Haha, Zidi and Marabout were purchased by my ignorance. I just recently learned they are smyrna figs. I bought the cuttings based on the description of the fig. They are going to the trash. I don't think the wasp would live in Texas.

I am growing out 84 seedlings that may not yield a single common fig. There is no need to keep two more that are known to be smyrnas.:)

I guess if it is a smyrna then no eatable brebas, I thought it was a san pedro.

Got my cuttings in the cloner last night! Temp is staying around 72 degrees, so i think i'm golden on that front. Will monitor them and add some more rapidstart in 3 days time. Hopefully will have some progress in 3 weeks time to show some results!

 

My bottle of Clear-Rez arrived and I poured in several ounces.  After checking CL and PH, it looks like this stuff lowers PH, but has no effect on CL?  I've been adding PH up to counter but it doesn't seem to increase much.  Looking at the bottle, it is Hypochloros-Acid while HTH is Calcium-Hypochlorite and Clorox is sodium chloride.

It makes sense that the sodium in Clorox can be bad for plants.  But what is the deal with the acid in Clear-Rez lowering the PH?  I have some HTH coming and will wait for that to arrive before adding anything else.  that way, I can control the PH and chlorine independently.

Does anyone else have any experience with clear-rez lowering PH?

I have not used it, but looking at the MSDS it lists the PH as 5 - 6.5 so it does seem that it would lower the PH from most tap water.  Maybe the Clear-Rez is buffered or pre-PH adjusted to make the chlorine more effective.

Calcium Hypochlorite definitely raises the PH.  Makes you wonder if all those articles stating that Clear-Rez and the HTH pool shock are the same, are correct.

The desired Chlorine levels are really low.  Maybe your test kit is just not showing it.  Do a chlorine test on straight Clear-Res or a 10:1 dilution.  I would bet the chlorine reading will be off the chart.

Right now I am sticking with straight water.  I damaged my cuttings with the Clorox and I can't afford to shorten the cuttings any more!  I have two cuttings that are really important to me, and they are only about 2.5 inches long at this point.  They have strong initials forming again and I am not messing with them or the water until they are out of the cloner!

Calcium Hyopochlorite has a net effect of being almost pH neutral, however it will initially cause a pH spike which will then drop as the chlorine is consumed in organic reactions.and out gasing.

p.s. I too have cuttings in a cloner, in my case I have 12 cuttings in a home built tote cloner with an ultrasonic fogger plugged into a temperature controlled outlet box set to cut out if temperature of the water reaches 82F, temperature tends to stay around 75 F except in the afternoon sun when it may cut off on overheat from time to time (room temp ranges from 70-75F).  I am on day 9 so am hopeful I will start to see some action soon.  I have searched many threads here and never could find any information on optimal temperature, so I thought under 82F is probably safe based on other plants.

I am learning as I go, with the rest of you.
Reading on line 68 degrees seems to be the optimal temp for oxygen retention
in the water. I was running before at 77-80 degrees and I think I cooked em.
After dropping the water temp and wrapping the sides of the cloner with
insulation (thin foam sheets) it holds water temps steady.
My cloner holds 12-13 gallon and I installed a 50 watt aquarium heater.
I have a digital tester to monitor water temps. I had a couple fresh (a few cuttings sitting in the crisper drawer for a year) and added those. 2 have rooted in 2 weeks and have been transplanted
into cups.
Next I will add a big air stone for extra oxygen in the water,
I also have 3 varieties of tomatoes growing in the cloner and they seem quite happy.

One revision that I made to the sprayer heads is used dremel with a cut off wheel to angle the top of the slot at
a upwards angle. now they spray up and out instead of just straight out.
It works better.

I also use Superthrive, but not at their recommended amount, just for trace minerals.
This is a new learning process and I am sure having fun at it.
Take care all

Doug

I did not go through all 300+ replies so this may or may not have been mentioned already but does someone have a trick to getting the foam inserts holes enlarged to fit the cuttings better?

James, I'm so sorry for your loss. I really am. I recommend trying again in late spring. This is my third year using the cloner. My first attempts were dry runs using the 5gal bucket. I tried them in Summer and Fall. Each time the cuttings ....all the cuttings died. However, the system does work. It's my go to method now for cloning. I do tinker around with other methods. Here in the Southeast the weather fluctuates a lot. And figs grow very well but every 5, 7, or 10 years, we receive a sever freeze. The mount Etna types are hard to kill here and the same goes for a few others like Desert King. But in my clmate gnats are everywhere ! They can kill newly rooted cutting in no time which is why I have not potted up those inside my EZ cloner 64. All 64 cuttings rooted.

I do hydrate my cutting first before placing them in the cloner.....sometimes for a whole day in plain water. I also cut the bottom off, score it, add rooting gel with a brush, and then in the cloner. A do add the Hydrogen perixiode every couple of days but some times I forget even though I have a repeat event reminder on my phone. So, give it another try. For me, fig cuttings are ready to pot up in 17-20 days depending on the freshness of the cutting. And again the beauty of it all for me is, no gnats.

Cheers!

Thanks everyone for all of your comments!!! Soon JV will lock this post. It's one of the highest post replied upon! That makes me smile!

Wishing everyone an amazing fig year!!!

Dennis, looks like you will need to start a "Clone your cuttings & never see gnats!" Part 2. :)

Great thread. Thought I would throw out a couple pics of my new cloner sprinkler heads. Started out with just the two heads on the ends but just did not quite get the middle, then after putting in the two blue spinning 360's they alone would have been enough. Great coverage.  Pvc is not glued.


   

With this head I started with just the red but added the blues due to just barely missing the ends it is now a little overkill but excellent coverage.

Again, no glue on the pvc.  

Thepodpiper, looking good and welcome to the club of clones. Let us know more of your set up and keep us informed of your successes and/or miss steps. BTW, Dennis is club president.

LOL Dave!

Well my cuttings are not looking good, I am at day 15 with the ultrasonic fogger and only 2 stems have just the smallest hint of roots forming with no visible change to them in the last 2 days.  If I don't see progress in another 4 or 5 days I am thinking about tossing them and starting over changing a few details, cycle timer, etc.

New to figs. Growing in Maine and hoping for good results. Using a cloner with 128 stations and a bulk order from driveway farmer in NH. I'm about 5 weeks into rooting and it's cool to see which strains grow fastest. Some took 4 weeks before fresh green. Other took just days. I have found the strains to be very specific. If one sent out quick shoots, all of that strain sent out quick shoots, and vice Versace. Lots of fun!
I'm using 2x 4' small diameter t5 with a good spectrum of light for rooting.

Florea, O rourke, hardy Hartford, Malta black, MBVS and Vista were all slow to very slow. RDB , conadria and Adriatic were all my quick growers. Florea, O rourke and MBVS are dead slow but still giving a tiny bit of green.
*** I'm cloning in a 69 degree heated basement and I did not use a light until about 3 weeks in. I figure in the dark down there there is less chance of fungal growth. Also cuts down on electrical usage. I figure with no leaves the cuttings are not missing anything.