Hi all!!

I wanted to ask for opinions on getting some cuttings from a very old fig tree. I took several from the tree, mostly tip cuttings, as this tree has never been pruned. I washed them in antibac soap & scrubbed with a toothbrush.

I have had some of the cuttings in moss, some in cups & some in ziploc with paper towels. Its been about 6 weeks and nothing. No roots, no mold, nothing. I also tried to cut the outer layer to the cambium and its still green inside. I also put Clonex on a couple.

Any ideas or suggestions as to anything else I can try? Is it possible for the tree to be too old or the cuttings too woody?

As for the tree, my dad wanted me to try & start some cuttings for him. He said the tree is probably 20-25 years old. Never been pruned or anything. He doesn't know what type of fig it is either. I made the cuttings in late December and I have never gotten any cuttings like this fig before.There are nodes every 1/4-1/2" of every cutting and the color of the cutting is gray (almost silver colored).

Anyways I am at a loss as to what to try next or if anything can even be done. If nothing, its no harm & I can just trash them, just thought I would get some advice before I did that :)

jenn, may I ask your location?

Central Texas but the tree was in East Texas

if you can get more cuttings, i would do this. cut 12" branch. take off the tip and keep on cutting down till you are certain the cutting has only previous yr's growth. no greenwood, but hardwood cutting. try rooting again. make sure the temp is around 80 degrees. dies the cut end getting callous?

An old tree is usually good news (a possible heirloom?).

IMO, young tip cuttings are best.

Multiple rooting methods going...
Them "stubborn" twigs doing zero/nada progress...
JUST let them all be as is; sooner or later, some will blossom.

Any description of the fig itself?

Do you have access to a hydroponics shop? My best success and several others on the forum has been using Root Riot Cubes to root the cuttings.
If not, you can also get them on off the internet. You can also try scoring the bottom inch of the cutting. I usually scrape the bark, as in using
a potato peeler on three sides of the bottom inch of the cutting.

I was going to ask about the temperature too. If below 65, it will take longer. I keep mine around 70 to 72 and it takes about 2 to 4 weeks. You've got great advice from the fellows that posted before me.

Mind if I ask where about in East Texas the tree lives? I'm originally from near Texarkana. If it's that old, it sounds like it's a great grower for climate. Can you describe the fruit?

Keep at it. I'm sure it will be worth it.

Pete,

The bottom ends look as though they are drying up (does that mean they are callousing?)


Mike,

Funny you mention the Root Riot Cubes. I just bought some off eBay & they should be here tomorrow! I will potato peel some & stick them in. Should I use Clonex on the peeled Root Riot too? I've got like 30 sticks so I'm not short lol!

My dad only said they were sweet. He said the birds get the figs because nobody around likes figs which is another reason the tree hasn't been touched!

Hi James,

The tree is near Palestine. And you're right. At first I didn't have them warm enough so I got a seed heat mat. All my other cuttings are on their way but these are soooo stubborn!

I had asked my dad to take pics of the leaves & fruit when he gets a chance & he said he will.

I will also have him get some longer branches & try new growth.



Thank you for the replies! I can still try a couple of things!

jenn, I would try a couple with and without the Clonex. Do you have or did you order a humidity dome for the RR cube tray? If not you will need to find
a way to increase and hold the humidity  up  while rooting them.

No I didn't get the humidity dome but I have them in a plastic bin that has pretty good humidity. There is condensation on the walls of the bin all the time. Will that be good enough?

jenn, that should work fine. You will need to watch the humidity and not let it get out of control, or else mold issues. I keep my RR cubes wet with
a spray bottle.

Thanks Mike! I will get that started tomorrow & see what happens.

I think I will call my dad & have him cut some longer branches too.

the tree itself was probably 7-8ft tall and the main trunk was probably 12-14" wide. REALLY old tree. With all the branches it was about 20ft wide.

Thanks again for everyone's help! I greatly appreciate it!

If you have access to the tree, try air-layering some limbs. 

Jenifer,as long as there is no rot, mold or fungus don't worry, all you have to do it wait;) They have their own time clocks. from time to time you might want to change the paper towel into fresh moist ones, squeeze the paper towel really well and apply loosely over the cutting leaving the top and bottom one inch uncovered. If you see mold or fungus, just wash the cutting gently to get rid of them. you might want to read this ;)Anyone tried this?

Hi Jen, If you search some of my posts you'll see how I do it I recommend wet perlite and bottom heat if you can improvise some how. Heat mats are not too costly on amazon and you can use a digital meat thermometer to monitor the perlite temp.

Hi Jenn,
Here goes my way of cooking the cuttings :
take 20 centimeters/3'' cuttings with tips
Put them in a pot with compost.
Put the pot in a dark bucket
Put 1 centimeter water in the bucket
seal the bucket with / put the whole bucket in / a dark plastic bag.
Forget it in a room corner with no light for 4 weeks - at 20°C temp .
They should be by then at bud-break stage.
Bring them to light .
Just water them once a week only .
Let me know if it works for you :) - It is a good recipe .

James,

I totally forgot about air layering. If all else fails I will give it a try too.


Aaron,

I can try the cinnamon on a couple too. I guess i might be a little impatient. The 3 other varieties I started with those are all rooted, which is why I thought something was wrong with the cuttings

Thank ya'll soooo much!! I've got a couple of things to try and I will try to update if anything works.

Just wanted to post an update on the "old tree cuttings". I finally got one to root in moss! It had about a 1/2" root! Boy was I happy!

I had left all the others in their soil bags (like uline bags) and just left them alone. Well truthfully I forgot about them. They were in the back of my bin and I just never checked them till last night. I found 4 that had some serious roots! I was really surprised to say the least because I had pretty much given up on them Yeah! Now I'm glad I forgot about them :)

I tried to attach some pics, but it says my file size is too large.....sorry about that. I don't know how to make my phone take smaller sized pics. But I will try & get that figured out soon :)

Well, I use an android, and am clueless about mac products.  My son won't allow it!  LOL!  One day long ago, when I decided to buy a computer, he said, "Ma!  Get a Mac!  You are too stupid for a PC!"  That did it!!  All pc and adroid here, and I'm good with it!  LOL!!  Too stupid?  Seriously?

But the android gives you a choice of size when you send the picture to yourself.  Choose small.

Suzi

You can email the picture to yourself first, and you'll be asked what file size you want.
Pick a size around 150 kB, then open the email you sent to yourself, save the image into your images folder.
Easy cheat.

Ya'll are too smart!! Fixing to try it.

Congratulations!  I think the file size has to be under 100K.

You know we're all helping you for a cost, right?
Your father's gonna question the new friends you found, who keep asking you to ask him to prune some more!
These kids, mailing sticks to each other!

Lol thats funny Ruuting!

Ok it took me some time but I think I figured it out. Let's see :)