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Bag Rooting Techniques

Mai, it may be because I live in the Northeast and the air is extremely dry here this time of the season, but I find the moisture level to be extremely different from bag to bag of sealed potting mix.  The two bags I bought this weekend were 10lbs different, which is more than 1 gallon of water.  I posted a video on the bagging and cup methods and in it I weigh the two bags if you would like to see what I mean:

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  • Jodi
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Yes I agree with Meg about the book Mai. I self published a book of heirloom recipes and old family pictures paired with stories of the antics of my 6th generation Arizona family. It too was a labor of love. I am so glad I did it. I have sold almost all of the copies and am going to do it again. I am sure your book would be so well received Mai. If there is anything I can do to support you in this, please let me know. I hope you are having a queenly time in London with your granddaughter. Enjoy some scones, Devon cream and jam for me! Warmly, Jodi

I think you have a good point. My bag is only 14lbs which is 25.5 lbs (~3 gallons) lighter than your heaviest one. 10 lbs (~1 gal) lighter than your light one.

I'll probably end up adding over a gallon of water to my bag to get it "moist."

Quote:
Originally Posted by lolita1234
...Soil in the bag (moist ) that you just buy from the store  , not dry not wet
Save the unused soil for next batch by keeping the original bag well tied so the soil inside always moist when needed


Quote:
Originally Posted by johnnyq627
....I find the moisture level to be extremely different from bag to bag of sealed potting mix.  The two bags I bought this weekend were 10lbs different, which is more than 1 gallon of water.

Be careful with the water . Better dry than wet  

boy i am learning quickly about to wet, killed off two of my cuttings that were leafing out. It is very upsetting losing cuttings as a newbie :(

8 years ago I used to make cloners for sale on Ebay, but since I found out that the bagging method (that is used to root plumeria and other stuff back in 2007) was faster, cheaper, cleaner, less space involved  I decided to get rid off all of the cloners . I still have whole bunch of pumps and hydroponic accessories that I packed them in 3 huge boxes when I moved to Oregon in August 2015












My old time









How my fragile rooted cuttings survived when I was out of the country more than 2 weeks ?

They all are potted and stayed in bags as shown below    

 

I used umbrella or florist bags that give my plants more space to grow and plenty of humidity needed . The advantages of using these bags are you can hang them anywhere without worrying about watering them daily .






The bag on the right holds a cutting that has been buried in sand. You can see trace of sand on the stem . I was hurried at the time because I had to pack my luggage to fly away the next day , so I had no time to remove that sand




More pictures to come


How about some pictures of your single node Ponte Tresa plants you were able to root.

Mai, I just love how you document your techniques.  Great Job and thanks for sharing!

I am currently doing this method on MBVS and RdB!  To me it seems like one of the easiest methods on the forum.  Not sure how well cloners work but I'd be willing to try them also.

Quote:
Originally Posted by sbmohan
Hello Mai, Thanks for posting the bag rooting technique. I was very skeptical and hesitant to try out your technique, but decided to try it out. I tried 4 of my cuttings following your method and all of the 4 rooted in about 4 weeks and they are now starting to push buds. It is 5th week now. I tried doing it on a larger batch, and this time, just 10 days into the process most of them are starting to push buds but no visible sign of roots. Is this normal since the first batch I tried leafed out after the roots were formed, while the second batch is already leafing out with in 10 days? Should I worry or just let them do their thing and give them more time? One subtle difference is, the first batch was soaked in water for about 8 hours, while the second batch got a soak for about 13 hours. I left them longer before I bagged them. Any advice will be very helpful. Sincerely appreciate any feedback you can provide. Regards, Mohan from NC.



Hello Mohan B,
different variety acts different way .
10 days is too early to judge . Please give them more time and they will root . Remember that the first 4 cuttings rooted in/about 4 weeks . if too much humidity happens, then use a toothpick to punch 2,3  more holes.   

Keep in mind that disturbance is number 1 killer . So please do not open the outside bag often when the rooting process is going on ...

Quote:
Originally Posted by don_sanders
.... I'll probably end up adding over a gallon of water to my bag to get it "moist."



This is the result :


Quote:
Originally Posted by don_sanders;n72672
I tried to follow everything but I must be missing something. I put paper around the bottom but perhaps not enough. Maybe that was one of the keys. Most of the moisture seemed to be rising. They were receiving light through the window and I had added more holes to lower the humidity.

I went ahead and tried checking a couple of the vigorous rooters. I didn't notice any progress. In the end, I went ahead and moved them all to moss.

