@Drew51, I think that it was one of the pictures that you posted showing the tremendous root growth that you experienced with DE pellets that was a contributing factor in me giving it a try. I haven’t given up on it, but I’ve hit pause on the test for the moment.
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Yes growing stuff is a trip! I have failed many times. DE drys quickly under the right conditions. Like I would not use any heat. Under hot lights I watered daily. You can’t overwater DE. Most die from drying out. Luckily many other good methods around.
I also endorse buddy tape over parafilm.
One should use this! It slows down scion drying out. A must in grafting too.
In an attempt to stay in topic I would never use plastic bags as humidity domes again. I discovered buddy tape.
The leaves grow fine and don’t need acclimation. I have lost plants to poor acclimation. No need to ever do this again. Buddy tape will hold moisture in scion. Which is the real purpose of humidity domes.
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Is that a special towel or will any towel do?
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Anything that drains away water will work.
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I would categorize this as a “maybe don’t do”
So I love the excitement of rooting cuttings over the winter (like a second Christmas) so much that I use the hybrid fig pop method where the cuttings are in containers that are wrapped in a plastic bag. problem is I love seeing the roots so much that I use clear plastic soup containers and eventually as the plants grow the extra light through the clear containers allows algae to grow on sides. not he end of the world, but the algae could be competing for resources with your figs.
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In my experience rooting hormone hasn’t worked well in the long run. I’ve tried a few different types like Clonex and Dip N Grow. Both led to root growth early followed quickly by rot.
Now a pre-root them in a plastic shoebox storage container filled with moist chunky pine bark <1/2" size. Once they callus and start showing signs of roots I move them to a pot with pre-moistened potting soil. I generally leave them for a while and monitor the bottom of the pot for soil moisture. The weighing idea is great!
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When y’all are potting up fresh cuttings, or even cuttings that you have already rooted, what is the general length of the cutting and how far below the soil line are you sinking the cutting?
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8 to 12 inches long, but more important is how many nodes are on the cutting. 4 nodes minimum, 6 preferred. I put them in soil so the top 2 buds are showing with one at the soil line and the other up in the air a bit.
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… and do not sink the cutting all the way to the bottom of the soil as that’s the wettest area and you invite rot. Keep bottom of cutting at least 1.5 inches above bottom of soil/pot.
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@fruitnut, I would love to also hear what your experience is on this. I have been doing mostly as @Fusion_power suggests, but am going to follow it more closely now.
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That’s also how I set fig cuttings. One to two buds above media, more if the nodes are closely spaced. About 1/3 to 1/4 of cutting above the media. And the above ground part is covered with buddy tape.
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Excellent, thank you very much!
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I got a bunch of Fig cuttings from @Travis
I cut ‘em to size, stripped some bark near the bottom, applied rooting hormone, and stuck ‘em pretty deep in their pots (but not too close to the bottom). I didn’t have tape or anything, so I left ‘em exposed. Smith was in the shade until recently, Negretta and Mt. Etna were left in full sun. Results:
3 sprouted Negretta:
7 sprouted Smith:
And around 12 sprouted Mt. Etna:
My mama loves figs, so she’s ecstatic with the results.
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I am trying this method out now. My local Home Depot only had regular promix. So I added perlite to the mix to get it to a similar peat/perlite ratio as promix hp. My cuttings in 4x9 pots weighed in around 750 grams after letting the water drain on a towel for two days.
If you had to guess, at what point would you water again? After 100 grams of water loss more or less? Or would you let it dry out more than that?
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What I’d do is water with 40 g every time it drops to 730 g. Just keep it near 750. In my conditions that’s about every second day.
I hope it works for you.
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I am so very thankful to @fruitnut for educating me on the economics that he observed of running an online fig tree business. I am appreciative to be disabused of the notion that it can offer a living wage and I ought only consider it for some supplemental income. I would rather have my eyes opened at the outset than have a rude awakening further down the road.
For those who haven’t been reading the other thread I have reposted his remarks here.
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I am three weeks in on these cuttings and it looks like mold is starting to form on the top layer of my soil. Is there anything I can do at this point? Water less? Wait and see? This was my trial run. So if these don’t work out I will adjust and try again.
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@armeniangreg, are you referring to the white pellets on the top surface? Those look to me to be perlite which has floated up during waterings.
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No, I suppose it’s hard to see in the pictures. But there is a very small amount of white fuzz on the peat that wasn’t there before. I’ll see if I can take a better picture.
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