"UpDated" 2018-19 Figs Cuttings Rooting Propagating Experiment in Coco Coir Vs Perlite Vs Sphagnum moss Vs Pro mix HP Vs 3-1-1 Mix

Are these boxes sitting on heating mats? What was your success rate this time? How long did it take for the leaves to get established? Any particular varieties you found hard to root?

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Are these boxes sitting on heating mats?
No because room temperature is between 74F to 77F which is what I need.

So far
Out of 24 = 22 showing growth and I am confident these will make it
Other two which are struggling one is Madeira Island Black and Smith.

I can say about 4 to 6 weeks.

I have not find any which did not root for me.

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Here is an other update on cuttings today Feb 3rd, 2019. From this batch I have lost one cutting out of 24 cuttings.

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Looks like a nice set up, some of the leaves look bumpy , what is causing that?

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You are right. I was delaying any feeding fertilizer will give some weak liquid fertilizer in a day or two.
I was comparing these to last year and these are looking better then last year.

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Thank you , I will watch god that in my cuttings.

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Some of that looks like FMV, some might be from fig bud mites though. It can be hard to see fig bud mites even with the proper magnification tools. If you haven’t sprayed them yet I would take them outside when it is warm this week and do it.

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You are right these will go away with good plant care.

Well, that is not exactly my experience. A few of my trees have always shown virus symptoms, no matter how well they grow… I think that is caused by fig badnavirus though, which is systemic. Most often they do grow out FMV though and symptoms will stop showing on new leaves when the tree is vigorous, but when pruned back the leaf symptoms will usually return.

I know the issue is very confusing, many people say that all fig trees have FMV (and that FMV is systemic) and symptoms only show up because of nutrient deficiency (they could prove this by leaf analysis and be able to say which nutrient in particular, which is much cheaper than to test for viruses, but none have tried afaik). That isn’t true though, I selected symptom free plants to propagate from and the new plants never show virus symptoms even when they don’t get enough fertilizer and grow poorly. The #1 cause of virused plants is fig bud mites.

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I have over 150 trees and at cuttings stage about 20% shown FMV sign and now I have only one plant with FMV sign still showing after pruning first year. I know very well about FMV and fig bud mites. It look like that you got very seriously infected plants or cuttings.

All of my cuttings from own plants last year grown well with no sign of FMV.

I had a fig bud mite infestation about 4 years ago and the symptoms were not common knowledge yet so it went on and got pretty bad. When there are mites they all end up with virus symptoms eventually, especially young plants closely spaced together. I ended up getting rid of more trees than I care to think about.

Did you got all your cuttings and starts from one source? I can imagine your pain after doing all this.

I was getting plants and cuttings from many sources so had no idea which one they came from. I got them again a couple years later and caught them much sooner. The second time they caused pale leaves, browning, and new leaves to drop, no FMV like spots that time, but they did still transfer FMV to a few plants. I might just be imagining it but it looks like a couple have browning edges.



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Looks like some type of mites to me. I’ve seen that before, and had
to thoroughly wash the leaves a number of times, before getting rid
of them. Brent, I promise you, I’ve never sent you infected cuttings.

I have no idea where they came from the 2nd time either. And I had been carefully checking all the new plants during the spring with a microscope looking for fig bud mites, it wasn’t until August when a few plants were crawling that I could see them. The only safe way is to spray all new plants… They are so insidious I wouldn’t have blamed you even if you did.

Mine kept coming back, until I found that they were also
in the potting soil. I finally got rid of them by soaking
the potting mix, which obviously drowned them. They’re
nasty critters and hard to get rid of.
Naeem, if these pics are from your plants, you need to
take action, now, before they get out of control.

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Thanks for your concern my cuttings showing FMV signs but will be fine after good care. None of the cuttings is infected with fig mites. I have over 150 plants and well aware of mites and FMV.

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Here is another update after giving light liquid fertilizer.

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Yesterday and Today I pulled out about 75% of my potted figs out from garage and shed. Next 15 days weather is looking good so I want to wake them up. I have a back up plan in case a hard frost. All my potted figs are dormant so key word is “DORMANT”. No actively growing fig can stand this weather so if your figs are growing actively please keep them protected or inside.

Lets start the party :sunglasses:

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