Rooting fig cuttings

I planted my fig cuttings outdoors in late March and early April. Light frost won’t hurt them. Can wait to May. Can also pre-root indoors before planting out.

@RedSun … I started my cuttings mid February… planning for a month of rooting with no sun… then another month in a sunny window…or even outside if nice and sunny.

Our frost are normally over by April 20-25.

Just checked my fig and mulberry cuttings…

Still in the dark on bottom heat… 2 of the fig cuttings have buds that have pushed their way thru the parafilm now and all 3 mulberries have nice green buds.

Going to transition my fig cuttings to a sunny south window in another day or two. Tomorrow will be 30 days… in the dark on bottom heat.

Question… should I leave them on bottom heat once I move to a sunny (warmer) window. Or… take them off bottom heat once I make that move?

They are in my basement mid to upper 60s down there. Would be warmer in that south facing window.

Thanks.

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~6 week fig pop update. There’s still plenty of room for roots in the bags, but I now have to water every few days and I find that more convenient in pots. So, time to pot them up! Take a look at these roots. Nice and healthy, but there’s always less than I expect from looking at the outside of the bag.

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Update on my original cuttings, only a few have had any success. I’m clearly not so good at cuttings yet. One of them amazingly has figs on it already! How long should I try to root before giving up?

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Here is my latest batch of cuttings, wish me luck!

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@757Will … I am new to rooting cuttings… but one of the youtube sources I have watched has been doing it for many years.

He says that most fig varieties will root in 3 to 5 weeks with bottom heat around 77 deg… in a dark location…

Some fig varieties root easily and quickly… but others simply take longer and are not so easy to root.

He says it is best to keep them out of the sun until they root… then once rooted move to the sun to let buds develop into shoots and leaves.

Tomorrow my CHF cuttings will be at 30 days in the dark on bottom heat… in another day or two… going to move them to a sunny window… hopefully I get shoots and leaves over the next month… and can start introducing them to a little fertilizer.

So far this plan seems to be working… hope it keep working.

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In my experience, figs don’t care about whether it’s dark or bright while they’re rooting. The leaf buds will open based on temperature, not light. That being said, IR light from the sun could make above-ground buds experience higher temps than the roots.

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@757Will I would give a cutting at least 10 weeks before giving up on it. I’ve had several I thought weren’t going to make it suddenly have a shoot emerge from the soil from one of the lower buds. Also, some varieties seem to be slower to push top growth while still being busy with roots coming out below, while others push buds more readily.

Avoid the impulse to “check” them and just give them time. The only thing that might be an issue is it looks like you didn’t put anything on the top of the cutting to keep it from drying out. While you don’t want to move them by wrapping anything at this point, a drop of Elmers wood glue smeared on the cut end couldn’t hurt. Or maybe you’ve already done that.

Good luck and remain optimistic. They can sense it.

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@jcguarneri … perhaps it is the combination of cool location… my basement 65-67 degrees… but bottom heat 78. degrees in my rooting zone…

Cool dark location… heat for root zone but tops are in cool air.

At 30 days now… only a bit of bud swell and mostly in the last week that happened…2 popped thru parafilm in the last day or two.

The temp has not changed… but the goal for the first 30 days was for roots to develop and budding to be kept to a minimum… so far that seems to be working well.

The goal for the next 30 days is for roots to continue to develop… and buds to turn into shoots and leaves… moving them to a sunny window will get sunshine on those buds and more heat to the tops.

Developing roots first… then shoots and leaves after there are roots to support them seem to be keys to success.

I have kept my tops in the dark and cooler than the roots… for this first month and so far so good. I think this next month with sun and more warmth on those buds is going to be more exciting.

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Thanks for the advice! I will definitely wrap future cuttings.

After 30 days on bottom heat in cool dark location… my fig cuttings are getting their first look out my south facing window today.

Not very sunny today so far… probably a good first exposure to sunlight.

3 buds have pushed thru parafilm at this point.

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I had good results wrapping part of the cutting in damp paper towel and storing on a partially sealed ziplock bag.

After 1 cloudy day in my south facing window… can see the start of fig leaves.

Cool !!!

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Drew, what is your success rate with pure DE? And do you bottom heat? And do you water daily?

Currently 7 out of 8 rooted in the last batch. That’s 87.5%, which is typical. The first week I water them every other day. Once roots form they start drinking a lot. You don’t want them to dry out so daily or every 1.5 days. Like I just took this photo, I still see moisture on top. So I will probably water in the evening tomorrow. I watered them this morning and still very moist at 7:15. In a week the bigger ones will be put in soil. I still have hope for the eighth.

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Update on the philodendron fig!

It seems to be growing well! Now I just have to figure out how to extricate it from the philodendron. Should I do it sooner, while the roots are small? Out wait until the leaves are bigger?

Still no buds on the nursery pot figs though :slightly_frowning_face:

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I personally would wait. I think you will have a better chance of success in a few more weeks at least. I know it’s hard to be patient, I’m currently at the same stage with some of my cuttings.

This year, I used the 3x8 small tree pots to root fig cuttings. They are the perfect size, better than the 24 oz or 32 oz cups, also better than the larger 4x9 tree pots. It is good for cuttings up to 9" long. Also save potting mix than the larger pots. Since they are square size, save foot print space too.

The only thing is that you can’t see the root progress. But I do not see that is necessary.

At slightly higher than $1 each, it is a good investment than losing some $10/pc cuttings.

I have the 4x9 black tree pots and no complaints except this…

Wish I could get those in clear plastic… so I could see root development.