Fuchsia rust (Pucciniastrum epilobii) is probably the most serious disease to threaten the fuchsia.  In the past, I have prevented rust by spraying my plants two or three times in the spring with Nimrod T.  The warm atmosphere in mid summer, combined with the early season spraying, has always proved sufficient to ensure freedom from rust until well into the autumn when the cool, damp conditions provide a good breeding environment for the disease.  By the end of the season, rust can be controlled easily as afflicted foliage is removed when plants are cut back and defoliated in preparation for winter storage.  Spraying the bare branches of the fuchsia (and the compost in which the plant is growing)  with fungicide has always ensured that my plants end the season rust-free.  Last year, however, was a different story.

Fungal diseases arrived early in 1998 due to the cool, damp so-called summer that we endured, and my early season preventative regime proved an inadequate buffer to the early onset of rust.  Overnight, or so it seemed, the leaves of potential showbench specimens were covered in orange-brown spores.  In most cases there was nothing for it but to cut the plants back, totally defoliated them, remove the old compost and spray them with fungicide in the hope that they will recover for next year.  In the midst of all this carnage, a pattern emerged revealing a number of cultivars and species that appeared pretty much rust resistant and a number that proved particularly susceptible.

In early August, a  superb quarter standard of Monsieur Thibault, which I had intended to exhibit at the London Show, was showing the first signs of rust.  At the time I picked off all the afflicted foliage that I could find, but was unable to provide additional treatment as I had plants to prepare for the North Romford Show.  When I returned to the plant one week later it was completely covered in rust spores on the upper side of the leaves as well as the lower.  Six weeks after administering the radical "winter preparation" treatment (as described above), the plant is back in growth, covered in fresh rust-free foliage.  Display and Shelford were the next to fall victim, followed by a lovely large hanging basket of Susan Green.  The other rust-prone cultivars were: Phyllis, Harry Gray, Alison Ewart, Celia Smedley and Cambridge Louie.  Of the species only Fuchsia magellanica and its variants showed any susceptibility to rust.

The outbreaks of rust were not isolated to particular areas of the garden, individual plants were stricken in a seemingly random pattern.  Other cultivars, often growing next-door to real "rust buckets" proved either untouched by the disease or only succumbed after a long period of exposure (and then only suffered minor attacks).  The rust-free species were F.glazioviana (grown next to a couple of plants dripping in rust), F.hatchbachii, F.procumbens and two encliandra types: F.thymifolia and F.minimiflora.  Of the cultivars: Irene van Zoeren, Charlie Girl, Sylvia Barker, South Gate, Naughty Nicole, Beacon, Tom West, Border Queen, Lottie Hobby and Lipstick (a new cultivar bred by my friend Norman Martin) were all heavily exposed to rust but suffered no signs of attack whatsoever.  Most remarkable of all was my large multi-plant specimen of Loulabell  (featured at the North Thames Fuchsia Jubilee), which, despite being sandwiched between two rust-ridden plants of Display, remained totally unblemished and, at the time of writing (early October), is still smothered in flowers.  The rust-resistant qualities of triphylla hybrids are well documented, and none of my triphyllas suffered any rust at all.  Cultivars such as Lye's Unique, Marinka, Walz Jubelteen, Flash and Annabel did experience mild attacks of rust, but only late in the season.

It would be dangerous to draw firm conclusions from a study carried out in such an impromptu manner, but this survey does serve to highlight species and cultivars that have a high susceptibility to rust whilst suggesting others with a degree of resistance.  I will continue to grow both Monsieur Thibault and Display despite their apparent weakness as regards rust, but in future they may require additional treatments of fungicide in early summer and I will be extra vigilant in searching for the first signs of disease.