When do you take the green cuttings out of moisture rich environment?

I assume when the roots are well developed enough they can provide water and nutrient to the top without being in enclosure, but what if you can't see the roots?

Just guess by the top development? If it dries out outside of bin, just put it back in and wait couple of more weeks?

Pete

If you give a little gentle tug on the cutting and it offers resistance, you probably have some roots holding on. Any change in environment including humidity, should be done gradually over a period of time. Slight changes every few days until fully exposed to the outdoors. This process should take a couple weeks.

so... i should leave the bin open to ventilate for an hour or so first day.. and 2.. and so on until i can take them completely out of the bin.. ok, i can do that..

pete

Pete, how green are your cuttings and what methods are you using?  Are they tender/soft? I have never had much luck with green fig cuttings, but I am very eager to learn. Thanks.

cheahafig,

they are not soft soft growth.. i mean, they haven't harden up and started turning light brown, but they are not too soft that they can't stand up straight. i've cut off all the really soft parts.

i like my cuttings around 4-5" with at least 3 nodes.

i read bass's method on how to root soft/green cutting, and read forum for any difference on what the people are doing. i'm not seeing lot of difference as far as the conditions are concerned. i mean, way they set up is different like 5 cuttings in 1 gal pot.. start from bag.. all sorts. but what i'm reading is that most important part is keeping the moisture around the top so the cutting will not dry out while it's rooting and putting out leaves.

what i did was test the cutting to see which part will dry out really quick, and which part will hold itself up. once i choose the cuttings that i want to root, i used peat pot method. i ran out of peat pot in the middle of it, and couple of 'em went straight into the cup with soil mix.

one thing i do need to mention is that, they all had root initials during the transit to my house. so that made it simple for me. from what i have read, people do not seem to start the green cuttings from the bag.

i'm keeping all my green cuttings in a bin and kept them outside. and they are just starting to put out leaves. it's been about a week now.

pete

Pete,

I started some unknown green cuttings earlier this season with good success. I dipped each in rooting hormone (I know, not necessarily necessary) and put each one into a cup with 1/2 perlite and 1/2 potting mix. The cups went into a big plastic bin with a lid for humidity. This was all indoors since temperatures were too variable at night outdoors.

While daily battling fungus gnats, I waited until the roots were fairly long before repotting and placing outside. Some cuttings sprouted a new leaf or two in the bin; some did not. Almost all did so after getting used to the outside conditions. Even if the cuttings dropped all leaves due to exposure, they soon got new ones. It is not a fast process. Be patient. I still have a few stragglers.

I recently got some new green cuttings from a friend on the forum. I am doing everything outside, using Dan's Cajun Fig blog method. No hormone. Plenty humid outside here in NC now. I just roughed the cutting end up and stuck it into good draining medium. I have placed the cuttings in the shade and will now leave them alone.

john,

i tried doing that last year, just sticking it into soil mix and leaving outside.. that didn't work for me. the cutting dried up before it had chance to do anything.

not sure why it failed.. i heard lot of people doing that with good results. i might give it a shot this year.

pete

I should try some. I have a LSU that is either Gold or Purple. I could root them and when I find out what they are then I could label them correctly. I kinda like the stick it and forget it method.

Lol, wouldn't that make life easy...

I'm planning on doing some experimenting with cuttings this summer to see what works best for my environment... and temperment. :)

Thank goodness this is all fun.

A couple weeks ago I got some fresh cuttings from a Mission fig - one of the caretakers at one of the original California Mission's garden gave me a couple small branches to root from their established tree. These were actively growing with leaves.

When home, I removed the leaf blades, cut them into 4-5 inch lengths, and layered the 4 resulting greenwood cuttings totally beneath just damp mix (half potting mix, half perlite) very lightly put on top. These were in little open trays (much like tupperware, but no lids) that were put into larger bins with lid kept ajar for aeration. Humidity is very low here now. And today, 2 of them have the smallest of root initials showing. 

For the practice of using another technique, the same day I also started a few others cuttings from an unknown tree the same way. Root initials are also forming on a couple of those cuttings too. Still too small to thansplant however. But soon. How exciting.

All the cuttings are still plump and green, no buds growing, and there is no sign of rot at all. 

Green cuttings are amazing,

Pete