Been busy the past few weeks working on a rooting setup that will support a larger number of figs. We went from around 150 last year to almost 450 this year, so some changes were definitely needed. Each set of tables holds 150 figs, and I have 3 sets of tables. I root everything in my basement currently but will hopefully root in a greenhouse eventually. The basement is kinda nice though because the temperatures don't swing greatly and it's relatively cool (around 66-68) so the rooting process is somewhat slow and steady. My method of rooting is pretty much the same as last year's with a few differences:

- Using the same 4x4x9" Stuewe pots but made my own frames (see pic) after finding that their carriers didn't really hold up. The new ones should work for years and carry more pots (25 vs 12), but boy they're pretty heavy!

Looking good my friend. Best of luck with your rooting and new farm.

Hey

Looks like a nice carrier-holder.  Most likely too heavy for me these days but smaller...
Hope everything roots well.
I mixed small pine bark nuggets with my Promix.
Not sure which I was using since I have switched since moving down here

Looks like you should have a lot of trees to sell or plant.  Best of luck with them.

Looks great! Keep up the fantastic work.

Do you need to move the lights to water?  Is it possible to make the tables mobile (via something like casters)?  Or maybe something like rope ratchets would make adjusting the lights less arduous.  Just throwing ideas out there.  Not sure if they're practical in your setup.

This was my set up last year and will be my setup again this year.

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/acclimating-new-figs-to-the-cold-6280934?pid=1277492575#post1277492575

I did not find that soil temp was a big factor. It may have taken a little longer for my figs to grow out but they were all pre rooted inside before going into the hoop house. As far as watering goes. I use a rainmaker wand. That may not be practical in your basement. I use the Steuwe trays. They work fine for me. I fill them 12 at a time. I put all 12 with tray into a large Rubbermaid container and fill all 12 at once letting the mix just spill all over. Once all 12 are full just pull out the tray and dump out the leftover soil as necessary. I will be potting about 300 this spring so we'll see how it goes. I do 50% pine bark fines and 50% Pro Mix HP.

Tim, I also have fluorescents hanging from chain.
I clamped an extra link on each side of the hanging chain, a couple of feet above the fixture, leaving one end open to use as a hook.
When I have to tend to the plants, I lift up the fixture and hook it higher up, to get better access to the plants.
Easy to move up and down with the plants' growth, too.
Nice setup you have.

I'm a couple months into rooting now, following a similar system(less plants though!).   Thanks again for posting this tech on your blog, Tim, it got me going.  My containers are plastic sleeves that have similar dimensions to the treepots, but are clear so I can monitor root development, and these are packed 24 to a bin.  The bins I use are folding/collapsible plastic produce bins with open slats.  To water, I initially was carefully watering from above with a baster, then seeing that the medium toward the bottom of the pots was drying out, I've switched to giving each bin a few seconds' dunk into a water-filled tray.  After, I put the bin into a dry tray to drain.  Doesn't take long to water 4 bins, and the water gets to the root zone without having to wet down the surface.   I need to do this every 3-4 days with the most advanced cuttings:


 

 

I've got them under t12 shoplights currently, I bet they will really start shooting up once they meet the 600W HPS.

Looks great Tim, thanks for sharing! I'm using this method, good results so far. I added a layer of limestone screens on my pots to slow moisture loss and control gnats. Adds a lot of weight though.  

Thanks for all of the comments. About 150-200 of these plants will become producing plants in our orchard, and the remaining ones I hope to sell.

Thanks as well for some of the ideas for making watering easier: tables on casters, a more flexible rigging system with some extra hooks perhaps

Sounds like others are using ProMix HP with some success but have similar issues with keeping the medium moist on top. In a greenhouse I don't think this would be as much of an issue. Hopefully within a month or so the cuttings will be really going and I won't have to "baby" them this way. Once they're really going it seems really hard to overwater them.

For those using pine bark fines mixed with the ProMix, what was your reasoning behind it? Better aeration?

Kelby, I used to have issues with fungus gnats but haven't had any since switching to promix bales. I used to use miracle grow and some other stuff and was always fighting them. I don't know if their QC is better or the packaging of the stuff limits the gnats from laying eggs in the medium.That's just my 0.02. When I did have issues with fungus gnats I would stick one of those mosquito dunks (you can find at walmart) in my watering can. It contains Bt and seemed to take care of them.

One important thing I did change this year: I hardly ever root tip cuttings, and if I do, I'll remove the terminal bud. With wrapping with parafilm I think it's difficult for the topmost bud to break when it's wrapped like that. Most of the lateral buds seem to push through the parafilm just fine.

For watering, you could always rig a flood and drain table/basin to the bottom of your existing pot holding table. It wouldn't be too difficult to make the addition and you can have a reservoir and pump under each table.

