I seem to over water at times, this should help! I stole it from Gina, not my idea, she had great success with it.I have used DE for rooting before but never with figs and it seems ideal, we will see, so far good results!
Who would have even thought you can grow figs in Michigan, but you sure can, I harvest hundreds of them! I love growing these plants.
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I use cardboard pots and regular potting soil. The potting soil would stay too wet I think in plastic but the card board allows it to wick out of the pot and evaporate. I think the course DE looks like a better idea, I like that the cutting is out in the air also
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Six years ago I saw a thread about using DE, and have experimented with it ever since.
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=22329&highlight=pure+DE
Gina tried it with figs recently, so this thread go over methods and results.
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This one is my first attempt at fig rooting. I used honey water with a pinch of cinnamon as the rooting hormone (it is what I had). The medium is coconut coir and only the figs with cut ends have parafilm. The box is on a heat mat and I keep the lid on all the time. I do not think the cuttings will dry out with the lid on. I am concerned about rotting with that lid on all the time though. What does everyone think?
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It can work if conditions are good, it also could fail like every other method if something goes south, as you mention, dry out or rot. You need a happy medium. Parafilm in general cuts the need for humidity. I find it does work. Acclimating growth under humidity to the dryness of a house is a pain. I’m still looking for a fool proof method, and it appears it does not exist!
Bottom heat also works as mentioned by Jason, in my situation I have them under lights, and the lights are warm. 4 bulbs x 4 ft t-5 lamps. So bottom heat makes them too hot.
I’m also trying pure DE in an open system. It’s impossible to over water as whatever the DE cannot hold drains off. It leaves just about the right moisture. I check by weaight and water when it starts feeling light. I have high hopes for these methods, but I need more time. It does work, but will it work for me? Time will tell.
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I agree with drew , when I rooted my HC a couple of years ago I did it in a pot inside a glass case and you had to really watch the humidity, especially after leaves started to pop out, I got some leaf rot before I got the acclimated to regular air
Yeah, been there! If no parafilm yes Joel keep the lid on, you don’t have much. try it sometime with them wrapped, and forget the lid. Buddy tape is even better than parafilm but it is expensive. the roll lasts a long time. It has perforations at 1.5 inches, so all you get. You learn that you can really stretch the stuff, and if needed use a 2nd piece. I find this makes the roll last. I have had better success with the buddy tape especially for grafting stone fruit.
I’m into trying the find the best stuff, a bad habit of mine!
Thanks. I think I will parafilm all of the exposed cutting next time. I will start looking for the DE also.
I know the general consensus on the board is that amending soil is not good. My own experience is that in poor soil - hard Virginia clay amending soil is a must. 20% to 50% processed or aged manure is necessary to avoid stunted trees. The wider the hole, the better. Raised boxes help. If you have good soil i am sure amending soil is not necessary. Poor soil it is absolutely necessary. Hollybrook Orchards (the only commercial and retail fruit tree grower in Va that I know of) recommends amending soil in there planting literature.
Their are ALWAYS exceptions to every rule. I agree in places it is for sure needed. I’m so lucky in that respect, Our soil was brought here from all over by the glaciers and deposited right here. They stopped here and the ice age was over. The glaciers melted and formed the Great Lakes. This is sacred ground no doubt! In areas in Michigan we have these wavy hills that were made by the glaciers. Their is a name for them, I forget? Many were leveled but some were way too big to do anything about them. The soil is so rich and fertile. We are very lucky. The corn belt itself is a collection of premium soil, not just here, but in many states. We probably have your soil and left you with that clay, sorry about that! 
Keep mulching it with compost, and wood chips and you can improve it, and maintain it.
My beds are filled with the leaves off the local oaks and maples. I also add compost, pet, pine part in the form of recycled potting soil. I had a lot this year as much of my potting soil was 4 years old and with little structure left, so it becomes an organic mulch. And the DE from these pots is added and keeps the soil moist and aerated. Organic composes quite quickly so it is a yearly thing I do. The beds and in ground areas I use to garden become richer each year.
