This is my first year of rooting figs over the winter, and it did not start out very good:

1) bought several cuttings on Ebay and tried the baggie/paper towel method -- all molded.

2) bought some more and tried baggie/spagh moss -- all molded.

3) tried one rare cutting straight into dirt in a humidity dome -- started well until gnats killed it.

I was ready to give up and only grow whatever I could afford to buy from nurseries when a couple kind members of this forum offered to send me some cuttings. This time I used a humidity bin and 16oz clear cups filled with vermicile and spagh mix. Ronde de Bordoux; Italian 258; Sal's; Black Mission; Battagalia's green, Black Jack, and Neggrette

Now these have been in the humidity bin for about one month and I am seeing roots!!!! I have 14 cuttings total in there, and there roots are clearly visible on at least 9 of them. 

I am so excited! Figging season is looking up now!!

Congrats Gene! This is my first time trying cuttings as well. I hope mine end up going as well as yours are now.

John

Congratulations!  My first round has been hit or miss  too.  I got some of my first roots showing about two weeks ago!  But I've had a problem with small leaves dropping from some of the new shoots, so it's not home free yet!  Good luck with your cuttings!

Congrats on the roots! You have a nice selection, best of luck with them.

That's great news, Gene! There are many of us new to this, so it's nice to hear you are having success. Cheers!

I think the big problem for me has been keeping the heat up. I have a heating pad under the bin, but it still runs low 70s most of the time. If I do this again I need to find a way to do a better job of bottom heating the bin.

Nicely Done Gene. Now you know what works for you. Nice to here a success story.

Aloha and congratulations, Gene!  I was also at wits end with mold, rot, and gnat issues too.  I was ready to call it quits, especially considering that these sticks cost some considerable amounts of money.  But then I followed the advice from several forum members - PATIENCE!  and cup 'em up and place 'em in humidity bins.  In about a little less than a month or so, SUCCESS!  It's still a battle with balance of proper humidity and warmth, but I think it's more under control now.  Congrats, again and aloha all around!

Nate

Nice, I hope they continue to thrive for you! Ive learned the hard way this season with about 80% loss after cupping and seeing roots in the cups. All it takes is 1 time over watering and gnats show up and its game over. Not trying to killing your buzz here, just saying to stay vigilant! I learned a lot of lessons this spring the hard way.

I am watering only when I stop seeing moisture on the insides of the cup, and then by sitting them in a pan of water for 10-20 min. No top watering. Hopefully that will keep the gnats at bay.

also, I still have several cuttings in reserve in the fridge. I plan to start them outside straight in dirt-over-sand when the weather is a little warmer.

100% perlite in quart cups on a 80 F heat mat in a humidity chamber under a light until you see roots and leaves. ... Recipe for success

Gene  Glad for your success,  I am a newbie here but just wanted to offer you a word of caution.  After I had to throw bins and bins AND bins of cuttings away that I had bought on ebay,  i thought I was going to have to stop this ' figging ' thing because it was too depressing for me.  I would have success in the humidity bin and then my roots would start to rot.  So my advice is, you make want to check w/others about potting up again when you are seeing good root growth on the side of the cups.   I may still  have to quit this but here I am again!

Jennifer

Jennifer raised a good point. When to pot up?

I was going to wait until the roots were "all over the place" on the sides of the cups. I would almost rather them a little root bound in the cups than move them too soon.

Also, isn't it key to use lots of perlite in the pot-up mix? I was thinking about adding a bunch of it to regular potting mix so that it is maybe 50% of the total? Would that make a good potting-up mix?

I remember last year sweating out my cuttings. Last year was year #1 for me. Eventually, some sticks rooted, and grew well through the summer. But now, I'm back where I was last year, sweating it out all over again.

One thing I noticed when rooting green cuttings this fall, let it get really dry between watering. I even starved out a round of fungus gnats this way!

 Anyhow, good luck fellow newbies and happy spring (eventually).

Hi Gene,

This is my first year too and after some help from forum members with a mold issue I have 6 potted up to 1 gallons! My mix for cups was 2/3 mg pearlite and 1/3 mg seed starting mix. I watered ONLY when cups felt light. I rarely ever saw drops on side of cups and no mold and no gnats. Even in 1 gallons I am not watering unless pot feels light or leaves start to wilt a little. Oh and no heat pad. I dont feel safe with them on and nobody home. Room is 72 F.

Rich, do you use a professional heat mat, or something you have made?

I am using a simple health heating pad on a timer so it doesn't overheat.

I have used Riot Riot cubes for the last two years with great (in my opinion) success.  They are really easy to use and I can pack 72 or so into a standard seedling tray.  I purchased several high (7") dome tops and drop the trays on my seedling heat mat.

I check every day or so to make sure the cubes don't dry out from all the evaporation/condensation - there can be high humidity but the cube itself can dry out which is bad.  The cubes are more prone to drying out as the population in the tray dwindles from rooted figs being removed.

I use root hormone and try (when I'm not too lazy) to score the root end, but I'm not terribly concerned by that - they will either grow or not.

Purchased the dome and bags of cubes at a (relatively) close hydro store I found on the internet that carries the product and covers.  I didn't want to wait for Amazon and not be able to see which domes I was getting; there were mixed reviews on a version A or B dome being shipped at that time.

Whatever route you choose, just try not to panic <g>.

Andrew

I forgot to mention I tried something different on the round of cuttings in this bin this time. I lightly scored the bottom ends of the cuttings and powdered them with a mixture of rooting hormone and cinnamon. I heard the rooting powder could cause mold problems, so I mixed it 50/50 with cinnamon for its anti-mold qualities.