Nice set-up.  I have also rooted cuttings directly in HP Promix with decent results.  The only difference is that I placed mine in humidity bins so my issue was the potting mix staying to wet as opposed to drying out.

Wrapping each cutting in parafilm could be pretty labor intensive.  Do you think dipping the cutting in Gulf wax would serve the same purpose?

Tim, it looks great but what do you use to deal with gnats?

I use pine bark fines to help with aeration and to reduce overall cost. The PBF are 1/3 or less the price of Pro Mix HP. Works great.

Bill, I'm not familiar with gulf wax but anything that's breathable but prevents desiccation should work. Parafilm is a wax-like product. It does take a bit of time to wrap the ends of each one. Anyone on the forum experiement with it that you know?

Steve, I have no fungus gnats. Since using ProMix HP or BX in the larger bales I haven't seen any. I do not overwinter any other plants next to the figs which can be sources of bugs (last year spider mites were really bad due to a houseplant under the lights alongside the figs until I was able to get the plants outdoors).

In past years when I did have fungus gnats I used a pond mosquito control product that contained a bacterium to take care of them. Seemed to work pretty well.

Interesting note about the PBF. My only concern with them (maybe unfounded) would be bring in overwintering insects. I use it in my potting mixes and it is a nice and inexpensive product.

Calvin, interesting idea on bottom watering. My only concern (again, maybe unfounded) would be that it'd draw up too much moisture and lead to rot. Once the plants are rooted it would be a great quick option for watering.

Thanks for some great ideas, all. I can always stand to improve and cut down on time.

Tim I am new to rooting figs and so far seem to have no success. I am learning and going to try your method with some new cuttings. Can you clarify your success rate? Since you put two cuttings in each pot is your 93 percent success rate per pot or cutting? I think I may live near your farm and depending on my luck with cuttings I may be interested in buying some plants from you this spring.

Dmiller, my success rate last year was with primarily single-stuck plants (there were a few where I had extras and put in two per pot, but not a large percentage), so it's per cutting. I've experimented with a few methods and this has given me the best success rate by far. Good luck with your own rooting!

Would be happy to have you stop by the farm this spring. We'll have plants available around mid-May timeframe (though I certainly wish you luck with your own cuttings!).

Tim, I ordered the Parafilm online.  I could not find Pro Mix BX locally, where do you purchase it?  I did see PRO Mix HP at Lowes and Home Depot.  Is that okay?  Where do you suggest I get BX in Harrisburg area?  thank you

ProMix HP is what I use now, so it would be a good choice. ProMix BX is what I've used in the past and it's worked well too. I've found it at local Agways.

I wonder how much draping some clear plastic sheeting over the pots (maybe with some supports attached to the frames) would help out with the drying out.  It should help to keep the humidity up and limit the evaporation.  It wouldn't make it any easier to water, though.  Those frames look pretty nice, too. 

Tim, how do you handle cuttings that send out shoots before roots?

I've lost several to this since the shoots dry out and cutting dies.

I have some doing it currently that I've covered with large clear plastic bags, but I have no idea if it will keep the shoots alive until roots develop.

Kelby,

I'm unable to see which of mine do this (due to black pots), but I imagine some of those that die are doing this. There's really no way of controlling which comes first (roots vs shoots) that I know of (maybe rooting hormone? I don't use it), so you're probably best off handling it the way you are.

I've had several cuttings put off an initial leaf only to have it fall off. Some of the cuttings will recover by presumably photosynthesizing enough with the green tip or stem to put out roots and eventually push out new leaves. I've seen some where the initial bud will die but one below it (even below the potting mix surface) will push out. So, don't give up too early!

That said, I imagine this shouldn't happen to a large percentage of your cuttings. Even with this happening I still had a very high success rate (90+%) and I did nothing to temporarily increase humidity. And that's with an ambient humidity in the 30-40% range.

I'd love to do some good stats on this method to determine best chances for success but there are just too many variables in my mind: diameter of cutting, health of parent plant, differences between cultivars, age of parent plant, chilling hours elapsed, potential tissue damage due to cold, viability of dormant buds, pot type, buried depth, watering technique, etc etc. The best we can do is to offer anecdotal evidence as to what works best and experiment from there.

Thanks Tim! I only know they didn't root by gently moving them in the pot after the leaves shriveled off.

I haven't done many cuttings this way yet, but certain varieties seem more prone to doing it (likely other factors at play like you listed). From the first small batch most have rooted beautifully without a problem, some even sprouted below the soil line and above. They just sit in my living room window, no heating mats or anything special. I've found heating mats seem to accelerate root rot in some cuttings, so I unplugged it.

I did just try a handful using the wounding and rooting hormone method recently posted by penandpike, hopefully that will help for tough to root varieties.