I would be reluctant to add honey, etc. as figs root pretty readily on their own, and potentially mold just fine too without making things more attractive for molds…not sure you gain much besides risk
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Yes another reason DE is a great media for rooting is that it is nutrient free and sterile. All it is is basically pure silicon. Minerals soon deposit on it. Then the algae will grow, but not for months. So figs root well as the 11 or more damping off fungi need anaerobic conditions and it is impossible to have such conditions in this media. Algae won’t hurt anything anyway. The figs cannot rot unless the spores are on the figs themselves. So I sterilize all cuttings in copper before rooting, well when I store them I sterilize to minimize such contamination. Never say never, but conditions could not be minimized more than what I do. Once they form roots I will feed and up pot to soil. Observations by others say that callusing is very heavy on DE rooted figs. making the roots strong and stable. Easy to transplant, as you’re going to have to work to break the roots. Most of the DE falls off like grains of sand anyway.
Once you up pot that is where I start treating them organically. I prefer soluble fertilizers at first in these sterile environments. I use time release on the DE once rooted, but 1/3 to 1/2 strength soluble fertilizers can be used too. Foliage Pro is the very best. I like to stay organic but it is not suited for this approach. To me nitrogen is nitrogen. I agree feed the soil, well this ain’t soil, it’s growing media I tried the organic approach and I could not defeat the damping off fungi enough to satisfy me. Maybe others can, but I can not. The bacteria needed to do so, just would not survive enough to be effective at it. It’s not really important to me anyway and I got tired of beating my head against the wall.
Basically DE is a form of hydroponic growing. More oxygen is available to the roots so they are more efficient at nutrient uptake. It is also less forgiving if you mess up.
Thinking about buying Optisorb tomorrow for some new cuttings coming in. Have you had the cup method work yet? If so, can you see the roots through the cup? The more I think about it, the more I like the sound of this method.
I can’t say yes yet, and I only did one. The bud is growing, I don’t see any roots yet.
Yes, you should be able to see the roots. It takes from 4 to 8 weeks. The first ones I did were not in clear cups. i also didn’t record when I put them in. I did only one in a clear cup, it’s the sealed method, I did it about a week later. The ones in nursery pots are the open method. The open method nursery pots are starting to leaf out so I added a touch of slow release fertilizer…Although I doubt they have roots yet. Or very few, it can’t hurt.
Five days ago I posted a photo of Negra D’Agde and the top bud bulging a little more, and a side bud is growing too. It should leaf out in 3 or 4 days.
Another I have going, it’s way early!
I will update when I see roots in the sealed clear cup. Since this one has no fertilizer, I won’t keep it in too long, maybe a week, two at most once roots form. The ones in an open system in nursery pots will stay in longer as I can add fertilizer. I water frequently about every 3-4 days as you can’t over water them as long as you have drainage and I do in the nursery pots. No drainage in the clear sealed system.
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Drew, I believe you mean diotamaceous earth (DE) is pure “silica,” or SiO2, and not “silicon,” the element Si. As mined, DE Is generally 80-95% SiO2 and the remainder alumina and alkali containing clays as well as iron oxides. The inherent clay is likely binder holding those granulated DE products together.
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Yes I meant silica in that sentence. Although saying their is no carbon in co2 is inaccurate. People often say carbon when really taking about co2 I kinda did the same thing, The only stable silica I know of is alpha quartz. So the silicon atom should be available under some conditions but agree it is unknown, at least to me.
Calcination is probably the culprit. These particles do not break down. They will stay a large granular size for decades. Freezing will not do it, the test we all use to determine how good a soil additive it is.
Maybe some don’t know exactly what DE is?
Originating from fresh or saltwater diatoms it is about 90% silica. The diatoms left their shell.
In the late 1800’s Alfred Noble discovered dynamite by mixing unstable nitroglycerin with diatomaceous earth. Brings a whole new meaning to the idea of getting ‘exploisive’ growth! (i stole that from DrDraconian).
