Wow, thanks Tony, I’ll be trying this. I would much rather root them then graft. I have enough to do both.
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Sometimes when potting up, the media/roots don’t stay together for whatever reason. I find it helps to either bag the plant in the new pot or remove some leaves. I transition out of the bag by venting it a little at a time.
Alternatively you can line the original rooting pot with newspaper (single layer) then soak it good before xplanting and that usually holds things together - but I’d still likely bag it.
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Interesting idea Anne. I always root in very porous media, which seems to be nice for preventing rot and promoting good aeration for the roots but crumbles away when potting up as you mention. Using a newspaper liner might make it easier for me to lift out the whole root ball without disturbing it. Although to save space, I often have multiple cuttings within the same container so I eventually need the media to come apart easily so I can separate the newly rooted plants.
Like you, I’ve found gradual transitions very important as well. Once the cuttings are used to that high humidity, it can be pretty hard to wean them off, especially going cold turkey.
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Thank you Tony!
Both you guys bring a good point up about the transitions, Decreasing humidity is not easy, neither is acclimation to outside. You need to go slow on both.
Speaking of Panache, Scott over on Ourfigs is going to air layer a Martinenca Rimada for me. Rimada figs are the striped variegated figs, like Panache. I also have 2 cuttings of Coll De Dama Rimada. These are hard to get, I need one plant out of these two cuttings no matter what.
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Drew,. If one of the cutting is long enough then you can split in half and try to root 3 of the cuttings for insurance.
Tony
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I’m thinking one cutting for rooting, and the other I should be able to split for grafting. If enough nodes, I’ll split both. I only need one node for grafting. I can’t remember how big they were, stored for a couple weeks. I’m waiting on one more batch of cuttings and I will try to root and continue to store for grafting.
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I haven’t tried grafting figs. Do you have to wait for warmer weather or did you just do yours under lights during the winter?
As long as they are growing, I wait as I only have new plants under lights. I’m going to store scion. But as soon as I see growth I will graft.Harvey made some great videos.
He sells all kinds of cuttings. I prefer to trade. One of many by Harvey. I would watch them for the little tips he gives if you plan to graft.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bnkgc2Gs1ZA
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WOW! If that system works even 25% of the time I’m sold on the simplicity of it. Thanks
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I grafted some teeny tiny toothpick cuttings onto dormant roots a couple weeks ago and they are starting to show some signs of life in a window.
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I did too, well not toothpick but a failed scion that was rotting. I trimmed off the rot and had about an inch let with one node that was still good. I cut down two fig trees earlier in winter, so I grafted it on one, hoping it might take. In the garage, so still dormant. I did a wedge graft. It should keep till everything starts growing.
TO ALL FIG PROPAGATORS: A SIMPLE QUESTION:
Before I use any of the above mentioned techniques, I obviously need to harvest some scion wood. There hasn’t been much discussion about that. Specifically, I would like to know the best time to harvest my wood for purposes of rooting it. Should I get sound asleep/fully dormant wood, wood that is barely showing signs of waking up just a little (slightly swollen nodes/buds), wood that is really waking up and has very large growth swells with fresh green tips at ef large leaf buds, or full blown, wide awake wood that has tiny little leaves and stems?
Any help would be much appreciated. Fortunately I already have some 100% dormant wood if that’s what I need. My actual trees (with tons of scion available) are just barely showing a tiny bit of swelling at the nodes/buds. My gut feeling is that this stage might be a little better since growth has in a very slight way already started to happen. But that is nothing more than an uneducated guess, so advice is needed and appreciated. Thanks, All.
Why not do both? Then you’ll know. You’ve got lots of scion wood already. Just do it and let us know.
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You want cuttings that are fully dormant. If buds are already swelling, there is a higher chance that leaves will push before roots develop, and the energy stored in the wood will be wasted.
Also, fresh cuttings are preferable, since wood quality deteriorates in storage.
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I’m determined to figure this out!
I will try different stages of wood, but certainly will concentrate on Dormant the most. The next question is WHERE should I cut it from. I still have some figs in full dormancy so I can cut some scion for rooting tomorrow. SHould I just be cutting the tips off (assuming, of course, that the tips are alive and pass the scratch test all the way to the tip)? Or should I come down further and get thicker wood, or something else? Thanks!
Any last-year wood would work.
I’d go with magic marker sized wood. Three to four buds per section. The stuff that’s pencil thin or smaller doesn’t seem to have enough stored energy to make it.
Thanks guys. about 7-10 days ago I tried some in a Tupperware container with damp newspaper on my warm fridge top. Opened it last night to find most the sticks had turned black, most had mold or full blown rot on them. The few that still looked ok had a bunch of little white nubs that I used to be convinced were the start of roots, but I think they are probably just where the stick is starting to rot and some of the rotten matter oozes out of the sticks. (sounds kind of gross). Anyway, in this case I have no doubt that my problem was too much moisture, I said “damp” paper but it was pretty much just plait wet. There was even a little excess water on the very bottom. SO I’m going to try this again with paper that is just slightly damp, and of course I’m also going to do the paper towel/zip-lock baggie thing. Thanks
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I left some of the Chicago Hardy cuttings in the bin for a little too long. They kinda went crazy. Roots everywhere throughout the whole bin. I potted them up today. Hopefully I didn’t break too many roots shuffling them apart.
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