Fig grafting disasters

oK two were permitted this time here is another to show the scale of this tree.

The-sycamore-fig-tree-Kruger-National-Park-South-Africa

Most likely, it was a seedling.

If you have fig wasp, you can grow Smyrna and San Pedro types. Also, some people believe that even common type figs, while not requiring pollination, have better and richer flavor when pollinated. If you are going to top-work your caprifig tree, it makes sense to keep one branch intact to ensure pollination.

Sycamore fig (Ficus sycomorus) is a different species than the common fig (Ficus carica), although theyā€™re closely related.

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Thank you for all the ideas. I think it is an excellent idea to top-work with Smyrna and San Pedro types. And retain enough Capri for pollination. I can kick myself not having done this a decade ago.

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Clive, welcome to the forum! My recommendation was going to be taking cuttings from the ā€œgoodā€ fig and rooting them. Then you can replace the ā€œbadā€ fig with these new ones when they are big enough. I donā€™t have experience grafting figs (a bunch of other species though) but rooting figs is pretty easy.

If you know now that youā€™re in fig wasp territory and your ā€œbadā€ tree helps them, you could always whack it back smaller and keep it around for the pollinator aspect, just as a bush instead of a tree.

Here, we cut them down to small trunks to overwinter and some folks get 3 meters of growth or more in one growing season.

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I have found fig grafting very hard myself, I have had success with about everything else (many thousands of grafts and dozens of species) but my fig grafts never have worked and I have no idea why. So donā€™t feel too bad if they are not working.

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You wont believe how this perked up my new year. I suppose I am displaying a selfish streak - feeling much better to hear OTHERS also struggle when in fact it is irrelevant.
Well I am going to take all the advice here and will report back in time.

The problem is that the existing ā€œbadā€ fig plays an ornamental role. It casts a beautiful shade over part of the pool deck and frames it with fig leaves all summer. Would have been lovely if one could have a swim AND a fig! Thus the attempt at grafting - I have ample space for figs elsewhere but this one cannot be moved or replaced without destroying my figged-around-pool. And the deck is elevated and the fig HUGE. Even fast growing figs will take years to replace the existing one.

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Sorry - happy new year to all the fig fundies.

I am in a time zone ahead of most of you guys so at least first among many when it comes to New Year celebrations.

:green_heart:

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Iā€™ve only tried grafting figs once, and I had only one succeed out of 7 grafts I did in that session. By contrast, I have had basically 100% success with rooting figs (only one that failed out of ~40 attempted), so I wonā€™t be trying to graft them anymore either.

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We need to trade activities. I find figs easy to graft if timing is right. Grafting dormant scions onto established trees as growth begins in early spring is nearly bullet proof. T budding in summer is about as easy if bark is slipping well.

On the other hand Iā€™ve set about 10,000 cuttings in the last 7 yrs and itā€™s not easy. Iā€™d much rather graft.

I think most people whoā€™ve done a lot of both would agree with me.

How did you root to achieve near 100%?

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I have a better success rate with fig grafting than rooting. With rooting I have somewhere around 60-70% success rate, and with grafting about 90%. I donā€™t use a rooting hormone, I guess it could increase the rooting success rate.

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Those are very close to my numbers. Iā€™ve tried scoring the cuttings and using rooting hormone. And it didnā€™t seem to make any difference. My success was about 2/3 when I started and 2/3 after 10,000. I kept thinking I could improve but when done in large numbers that was about it.

Fig grafts can flood out if the plant is in full growth with the roots pumping a lot of water. T buds succeed in those conditions because the leaves arenā€™t removed until the graft takes. People say to score below the graft to relieve the flooding. But when I score it bleeds a few drops and quits. Keeping the leaves removes 1000x as much water. Early spring works because the roots arenā€™t yet very active so arenā€™t pushing much water.

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I just wrapped the cut ends with buddy tape and stuck them in potting mix (about half of them) or right in the ground outside, both of the batches March-April. We had a very rainy, cold spring, and they didnā€™t sprout for a few months, but all that rain kept them from drying out I guess. My only failure was one that I stuck in the soil upside down, actually.

Hereā€™s what the potted ones looked like:

I separated them in late summer/early fall. Hereā€™s an example of the outdoor ones:

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Ditto. Iā€™ve found rooting to be not that reliable. Grafting OTOH is almost fail proof.

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