I have a problem. My cuttings which seem to be thriving are loosing their leaves.

It will look just a little bit limp not to the point you say it is wilted and then the next day full wilt and then it falls off the next usually. There does not appear to be any mechanical damage or insect damage. There is no loss of color either. The temps are mid 80's day and mid 70's night. All are in the shade.

They are not dried out and in fact I'm concerned they are too wet due to our high humidity and rains we've had. I'm basing this on pot weight. They feel heavy. Heavier than when I potted them up. I'm thinking that my problem is the mix. 70/30 70% Fertilome potting mix w no fertilizer and 30% large Perlite.

Should the majority of the mix be Perlite instead of the potting mix?

Should I gently repot them?

Should just have a drink and wait and see?

I'm guessing that 50% of my success stories are circling the bowl. It is not any one cultivar and none seem immune. I've lost at least one of all and that is not good when only one rooted of some!

too much water sounds possible.. are they under something where they are not getting rained on? i keep all my cuttings on my front porch where they won't get rained on.

i use 50/50 seedling soil, and perlite off the shelf. usually i need to water them once every 4 or 5 days. if they look wilted but the cup is still heavy, i sometimes mist them depends on how hot that day is.

pete

They are under a large grapefruit tree so I guess they get 80% of the rain but not in a forceful shower. I haven't had to water except for once about two weeks ago. I did mist them lightly when I saw the wilt.

Another thing they are not doing this in mass only one at a time. Quite odd.

Check the root health on 1 of the victims. If the roots are brown and mushy they are too wet.....and mostly dead. I have transplanted several in this state and about 30% survive. I use 60% pine bark fines and40% perlite for my young cuttings now.

I have no advice but have noticed when I move some of my rooted cuttings outside (still in their original 50% perlite/potting soil mix) some are more prone to wilting than others. I keep watch, and bring back inside into higher humidity situation any that wilt more than I like - I figure their roots aren't as well developed as needed to survive outside. Mine are still in newly rooted stage however.

Many (most?) figs come from Mediterranean climates that generally get no rain from spring till late fall. Of course we humans often grow them in containers that require watering. I guess my point is, be careful about all that wet stuff that falls from the sky.

at first, watering was the hardest part. figuring out just the right amount. then i realized.. i can water and just drain them. i think taplas post in other forum mentioned about tilting the container at an angle and it will drain the water. also putting some sort of "wick" to have the water flow through the bottom.

on smaller containers, i usually tilt the pot at about 45 angle after watering. that seems to drain most of standing water. on larger containers, i just stuck paracord in the bottom. but with larger container, it's hot enough here that they need to sit on water most of the day.

cuttings in cup is little tricky. that's why i use peat pot. if it's really dry, the peat pot inside of the cup will turn light colour and weight's almost nothing. that's when i water them.. when the peat pot turns khaki or the cup is really really light.. whichever comes first. and i keep them out of rain.

pete

Sounds like too much water to me.

grant
z5b

Ditto on too much water. If there very small plants too much water can do them in heck too much water can do in a little bigger plant sometimes .

Thanks all,

It looks like I probably need to modify my mix some to insure proper aeration of the roots and aid drainage. It is very humid outside here so I think they can stay outside IF I have a good draining mix.

I'll do some exploratory work on some of them and see what I can find.