Rooting fig cuttings

TNHunter · September 22, 2023, 8:59pm

@swincher … year b4 last… I rooted fig cuttings (5 of 6 success) starting them mid feb… keeping them on bottom heat, no light for a month… then moved to sunny window for another month. Did all that in my basement and it worked well…

This year… i tried a simple method and found that it worked great too.

April 10 i prepped 3 cuttings and just stuck them in a pot of promix hp… and kept them outside on the north side of my home for a month… first month no direct light. April 25 they looked like above…

I put another pot on top to block the inderect light for a couple more weeks… then moved them to my back porch (morning sun).

I kept them there for a few more weeks and then moved them to my southside hot spot.

This is what it looks like today… i eventually eliminated 2 and kept the best one.

No fancy heat mats used, no starting in winter… i liked this method.

RedSun · September 22, 2023, 9:42pm

Over winter, it is easy to get fungus gnat. So you need to use brand new ProMax.

It is easy to root outdoors, particularly if you get bulk. But it is half season slower. Sellers can’t do this since plants won’t reach good size for them to sell.

hambone · September 26, 2023, 5:52pm

How often did you water them or just let Nature water them?

TNHunter · September 26, 2023, 6:23pm

I watered them just enough to keep that promix hp moist but not wet… sparingly … at least until i had some nice shoots and leaves developed.

The first month… i may have watered them twice. They were on north side of home… for the first month (root development time) so no direct sun.

Once i had them moved to sunny side and had good shoot and leaves on… could water more.

SoCalBackyard · March 4, 2024, 12:59am

@RedSun super interesting to see you rooting fig cuttings outdoors. I am trying the same this year except in pots. I’m in Zone 10 so it hasn’t gotten below about 45 and actually even 50F the last few weeks. A local garden store roots hundreds of cuttings each year and their method is to take a cutting, stick it into a pot with a special potting mix, and water it and then just leave it for weeks in Jan/Feb through whatever rain/etc we get here and I’m trying to do the same.

DragonflyLane · May 21, 2024, 12:34am

How did it turn out? I prepped and planted 8 fig sticks last night; first time trying this myself.

Lucas · May 21, 2024, 6:57am

I put 3 Panache Tiger cuttings in cups outside around November, if I remember correctly, and they all rooted around March. My coldest temperature was 38F and I didn’t bring them in or anything. Mix was pearlite and peat moss 50/50. I also gave them a spray of water daily. I did a bunch of fig pops indoors with very little moisture that did well. And some with too much moisture that mostly rotted .

resonanteye · May 21, 2024, 1:28pm

the fall cuttings have rooted about 50/50, my partner was caring for them so I had more than the usual failure rate. he did all right though! for not knowing a thing about what to do.

jcguarneri · August 21, 2024, 8:51pm

The results of my initial run of rooting figs in an 18-cell air pruning plug tray. This is about the average size. The figs rooted well, but did not grow as fast as I expected. I think this is mostly operator error, as I had a hard time dialing in the watering and was probably washing away all the fertility. I set these up the last week of May and they’re only really ready to come out now. With more fertilizer and less manic watering, I think they might have been up-pottable by the end of June or mid July, and salable 2 gallons by now.

I do like the end result, so if I can get them to grow a bit faster I’ll probably stick with this method.

Lucas · August 21, 2024, 9:34pm

Nice update! In my experience, the fig will only grow to a size that the container will allow. I have many cuttings started in the winter but have not up potted them all in the same manner.

Some are stuck in 1g, some still in tree pots, a few in 5g, and one in a 15g. The tree pots are a little over knee height with a handful of fruit and the 15g is about as tall as me with lots of fruit.

Once they reach the limit of the pot, they kind of just sit there and eventually slowly decline.

jcguarneri · August 21, 2024, 10:28pm

I agree. It just took longer than expected for them to fill out these small containers. They didn’t even have a full enough rootball to pull until now, but the rootballs it produced were very nice.

Lucas · August 21, 2024, 10:50pm

Wow that took a while to fill out!

Robert · August 22, 2024, 2:46am

I had really great results rooting fresh green growth this last spring. You may want to give that a try if you have an older one to cut on next year.

jcguarneri · August 22, 2024, 9:40am

The issue isn’t the cuttings, it’s me getting used to a new type of container. I usually use the fig pop method, but I’m trying to get away from using so much single use plastic.

Bradybb · August 22, 2024, 4:32pm

Has the Fig pop method worked well overall?Ben B. in Seattle,suggested I try it.

jcguarneri · August 22, 2024, 7:26pm

It’s as close to foolproof as you can get. Highly recommended for beginners. Now that I have some experience under my belt, the plug trays are just as effective and more convenient overall.

CAvocado · September 11, 2024, 4:34am

I managed to root some cuttings, Cravens Craving (hopefully CC) and I-258 with 100% takes.

Planted one of my two CC because it had roots running out the bottom of its Stuewe tree pot:

I also had two I-258 cuttings, so I did the green wood in a pot, and stuck the other old wood in ground to see what happened. The in ground one was planted in diatomaceous earth on drip irrgation.

The GH one definitely has a good lead so far.

jcguarneri · October 31, 2024, 12:45am

Kicking my season off early this year. Just purchased some cuttings of Yellow Lebanese and Kesariani on FigBid. These are new to me varieties, so I won’t risk storing them over the winter.

I’ve moved away from fig pops for production in my nursery business, but it’s still a great technique for small quantities.

FarmGirl-Z6A · October 31, 2024, 4:50am

Where did you get the bags? Will these work? Amazon.com: Spartan Industrial - 4” X 16” (100 Count) 2 Mil Open-En

4x18 are only $1.00 more… or is that over kill?

Last week I received from Mad Cat Farm (…just popped over there to grab their link and they now have a 20% off sale going on): LSU Purple, Dark Portuguese, Kathleen’s Black, Maryland Berry, Vista, JH Adriatic, Maltese, Stella, Marseiles Black, Sweet George, Black Greek and Hardy Hartford.

From Figbid, the following should be here tomorrow or Friday: Petite Negra, Adriatic, Italian Honey, Takoma Violet, Violette de Sollies, Olympian, Longue d’ Aout, Florea, Sweet Diana, Desert King, and Teramo.

I think I will try the figpop method. Do you think it will do ok in my attached Garage inside a minigreenhouse on a heatmat. It usually doesn’t go below 55 degrees in there. Or should I forgo the greenhouse and just put it on a shelf on the heatmat?

Editing to say: I couldn’t resist Mad Cat’s sale, so I picked up: Negronne, Alma, Ronde de Bordeaux, LSU Tiger, Lattarula, LSU Improved Celeste, Col de Dame Blanc, Bryant Dark, Atreano, and LSU Gold… that’s 10 cuttings all for under $50 bucks shipped.

jcguarneri · October 31, 2024, 9:44am

Wow, sounds like you have your work cut out for you!

I bought mine on FigBid. The owner of the site sells 100 packs with rubber bands. The 4x16 bags are just the right size; I’ve yet to meet a cutting that wouldn’t fit. The garage might be ok on the heat mat, so long as the root zone temp stays between 70 and 80. If you have somewhere that stays right about 70, that would be perfect. I’ve been known to bring fig pops to work and leave them in a drawer while they callus.