Hi ampersand,
Try rooting in total darkness in an humid environment like a sealed dark bucket. That should slow leafing out . Let them in total darkness for 6 to 8 weeks and then
bring them to light. If some try to leaf out in darkness, then take them asap to a source of light.
IMO, if you get too many bud breaks, it is because of the ambient light encouraging the leaves to show up .

Hi Tim, that is an amazing setup! I'm new so I hope you don't mind my asking but how does putting 2 cuttings in one pot help with the rooting and growing process?

- Fiona

Fiona, thank you for the kind words. As for the two cuttings, it doesn't do anything magical other than increase the odds of at least one being successful (which is all I need). Think of it like flipping a coin for heads. The more times you flip, the more likely you are to get heads at least once (unless it's rigged!). If more than one "take" then I'll simply have several branches starting at or near ground level, which is how i grow my trees anyways (bush vs tree form). I try to orient the buds when sticking the cuttings so that if more than one does take, the branches won't head in the same direction. Hope that makes sense!

Thought I'd update with a few pics. The oldest cuttings are coming along nicely. It's hard to believe, but we're only about a month to a month and a half from taking these outside.

Nicely done. How did you figure out your watering issue? I've got about 230 pots going now and I have been mostly watering with a pump sprayer. They are too young for the rain wand.

I've been using a small watering can that just has a spout instead of the "rain" pattern of most. It serves me pretty well, isn't too heavy, and maybe takes an hour to water them all. On the established cuttings I water all I want. I'm much more cautious with the ones just starting out and let them dry out a little more. I don't weigh them individually but I do lift them to see if they feel light.

One thing I've noticed is that many of them will lose a leaf or two when they just start out but seem to stop by about the third leaf. I expect this is due either to overwatering or lack of roots to support the top growth. This may be less of a factor with a more humid environment (my basement is still around 35% humidity). Loss percentage has been pretty good but I won't do any final calculations until they're transitioned out into the sun. Some won't lose any leaves at all and take right off. These seem to have the most robust growth and largest leaves.

One other tricky thing is balancing those plants that really take off with those that aren't as quick. If I see plants shading others out, I'll move and make room for the small one elsewhere so it can get its share of the lights. This could be avoided if I didn't fill up my frames completely but I'm trying to get as many plants going as I can this spring.

One other thing, don't give up on plants that either just sit there or where the top seems to shrivel up a bit. I've had several plants push out buds from below the soil surface after the top was seemingly dead. If I see a plant that looks dead or there are no signs of life, I'll set it off to the side of the frames and still water it occasionally in case it's in the process of pushing growth from a lower bud. Maybe 10-25% of "failures" recover this way.

They're just about ready for sale and potting up! This was a good year with an overall take rate of 89%. I had some varieties root at 100% but others were complete failures. Varieties that rooted poorly last year did fine this year (Florea being one). I'm thinking the difference was in the quality of the cuttings. ProMix BX versus HP seemed to make no difference, so I'm going to stick with BX most likely as it's cheaper for me.

PS - Sorry for the sideways photo. On another note, the figs seemed to sunburn less this year when transitioning them out. Not sure why.

Strong work!

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Hello Tim,
    Since promix BX or promix HP don't have any fertilizer, when do you start feeding the plants as they root? Any specific method? Do you top dress with fertilizer or fertigate? Any information will be very helpful.

I haven't seen anyone using rockwool, I always liked using it in trays. Misting systems can be as elaborate and expensive as your wallet can bear. Wetting the mix is easy in a wagon with a shovel and garden hose. I have found the cheaper the mix the more sticks it had which isn't a big deal in pots. One year the premo mix brand used iron to control problems and got into trouble with growers. If you are wondering I helped dad with his greenhouses when I was a pup.

You may consider watering from the bottom and then draining the tray once wet, this keeps the foliage dry and helps with disease control you just need trays with no holes.

Tim: what size bags are those in your photo and where do you get them? Also, what do you use to punch holes? I am really liking the bag method for rooting. It's easy to do in smalk space and it sure does help monitor because u see the roots.

Sorry, for some reason I'm just now seeing replies to this.

@sbmohan, as I understand it, ProMix BX and HP both have a little fertilizer charge, just enough to get things going. There aren't any hard and fast rules I follow for fertilizing and I've changed up the way I do things from year to year. If I had to give a rule, I'd say I start fertilizing once the plant has at least three healthy leaves and is holding them. I've often done a water soluble fertilizer but also like the time-release top dress fertilizer. Both seem to work well.

Rather than do it at each watering, I'll typically wait until the leaves aren't looking quite as green as I think they should (I know that's vague and subjective). That's probably not ideal though. So I'd value input from others here. A weak feeding at each watering might be best.

@Smyfigs: Those bags aren't my photos. I do not use bags, but rather direct-pot them into 4x4x9 treepots. Bags just add an extra step (and extra material) that I'm not interested in doing. However, if it works well for you, more power to you :-)

You guys are great!  I love seeing the pics and reading all of your great ideas.  I am rooting a few right now using the bag method shown above.  Although I don't use those incredible "fish bags."  I think I may have to find some as it seems they are VERY spacious.  Congrats on the soon to be fruits of all your labors guys!

Thanks Tim for your feed back. Appreciate it!!!