I was going to add this question to a recent thread but decided instead to post it as a new topic.  This year I have been using a variation of 7deuce’s general method for rooting cuttings where the cuttings are buried horizontally in potting soil.  After roots come out they are potted up without a humidity bin so that only 1 node is above soil level i.e. there is very little of the cutting sticking out.  If any leaves are already showing they get buried below the soil line.  7deuce describes potting up in a relatively large container (½ gallon or so).  However, I have been potting up in 18-24 oz cups using a method (from Penandpike) where you end up with a core layer of perlite or fine gravel around the cutting which is, in turn, surrounded by potting soil.  The links to these methods are below if you didn’t see them.

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/My-preferred-rooting-method-5697128

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/Dealing-with-cuttings-my-way-5627835

My past experience was to use the humidity bin approach and I don’t yet know how well this new approach will work. I just starting potting up within the past week and so far only 2 of 8 are showing roots visible to the exterior of the cup but the room is rather cool for figs (mid to high 60’s).  None of my cuttings were showing leaves yet when I potted them up and they still don’t.  To my understanding the reason that this is supposed to work is that when the leaves do appear in ambient humidity (which in my house this time of year is rather low) they should be pre-adjusted to low humidity. So this would avoid the whole humidity hardening off process which a lot of people including me sometimes have trouble with.

Almost everyone else seems to use humidity bins so I’m a little worried that this approach may have problems.  (7duece please feel free to chime in on this thread!)  If it does work then why do so many use humidity bins?  I suspect in part it is because cuttings often have leaves prior to potting up and these leaves have not been hardened off to low humidity.  Another issue is that I am using smaller containers than 7deuce and will have to watch more closely to keep soil moisture high enough (but not too high).  Any other comments on why this will or won’t work?   Thanks.

Steve

Around last November, I moved several cuttings from the rooting bin directly under grow lights without any additional humidity.  This was in my 65-67 degree basement.  Out of 12, two or three didn't go any further, meaning I never saw roots in the clear cup and the sticks eventually dried out.  This was my experimental phase, since I was new to the whole thing and I had endless cuttings from one of my trees.  So it's the survival of the fittest.  With my latest cuttings, I'm not taking the chance, especially with drier air this time of year.

Thanks for sharing your experience, Frank.  Losing 3 out of 12 isn't bad at all when I hear a lot of stories about cuttings dying after being moved out of the bin.  It sounds like one of the keys is to bury all but maybe an inch or so of the cutting to reduce issues with drying out.  I would guess this is the main reason why 7deuce pots up to larger containers.  I trimmed my cuttings to around 5-7 inches in length so that they would be compatible with with cups.

i think that there are no rules here. but generally i think that bacteria grows in humid places without ventilation.
all in all i think that close inspection and watching all the variebles like humidity, light and sound is the best.
i heard plants like mozart..... 

Yes elin I have learned tons from the forum that I have used every day. However, one unintended consequence of reading about everyone's problems (and solutions) is that I am always changing the way I do things after becoming paranoid that I will have the same problem.  Now Mozart I haven't tried...yet :)

Steve,

I rooted and potted up my figs in a similar fashion last spring and enjoyed the greatest success yet in getting little trees out of cuttings. In fact, I was probably even less persnickety about the process than what you described. I used rooting bins with Pro Mix HP. Once the cuttings showed roots longer than about 1/2 inch, but not much longer if I could help it, I potted them up to 1 gallon containers, again using unadulterated Pro Mix HP and buried them as deeply as the cuttings allowed or with only about 1/2 inch of the cutting showing if I could get them that deep. I placed the pots in clear plastic bins and left the lids ajar so air could circulate. As you get only 6-8 1-gal pots in a given bin, I ended up running out of space and took the potted cuttings with no leaf growth and little wood showing above the soil line and placed them in my garage without any protection (garage is attached and it was probably early April by then, so garage temps would have ranged between 50-70 degrees most days). I would be okay using 1/2 gallon containers, but I didn't have any, so the gallon containers had to get the job done. 

I occasionally added some water to the pots as needed over the course of about one month and removed the lids entirely once the figs inside showed obvious signs of strong growth. This took some rearranging of figs in the bins as some pushed growth faster than others, but it was easily the most successful I have ever been going from rooting to potting to hardening off without humidity to hardening off outside (just set the entire bin outside starting in full shade to dappled shade to afternoon sun within two weeks.

I didn't keep notes, but I'd estimate that I had about an 80% success success rate with this no fuss method and I have no doubt that some of that was due to letting the roots on the newly rooted cuttings get too long before potting them up. Roots that are too long are, in my experience, far more likely to break as you slowly pour soil around them than are the shorter roots.

For those with humidity concerns, Reno, NV is at 4500' on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada and is dry as a bone all year and even drier than a bone during the colder parts of the year in which rooting and hardening off figs takes place. If I can do that here, you folks from more humid climes should be able to do it where you live.