3% look like they started to root but those roots dried up. 6% rotted but I think those were bad cuttings to begin with. The rest didn't seem to have any changes. No initials or roots yet even with the clonex.

I don't think I gave it long enough to really test this method but I don't want these to fail while I figure this out. I'll have to give it a try again when I have some spare cuttings.





Conclusion :
Your soil was too wet when you bagged the cuttings !
When you just bought the bag of soil from the store to your home, it is ready to use for bagging . If you add more water, you make it ... wet . By adding 1 G of water to the bag, your judgment of moisture is .... incorrect .
Your cuttings wont root if the soil is wet. Fig does not like wet feet



..

I didn't actually add that gallon of water.

That quote was me speculating how much I would need to add the moisture level of another poster's store bought bag of moisture control potting soil.

My bag was only 14lbs which was 25.5 lbs (~3 gallons) lighter than his heaviest one. 10 lbs (~1 gal) lighter than his light one. If mine was to wet, his was definitely to wet straight from the store.

The level of moisture can vary considerably from the store.

Here is a pic of the soil that I used. It may have been too wet but seemed pretty dry. Didn't clump or stick to my hands. I wanted to add more water but fought the urge with the warnings about being too moist.


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Sorry, Don, if you did not add any water .

I am wondering how humidity is that high because you said earlier that " most of the humidity seemed to be rising "
It can only happen when soil is too wet, or temp is too high
When humidity is high, you will see drops of water (from condensation) running down the zip bag sides .
 
To remove those excessive water, take a newspaper and fold it into layers
 
 
 
Insert that paper inside the bag as shown in the picture below.
 
 

(never mind what is in the bag, I just take something to show how to insert the newspaper in the bag)
 
 
 
The newspaper will absorb quickly all the water and become wet. Get rid of it and insert another one . The second sheets of paper might get wet too but less than the previous one . That is fine 
That way the stem wont be mushy

Mold only happen when the cutting or part of it is dead

Mai,
Here is the first batch 5 weeks old and rooted. They are starting bud out.

The second batch is only about 12 days old and they are already budding out.

The difference is, the first batch was soaked for 8 hours and the second larger batch was soaked close to 15 hours, but again the cuttings are all different varieties.

One things I like about this method is the potting mix already has right level of fertilizer and I don't have to worry about Fertigating them anytime soon, which is one of the reason I loose my cuttings due to excess moisture.

Also, no gnats. That is awesome.

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Your bags look great, Mohan !
Your success is my joy .
I am happy today , and I keep counting my blessings from the Fig God (see my Atavar ?) .
Write to me if anyone has a problem with my bagging techniques. I will do by best to analyze the situation to help

Hi Mai Mai,
I do have a problem after following your method. All the cuttings have been soaked in water more than 2 days. After bagging them, I open the big bag for a few minutes every two days. There's mist in the big bag and small soil bags as well. However the cuttings seem drying out. Here are some pics attached. There were several cuttings which had little leaf out but now all wilted. I don't understand did I make it too wet or too dry? Thank you for your advice!

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Two more pictures. One has the wilted leaf. The other looks dry too.

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you forgot to erase this one Lolita

Johnparav,
You should respect all the people who are coming to this thread for their needs .    

Quote:
Originally Posted by rhymehong
Hi Mai Mai, I do have a problem after following your method. All the cuttings have been soaked in water more than 2 days. After bagging them, I open the big bag for a few minutes every two days. There's mist in the big bag and small soil bags as well. However the cuttings seem drying out. Here are some pics attached. There were several cuttings which had little leaf out but now all wilted. I don't understand did I make it too wet or too dry? Thank you for your advice!


If the cuttings get that dry, it means that humidity is somehow not enough . The leaves get wilted for same reason . 
I keep reminding people that disturbance is number 1 killer . Maybe you open the bag too often or too long ????

After reading about what you did , you are the last one that should be lecturing about respect .
You can erase all the threads you want . The cats out of the bag .
Don't worry I won't waste any more time on you .

John

I like the fact that your method seems to do well while you are out of town. What's the longest you left your cuttings unattended?

Johnparav, I don't know why you said that. For whatever reason, Mai shared her knowledge and success, and helped a lot of people who loves figs and gardening, just like you. She deserves respect and appreciation.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tennesseefig
I like the fact that your method seems to do well while you are out of town. What's the longest you left your cuttings unattended?


Tennesseefig,
my rooted cuttings were home alone for 16 days without my attention .
When I was back, some of the roots were overgrown and turned brown . That is fine . Today it is 72 F at my town, so I bring them outside and plant them in 1 G pots

Will post pictures tomorrow

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