! And remember that sticky traps are best used as indicators that hatching has begun, not to try and capture entire armies. Get ‘em on Day One!
In the Spring, wait until nights are in the fifties and gradually move them back outside, especially on warm days. (Look up: hardening off.) Natural predators will be waiting to wipe them out once they’re outdoors.
Oh—and gently mist the plants weekly, especially if you have dry indoor air. Keep your plants in bright light, but not direct sun. “It’s curtains for you, blackie!” Do not feed your plants over winter and don’t overwater!!!!
