Here are some pictures of a rooting technique that I developed a few years ago. I've given some details about this method before; but, I have not posted any pictures. A picture is worth a thousand words.

-Use three inch peat pots and 16 ounce plastic cups.

-moisten the peat pots BEFORE you get started.

- put some already "moist" and Well aerated rooting mix in the plastic cup....in the space that is between the bottom of the peat pot and the bottom of the plastic cup. You can see the void that I am talking about in the first picture below....in the first cup that is on the left.

-place your moist peat pot in the plastic cup which has some moist rooting mix in the bottom of it. Give that peat pot a twisting motion so the peat pot sets real well in the rooting mix that is between the bottom of the peat pot and the bottom of the plastic cup. You can see what I am trying to explain in the second picture below.

-Next put in your cutting in the peat pot and put in your favorite rooting mix.

-You will know when it is time to up pot your rooted cutting when you SEE roots growing through the peat pot and into the rooting mix that is between the two pots. You can see what I am trying to explain in second picture below. The cup that is on the right contains a rooted cutting that is ready to be put into a gallon container.

-The next few pictures depicts that up potting process. Notice there is little chance of damaging the roots when removing the peat pot from the plastic rooting cup.

Also FYI, the peat pot will help control the moisture level in your rooting mix and will actually help provide additional oxygen and keep things from getting too moist.  When the peat pots get light in color it is time to again moisten your rooting mix. You can see the difference in color of the peat pots in the second picture. The peat pot on the left is dry and needs water. The peat pot on the right is moist and OK.
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FYI, this special technique works real well when using small cuttings (i.e those with little energy reserves). Combine this new technique with good aeration of your final potting mix (to remove carbon dioxide as reported in another thread) whenever you move your newly rooted cuttings from their rooting cups and into a larger container with their final potting soil. You SHOULD NOT lose any to wilting if you follow the details that I have already given.

Those of you who have rooted many cuttings, should recognize the obvious advantages to this particular method. I will elaborate more later......... 

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

Thanks Dan. I will add from my experience with peat pots is that you should go for Jiffy pots, I've tried 3 or 4 different brands and roots have a very hard time penetrating the pots with the other brands and might die (my exp. with strawberries)

Chuck,

I have only used the 3 inch Jiffy pots that are shown in the picture. From my experience these work very well and roots have no problem in penetrating the wall. So, I would not know about using other brands of peat pots. Thanks for that info.......that other brands might not work so well.

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

Looks like a great system for providing aeration and protecting the rootball. Thanks for sharing your experience.

I screwed the system up so badly this year.

My mistake was misting and saturating the peat pot.

Lost every single one done that way.

Thanks Dan for your great explanation!  Your fig pics look just like my figs did.

Dan,

Just a couple questions.

Are these cuttings pre-rooted or just straight cuttings into the peat pot?
And drainage,  I see in one pic you only have two or three holes on the clear cup. I this enough?

Thanks

Thanks Dan!  This year was my first time using this method and let me tell you....it works so good!  I also agree, the long peat pots work better than those short ones at Lowes and HD.  I am so glad I tried this method.  Thanks again Dan.

Rafed,

I usually start my fig cuttings in baggies. There are many good reasons for starting them out that way. My personal preference is to move my cuttings from barely moist paper towels that are within baggies whenever I see a small root emerge on the cutting and/or one of the leaf buds or terminal bud begins to open. There are reasons for doing that too. FYI, use Kleenex VIVA brand paper towels because they are MUCH BETTER for use in the baggie method.....and there are reasons for that too. 

Yes, there are three holes only in the bottom of those 16 ounce plastic cups. Those are recycled cups from a couple of years ago. When I root fig cuttings in just the plastic cup without a peat pot inside .....three holes in the bottom and two on the side work fine for me.  However, when using 24 ounce plastic cups it is important to put more holes in the sides of those bigger/taller cups. If you don't, it can take much longer for roots to form and once they do form.......they can easily get damaged from inadequate venting of the carbon dioxide gas that forms during the rooting process and within the rooting mix.