I’m not trying to imply there’s no Silicon in Silica, I’m just trying to make sure people understand what the actual composition of diatoms and diatomaceous earth (the sedimented diatoms) are. As a materials scientist, I often see the that Silicon, Silica, and Silicone are used interchangeably, when they are not equivalent–no more than graphite, diamond, and CO2 are equivalent.
Calcining is just heating. Heating or calcining is used to help stabilize the product. For DE, it is used to first drive off entrained and bound water, then to convert the amorphous exoskeletons of the diatoms into a crystalline SiO2 (Chrystobalite in this case) at greater than 1000C, and this would also serve to fuse (bind) the DE material. Fusing during calcination generally happens as a result of the contained SiO2 (m.p. ~1650C) reacting on it’s surface with alkali metals to form a much lower melting point silicate glass (also referred to as a flux) that binds the mixture together. Depending on the DE composition, additional fluxing (natural or synthetic) agents might be added to get the desired product properties like hardness, porosity and surface chemistry.
Great to have an expert here, I would really like to know if any of the silicon can become available? As it is an essential micro nutrient.
Well that is what i thought you were saying the clay did, and I thought the heat did it.
So I’m now confused? . Yes I do know what calcination is. It is used on clay products too like Turface. I’m a med tech, or was, long retired. Chemistry is my weak point. I was never good at it, but had to know a lot. I was more into biology.
DE is turning out to be an excellent product for horticultural. Nothing new here really, Disney has used it for years in their gardens and many ballparks use it too. I saw numerous studies where it was beneficial. DE has larger pores than other products and roots can access the grains better. It also holds more water than clay, pumice, or other lava rocks. Although all these products work to some extnent. I like to use pumice for cactus mixes.
The clay would contribute the alkali metals and other components (including some of it’s own silica) that make up the silicate flux binder.
I’m no expert in plant science, but I do know that plants uptake silicon is in the form of silicic acid (H4SiO4) which is available in soils due to the hydration and solubilization of silica (SiO2) in water. The silicic acid availability in soils would depend on the type of silicate minerals present and the soil chemistry (especially pH and alkali metals present). I believe the silicic acid in plants is used mainly to strengthen structures in the plant—it is converted from silicic acid to polysilicic acid to amorphous silicates through a process called biomineralization. I know from experience that rice is one plant that uptakes a relatively large amount of silica, so much in fact that spent rice hulls have been used to make silicon carbide (high temperature and high hardness ceramic). The silica likely helps the rice protect itself from some insect predators that try to munch on it and/or it’s grain payload. And it also might help prevent mycological and bacterial infestations in its wet growing environment.
I’d venture to guess that silicic acid uptake in Black Locust is very high, as well, because my chainsaw blades don’t last very long when cutting it.
Found this interesting review article on silicon in plants : https://journals.lww.com/soilsci/fulltext/2016/09000/A_Review_of_Silicon_in_Soils_and_Plants_and_Its.1.aspx
The DE’s ability to hold moisture would be very dependent on its plankton pre-structure, it’s “flux” chemistry, and its heat treatment (calcination). I would not treat one product like another unless there has been some sort of comparative surface area and pore size distribution published. I would doubt that the pore size in the individual calcined DE granules is large enough to allow root penetration.
It is you can see it when you up pot, granules are stuck to the roots. The DE used in the USA is pretty much all from the same (EP minerals) source and the pore size and water capacity is published.
The ability to access water is also been demonstrated in studies, besides the fact you can see it for yourself.
Silicon is used in cell wall structure. The reason I asked about is because many of my plants are not in ground but in so called soil-less mixes. I’m not sure how much silicon is in pine bark and peat moss? So it may need to be supplemented. Currently I add compost hoping that it is present. I’m not concerned about in ground plants.
93% of the water absorbed by AxisDE is available to the plants. According to Axis, which products are used in all the Disney gardens. I use Optisorb which produced by EP minerals the source for Axis DE products.
While digging around this stuff I did find an answer yes silicon is available to the plants in DE
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