Greetings All

Cold windy morning here on the east coast I thought I would start things off and share a photo of a Hardy Chicago cutting that I started some weeks ago. Being a newbie here on the forum and with fig growing I never thought to start new plants from my own cuttings. In the Fall when I pruned and covered my tree I used those clippings to practice rooting and growing new trees, based all from info gleaned from the forum.

I first started off with cuttings in bags and moved them to plastic container with sphagnum moss after little to no root growth. The moss setup got a bit too moist, maybe a bit too warm from my heat pad, and got a bit moldy. I took the cuttings, cleaned them, and then planted straight into plastic cups with holes. double cupped on bottom, and one on top for humidity chamber. Cups were then placed into large plastic container and back on a cooler heat pad. This worked well! Not sure if it was the Hardy Chicago being difficult, or just a matter of getting all growing conditions right.

Here's a few photos of one of these HC. Hopefully you can see the great set of roots encircling the bottom of the cup. Probably a good time to move to a proper pot.

Here's a third photo with my new plants soaking uo some afternoon sunshine. Hardy Chicago babies started this year, one LSU Purple and one Vista purchased from Jon late Fall last year.

That's a beautiful plant, Mark!

A excellent fig to enjoy in the summer as you may have experienced.

I have some rooted baby Hardy Chicago's in one gallon pots, and they NEVER went dormant.  Still outside.  Still green. 

I look forward to tasting them soon!  I will keep a couple as back-up because the ground is full of gophers and other critters, so although we will use extreme methods of protection, you never know!  Doing that with every tree I have for now.

Suzi

nice tree!
i hope my attemps this year turn out that good.

Good looking leaves.

Greetings all, I added a third photo of my new plants soaking in some sunshine. :-). Check out the first post.

Mark,
Nice looking plant. You'll like it.

Mark the cuttings look really beautiful, you have the magic touch!
Here is fig poem that I hope everyone will like;  it speaks to the profound symbolism of figs.

Green Figs 

I want to live like that little fig tree
    that sprouted up at the beach last spring
        and spread its leaves over the sandy rock.

All summer its stubborn green fruit
    (tiny flowers covered with a soft skin)
        ripened and grew in the bright salt spray.

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good
    and Evil was a fig tree, or so it is said,
        but this wild figure was a wanton stray.

I need to live like that crooked tree—
    solitary, bittersweet, and utterly free—
        that knelt down in the hardest winds

but could not be blasted away.
    It kept its eye on the far horizon
        and brought honey out of the rock.

Excerpt from THE LIVING FIRE: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS © 2010 by Edward Hirsch.  Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

looks nice and healthy

Greetings,

Here's a new updated picture of young cuttings now uppotted to 1 gallon containers, with about 50/50% perlite and potting soil. Had them in a large humidity chamber for the first few days, misted, under grow lights and lightly filtered natural light. This picture shows them soaking up some bright, warm afternoon sunshine.

You can see I have Bounce fabric softeners around the base of each plant.

WOW there defying gravity !

WOW ! Topsy Turvy !

AUSTIN

Easier to pick the fresh figs that way!

Martin,
the tree does not defying gravity, the photographer is a bat man!

Greetings on this beautiful sunny warm day here in Maryland

Back in the Fall, i started some air-layers from my in-ground Hardy Chicago, and potted them up in early to mid-October. This was my first attempt at air-layering and was really excited to see nice rootballs where I air-layered. I potted these up, and have had them in cool sun room in our house since that time. Three out of four have now come out of their dormancy, with one yesterday popping a new leaf! Here's a pix for all to enjoy.

Just a few days later and additional leaves are popping from this air-layered Hardy Chicago.

keep up the good work.....nice