However, when working with 3 inch peat pots inside of 16 ounce plastic cups there is enough venting going on between the walls of the peat pot and the walls of the plastic cup.......where only the three holes on the bottom are needed. Just be sure to put your cups on a WIRE RACK. Those holes are not just for drainage....they are needed for getting "air to" the roots and getting "carbon dioxide" out of the rooting mixture. Bad things can happen to your cuttings if your rooting zone does not "breathe" air in and exhale CO2 gas out.

The better ventilation that you can get to the "root-zone" area of your cutting...... THE FASTER ROOTS WILL GROW AND DEVELOP and the less likely they will get damaged from CONDENSATE (not talking about perched water here) and damaged from acidic carbon dioxide.


Bottom line.........three holes in the bottom of a 16 ounce cups using a 3 inch peat pot.......works just fine, if you put them on a wire rack.  Give it a try and see for yourself. Bet you will like this method!!
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Alan, Dennis, Rufus, Dominick, Ken, Chuck......thank you all for the feedback!! It is people like you that encourage others to share some of their work.


So here's another rooting tip that I will share with just you guys (don't tell the other silent lurkers!!)

Whenever you see one of your cuttings that is in a rooting cup going limp on you......put a kitchen match just barely inside of the drainage/vent holes and move it around a bit to make sure that the hole is still open for air flow. GENTLY till the top crust (surface) too with the match stick. Sometimes that is all it takes to revive a wilting cutting. It often is just a carbon dioxide venting thing........

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Tomorrow I will take some "summer" cuttings from another heirloom fig tree that I have found. I'll be rooting those cuttings by another almost foolproof method. Will be taking pictures to document the procedure. Stay tuned.......


Dan
Semper Fi-cus 

Always a plus to know more about different methods in rooting. Part of the fun in figging is experiment..  Thanks guys for sharing your experiences.

Hi Dan, thank you for sharing this method. As you say, a picture is worth a thousand words. I did do some this way and had mixed results. I did get one Black Madeira from UCD to root along with some others. I see what I did wrong, not leaving an air space between the cup and the peat pot. I looked today for some coarse  washed builders sand to try your 1/2 & 1/2 with peat moss method as well, my Lowes didn't have it. I'll check at HD next time I'm in Beaumont. Have you used this method for green cuttings?

Dennis, what is the source of the tall peat pots? Thanks

Tim,

No, I have not tried the sand/peat moss method for green cuttings. I have been using a pop bottle method for my green cuttings. The reason being.....that pop bottle method never allows the fluids within the internal pipeline to ever dry and/or close down. Accordingly, cuttings will reliably root real fast. For small fig cuttings of any sort (green or dormant),  where I am concerned about its internal energy reserve, I ALWAYS move them to peat pots in cups.......so they never have to go thru transplant shock. A small cutting just cannot afford to have any setbacks..........

Did you catch what Chuck posted earlier in the thread?????  Namely, from his experience growing strawberries....the particular brand of peat pot can make a difference.  You should use "Jiffy" brand peat pots because they allow the roots to better penetrate the peat pot. That is the brand I have been using since I developed the method. I have not tried any other brand. Been purchasing them at both Lowe's and Walmart. They usually go for real cheap on clearance towards the end of summer.

Also, I DO NOT try to leave a void between the peat pot and the plastic cups. I try to fill that area too with potting mix. After your cutting is put in the peat pot.....it should look like the cup that is on the right in the second picture.

Re the sand......Every Lowe's should have that particular product. It comes in plastic bags and is what they use to lay bricks. They should have it.  If not......can also check to see if they have sand for children to play in. Usually that sand is coarse and has been washed several times. You do not want to use a salt laden beach type sand.

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

Great work Dan, thank you for this successful or fool proof method, I will try this from now on, take care, Sergio in NJ.

Hello Sergio, this method is very simple to do once you see how it is done. Take care.

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

TIM!  Hey Buddy!  I get my peat pots from Novosel Enterprises.  Here is the link:  http://www.novoselenterprises.com/products/jiffy-peat-pots.asp
Scroll down and choose the 3" Deep Jiffy Pots.  They also have 4" square ones too. I might play around with the 4" square ones next year.  You can clearly see the roots is clear 16oz cups are used.  Cheers,

Dan,

How do you get the growing medium between the plastic cup and the peat pot?  I tried to do that and it didn't work for me.

noss

Noss,

Do it this way for the first time....

