I decided to do a little experiment this year, since I normally rush to get my rooted sticks out cups and into 1gal pots.  I decided I would play around a little bit this year on the last five of cuttings I had that struck roots - five total, a mix of Vernino (ucd), Foxcroft (jd) and Excel (ucd) - just to see how they react to being in cups all year.

So I did.

I took some photos after potting up my pineapple guava today (new addition to my back deck)

I was absolutely not scientific about my process by any stretch, I'm just sharing an experience, so kindly keep this in mind while reading.  I lost some stuff in cups and 1gal pots during my 2 weeks overseas.

Basic setup/background: 

* Started with 110 cuttings total
* 103 cuttings struck
* 91 of those 103 developed root systems in cups
* 17 of the 91 rotted, died or fizzled out in cups
* 69 of the 74 remaining were transplanted to 1gal or 2gal pots
* 24 of the 69 died within 4 weeks of transplant
* 5 of the 74 were left in cups for the season
* 45 figs in pots left, 5 figs in cups left
* 4 of those 5 in cups were transplanted to 1gal 


In a nutshell, I found that most (4 out of 5) of the figs I left in cups for the season grew better than most of my up-potted plants.  My re-pot survival rate for figs left in cups for the year was 100%, while the re-pot survival rate rushing to get things into pots at the start of the season which was 66%. 

For the (1 out of 5) that didn't grow as well as my early up-potted plants, the cutting has been struggling for a while with FMV.  It was the Vernino (ucd), and its FMV-infection seems to be stunting its growth. 

Also interesting is this.  I played with up-potting to 1gal plastic containers and 2gal terra cotta (clay) pots.  I found that I saw the best growth (to a large degree) using the clay terra cotta pots versus the typical plastic 1gal nursery pot.  I speculate this could be because terra cotta pots have a habit of leeching water from the soil, so maybe they actually helped to stabilize moisture of the soil?  Not sure.

Here are some pictures of my trials.  I got really lovely root systems out of the cupped cuttings after 5~7 months.  I think I will do this again this coming season with half of my cuttings, and do Jon V's newly-improved improved baggie method.

Here are the figs in cups, with root systems and growth.  Ignore the RdB in the back 1gal black pot, that was a gift from a friend ;)

Here are some random samples of 1gal trees as a comparison.  Middle picture is Conadria (ejp), Deleon (rf) and Conadria (ucd). 

Mind you, due to travel, I was constantly in and out, so my trees have been subjected to mostly shade, which has resulted in stunted growth for the year.  My cups were subjected to the same treatment, though.

Finally, one of my real winners and best grower of the year ... Gino's Black.  This thing loooooved the terra cotta pot.  I had another 1gal that I sent to a friend last week, it also leapt up pretty well, but this one ... 16" of growth in the last 4 weeks.

Very nice!  Did you play around at all with the soil you were using?

i did during the rooting phase.  by the time it was over, i was somewhere between 60/40 and 75/25 of perlite/Fafard 3B

the mixture seems to be working really well.  I figure ... why ruin a good thing?

i started a fertilizer regimen recently as well - and realized if you don't dilute a 3-1-2 ratio fertilizer like Miracle Grow, you'll end up with wilted leaves and near death.  i had to start diluting to half or quarter strength and it seems to have worked really well. 

Jason, I really enjoyed reading your research!  For me here in the Carolinas, when I transplanted cuttings from bottles to pots, I transplanted mine twice.  First from bottles to 1 quart size containers of 50/50 perlite/Pro-mix.  Then after about 3 months, I repot them again to 1gal superoot pots.  Then in early Fall I repot them to 2 gal plastic containers with 100% Pro-mix which has a lot of perilte in it.  I tried adding more perlite but it made my mixture fast draining and I ended up watering more.  I use to use a different mix months ago until I found Pro Mix.  Its pretty good stuff.

I also have to place my young trees outdoors covered.  I tried full sun and it was just too much in my area.  Heck I had to place some of my 2 and 3 yr old trees in shade because it was so hot this summer.  The sun just burned the leaves.  Also, like you I can not liquid feed my trees with a 50% liquid feed.  I have to feed mine with 25% liquid fertilizer.  It was just too strong.  It is good to see another on this forum learning like me and some of our results is the same.  Again, thanks for sharing....good research.  cheers,

Hi Jason,

What size cups do you use that you could keep the trees in them for the first year?  Also, it looks like you put them in clear cups and put the clear cups into the opaque cups.

noss

I use 16oz cups.  For reference, if you're "conversion impaired" like me...

16oz = 1 pint
32oz = 1 quart
68oz = about 2 liters
128oz = 1 gallon

My potting environment of choice is a clear storage bin.  I built a wooden frame with wire mesh over it to raise the cups off the floor of the bin.  I keep my bin mostly sealed with the lid on.  I keep my bins away from direct sunlight, in a sunny room.

I root my cuttings in 16oz clear cups.  The cups have eight 1/2" holes burned into them - 3 holes around the middle of the cup and 5 holes in the bottom (the pattern matches the 5-dot pattern of dice).  Inside the cups, I use a mix of about 75% Perlite, with 25% of my favorite non-fertilized potting mix (Fafard 3B).  I do not use any fertilizer on my cuttings while they are in the bins - cuttings have energy stores inside, all they need is humidity (water + air) to root and grow vigorously.  The 25% of potting mix contains enough nutrients to carry the plants over for several months once they get to that point.

You also noticed the 16oz red cups. Roots do not like sunlight.  The red cup is used to hide the roots from sunlight once they leave their home in the bin.  The red cup has the bottom cut off so the clear cup is still able to drain freely.  By removing the bottom of the red cup and leaving the sides whole, the 3 holes in my cup are covered, while the bottom is not.  This stops evaporation from the 3 holes in the middle of the cup which means I need to water less when the plants get sunlight.  Watering newly rooted cuttings is a dangerous task, so I want to do it as little and lightly as possible - it's really easy to drown newly rooted cuttings and/or keep them so wet that they rot (mold). 

When the clear cups show good root growth, I take them out of the bins, "sleeve" them with the bottom-less red cups, start them on 1/4 strength root stimulator and gradually adjust to part sun exposure.  After good top growth has started (like you see in pics above), I use 1/4 strength of a liquid fertilizer with a ratio of 3-1-2 (12-4-8 is normal).  This usually ends up being a few drops per gallon of water.

When my figs come out of the bins (my bin is pictured), here is how I set them up in trays, with the red cups sleeving the clear cups.

As you can see, there is snow on the ground in the background, I do most of my rooting in winter.  During growing season, airlayering is a thousand times more effective than using the baggie -> cup method.  I wouldn't bother with cups during the growing season, that's just me.  You get a better product from airlayering.

Jason my hats of to you.
Your pictures , explanations on what you do are great.
You do excellent in my opinion .
Im sure you have helped a bunch of folks and they can refer back to these threads of yours soon as wintertime is near and scion will be used to root once again.

Hi Jason,

I second what Martin said.  Thanks for the really great details on how you take care of cuttings.

noss

I'm just hoping that my experience helps.

I openly admit that prior to finding F4F and the GW forums, I had never thought of using clear cups for rooting, this was a huge "AHA!" for me.  If I had realized this 20 years ago, I would have had a lot easier time rooting every other thing I've rooted. 

Wonderful thread.   These kinds should be stickied.  Or maybe divide up the forum into sections - general chat, propagation, cultivar choices, recipes, etc.   

Those of us who are new would be overjoyed to find threads like this stickied at the top of the propagation forum.  :o)

Valerie
Zone 6b