I'm following the exact same procedure again right now, though if I can find some tall, skinny 1/2 gallon pots I'll use those in order to saves space and pot up to 1 gallon containers in late spring/early summer.

Neil, your positive feedback gives me optimism!  If there is a reason to use bins for cuttings that haven't leafed out yet I'd like to hear it because your experience (and that of 7deuce) would seem to prove otherwise.  I'm sure I'll have a few cuttings with leaves coming out toward the top of the cutting.  For those I think I'll just use another cup (upside down) as a makeshift humidity dome.

I used to use humidity bins(2seasons) but I find them to be too much work. Plus you run into all sorts of issues with mold and hardening off. When you bury them horizontally and in the dark they tend not to leaf out. They might sprout a branch but it won't push leaves until exposed to open air.
This year I kept some rooted cuttings in my dry office and some in my humid greenhouse. I noticed that they leafed out a few days quicker in the greenhouse. In the office they go directly under t5 grow lamps.
I pot them in 1/2 - 1 gallon pots and use 3 pine bark fines, 2 Promix and 1-2 perlite plus a splash of dolomitic lime. The young roots get plenty of aeration and no standing water. Out of 80+ cuttings I lost 4. They were in greenhouse and I think they got too cold. Since then I keep the nighttime temps 55+ and have lost none.

On a side note I tried almost all rooting methods and I continually tinker with my own method. I am currently trying Rafed's root riot method. The thing I don't like are the small size of the cube. I might try 2 cubes on 1 cutting next.

i noticed this winter that some of the rooted cuttings in 1 gal container with no top growth are growing roots very well, and not pushing out the top. i have moved one of my Panache cutting directly into 1 gal today. i planted just like i would with any cuttings, but i stuck it into the soil deep with only 1 node above the soil. will see how it will do. if this thing works out, i might skip the cup stage and go straight into the 1 gal container. and they are in garage and not indoor. our winter is mild and this winter and last one has been specially mild. i'll need to do more experiment on this next winter. 

The point of using a humidity bin or other enclosure is that initially a cutting will have difficulty providing enough water to any leaves that grow.  Leaves naturally lose water to the air.  It's called transpiration.  Cuttings are still developing roots.  They don't have an established root system yet.  So when they start to grow leaves the leaves will lose more moisture through transpiration than the under-developed root system can replenish.  When that happens the leaves wilt and die.  A humidity bin  creates an artificially high level of humidity, which greatly reduces transpiration.  It makes it much easier for the cutting to keep leaves alive.  The longer you can keep a cutting in a humidity enclosure the better it will do.  That has been my experience.  If cuttings are removed too soon from a humidity bin the leaves will wilt and die.

If you can find a way to propagate cuttings without a humidity bin or other enclosure that would be pretty impressive.  Let us know.

I have not used a humidity bin in 2 seasons. I find that the cutting wont leaf out until its ready. In nature there's no humidity bin.

As long as I get my cuttings to root before growing leaves I dont use a humidity bin, and they have been fine, Rex.

Joe, from what I understand the key to this method is to create conditions in which the roots come first and then the leaves.  As I mentioned above, in rare cases where a cutting pushes out leaves before significant roots I will use a humidity dome for the reasons you mention.

Hi all,

very interesting topic.  I wounder what is the ideal humidity % to root the fig cutting and after transplant from cup to bigger pot.  i always have the humidity problem that caused mold and rot to my cutting.

to tell you the truth i got a lot of failures when i tried the paper bag method.
now i use humidity chamber and i think i get less mold since there is no physical contact with water...
maybe thats why moss is good cause they regulate moisture well...

This is an update on the cuttings I started around Feb. 9 (as described above).  These cuttings have not seen a bin and all have roots visible from the exterior of the cup though some root systems are more extensive than others.  Almost without exception the roots have come before the leaves.  I have several with great root systems where the buds are just now greening up and swelling but there are still no actual leaves.  The ones that have leafed out are doing well.  There was one where leaves and roots appeared around the same time and I put a cup with holes over the top of cutting to keep the humidity up for just a few days.  When I took the cup off I noticed no ill effects.  This method has worked really well for me.

I've had very good luck this year with cuttings. I do use what I call a humidity bin, but it's not a tight container. It's covered with glass, but there are openings at either end - About an inch. And a light (florescent) over it for both light and a bit of warmth. Temp has been staying between 70 and 75*F. It is definitely not a high humidity bin, but better than the air. Things do dry out in my bin, and I mist almost daily. Sometimes I'll water the soil, but not very often - only when I think it too dry.

I've had no trouble moving my well- rooted cuttings from this bin into bright/sunny, sometimes hot, large window. They are well watered at this stage. And I do wait till the roots are obviously established before being put in the bright window. 

Then in a couple weeks or so, they are moved outside to a sunny area but on a cloudy day. Haven't lost a single one this year after putting out roots and shoots, but have had very minor sun burn on a scant few - so minor as to not be any concern. No wilting at any stage of the move.