-Put a DRY 3 inch peat pot inside of an empty 16 oz plastic cup. (3 inch sized peat pot and 16 oz sized plastic cup IS IMPORTANT for a proper fit.)
-Use a Sharpie pen to mark on the plastic cup where the bottom of the peat pot lies.
-Remove the empty peat pot and fill the plastic cup with your "already moist" rooting mix JUST ABOVE that line that you drew.
-With your fingers, work some of potting mix from the center to up the sides of the plastic cup.
- Place your empty (but already damp) peat pot into the plastic cup. It should sit kind of high and not go all the way down inside because of the rooting mix that you worked up the sides of the plastic cup.
-Now with a gentle TWISTING motion seat that empty peat cup into the plastic cup. As you do this "twisting motion" the potting mix will form nicely around that previous voided area. Try to end up with the "top" of the peat pot EVEN with the top of the plastic cup.....or just slightly below the top of the plastic cup. Keep "twisting" that peat pot until it lines up with the top of the plastic cup.....then stop. It should end up looking  like the picture below.

It is real easy to do this after you've done it a few times. It is not super-critical that "all" of the void is filled with rooting mix. But you definitely want to get as much of the void filled with rooting mix as possible. Those roots will penetrate the walls of the peat pot and want to grow in that void too.

Have fun with this method and let us know how it works for you.


Dan
Semper Fi-cus

dan,

what do you use for rooting mix? i haven't root cuttings yet. will be trying in spring.

pete

I like to use a 50/50 mix of Fertilime Ultimate Potting Mix and Perlite.

Hi Dan, yes I did catch Chuck's experience with off brand peat pots. I used the 3' Jiffy pots. Lowe' did have the Play sand. I'll check it out. Thanks

Dennis, thanks for the link!

Thanks Dan, for elaborating  on how to seat the peat pots into the cup.  :)

I also got the wrong kind of peat pots.  I'll have to go get some Jiffy Pots.  I can use the other pots for something else.

noss

Thank you dan - that looks great.

dan,

few more questions.
1) after you set up the rooting thing, do you put it in "greenhouse" environment to control the moisture? or leave it under shade without any covering?
2) looking at the pictures, you are putting whole thing with peat pot into the 1g pot for up-pot, is that true?
3) what should be the temp around the surrounding area? above 70 but below 90?

pete

theman,

In the past, I have started some cuttings in baggies and started some in water........just until I see roots initials develop on the cuttings. Then I put them in the peat pots/plastic cups as seen in the picture.

There are several advantages to this technique. I've listed a few reasons in the OP. The biggest being.....you will not lose any rooted cutting to transplant shock and/or to roots breaking off when you later move them (up pot) from the 16 oz plastic rooting cups to a larger container (gallon). This technique WILL INCREASE your rooting success rate......I guarantee it. 

FYI.....this is my go to fig rooting method when I am working with very rare cuttings or small cuttings which do not have much energy reserves. I can successfully root tiny fig cuttings by this method. This method was especially designed by me to overcome some of the obstacles that "indoor rooters" face.
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pete,

1) Yes, I do put them in a green house environment (i.e. a plastic bin...with NO ADDED HEAT). I have not tried in an outdoor environment under shade. That should work too. One day I will be giving a try using the sand/peat moss outdoor rooting method. If you try it before I do.........please give us a report. However, I have not seen a need for using it in the outdoor rooting methods that I have used. The roots that form by outdoor rooting methods are usually stronger than those that form in indoor rooting methods.  

2) Yes, you plant the whole peat pot in the gallon container. That is the BIG ADVANTAGE to this method. The roots will continue to grow right through that peat pot as though it was not even there. You will not disturb or break off the roots when you plant the entire peat pot.

3) The normal indoor temperature at your home will work just fine. The temp in my home is usually 70 to 80 deg F.


Dan
Semper Fi-cus

Dan,

Do you use the 3 x 3" peat pots, or the deeper ones like those shown in the link Dennis gave us?  (Thanks Dennis.)

noss