Having some fun experimenting with container and different perlite.
I enjoy useing this container this season for rooting for me its simple.

I previously rooted a 2 year old piece of scion called dark portuguese now just opening a few small shoots. For size i put my thumb behing the scion in that picture, i used small saw to cut the piece off the tree.

Also showing some skiny violet de bordeaux of this season scion.
I mix mother perlite the "big chunks" and some potting soil pre wetted in black 4 inch pots for my other cuttings this season .
I then fill the top inch of container with regular perlite (dry) as experiment to see if knats come around.
So far no knats after about 45 days or so in 2 large plastic bins with other cuttings.
I really look forward to spring as this winter so far is below normal temp wise .
If you want click on the thumbnails to see larger picture.

Hi Martin.  Could I please ask two quick questions:

1) Is it too early to start rooting figs indoors?; and

2) I already started a few dozen (about a month ago) and I noticed gnats this morning.  Do the gnats harm the figs, and how can you get rid of them?

Thank you my friend.

John
North Georgia Piedmont
Zone 7b

p.s.  The figs are already leafing out and other than the gnats everything is going great.

i started figs indoors this time last year and did well.

Thanks Jason.  How big did they get on average before it was warm enough for you to set them out?

Hope all is well with you my friend.

Best wishes.

John

Thx John, hope the holidays have treated you well.

On average, I saw no more than 8"-12" growth by spring.  It was incredibly manageable to keep them indoors.  I didn't bother to transplant the vast majority until early summer.

Hi John,
my opinion only (everyone different ) is that ist never too early to start figs indoors as long as you can sustain them. I used the food container and water filled containers as well to root this season with different measures of success.

I think there are different gnats maybe?
But larvae i think not sure feed on roots of plants and maybe but not fact as they grow feed on fungus from too much watered plants and decaying plant material such as leaves, branches etc.

In short they thrive in moist enviorment.
This is why i try to keep that at minimum by lightly pre-spraying my mix inserting the rooted scion and then covering top inch or so with that fine perlite thats dry. I put no water underneath in the big plastic bin i keep them in.
So far no gnats luckily , i really do not know if what im doing is the cause. But i had problem in past years with them. There a real pain yes.

I heard 1 can use mosquito dunk dilluted with water in measured amount as it has same ingredients as the gnat control stuff thats much more expensive , it is suppose to be safe for plants.
Suppose to be but i have never tried it yet, but would if and when i see a problem.
I bring the small plant outdoors only when the weather will permit in spring and temps are same or higher than temps they are accustom to in the house, size of plant does not matter to me in doing just the temps.
I also keep them out of sun when first brought out it will fry them as its much stronger rays are to much for them as opposed to window sun exposure.

John, unfortunately I regularly deal with fungus gnats. I can't totally eliminate them in the small plastic container greenhouse but I have the feeling that I cut their population to a large extent. I buy 'Window Fly Trap (by PiC) " sheets, cut the sheet into two or three pieces and make a banner using ice-cream cone wood sticks and strategically place these vertically in the few fig pots in the greenhouse. The gnats just come and sit on it probably to have a little rest but then they never fly away. Recently I have started placing yellow colour paper on the non-sticky side of the fly-trap plastic sheet. I have read that it attracts the gnats. The sight of gnats stuck on the trap gives me almost some similar pleasure as rooting the figs though not as much (& it is part of growing figs anyway... wishing tha tit was not).

Edit: BTW, I buy the 'Window Fly Trap (by PiC) in dollorama kind of store.

Martin brings up a good point:  the major drawback to starting early is the possibility of pests.

These pests: 

#1 fungus gnats (super common)

#2 spider mites (somewhat common)

#3 mealy bugs (pretty uncommon, depending)

#1 is combatted by using water with mosquito dunks and avoiding rich potting mixes, compost tea, or compost in your mix, but neem oil sprayed on the soil top will kill them also.  #2 ... man, these bastards suck, and sometimes it's tough to figure out where they come from, but neem oil spray in multiple treatments of all of the plants nearby to the infected plants.  #3 is unusual, but with light infections, a simple application of rubbing alcohol on a q-tip will help.

There are always downsides to everything.  I personally try not to wait, because I think cuttings rotting in a fridge is a bigger problem than the insects.

As usual, I like Martin's ideas and philosophy.  He's always rational but adventurous, it's always nice to see!

How do the spider mites, mealy bugs and fungus gnats get to the cuttings if theyre in the house?

I got some mosquito dunks and they are safe for birdbaths, ponds, fish and plants.

I can't find the posts where it talked about the strength of the dunks/water for watering the potting soil mixes.  I find it very difficult to find things in the search here.  Can anyone help me with that?

Thanks,

noss

Fungus gnats are pervasive and often already have eggs in the potting soil or mix you use. They multiply exceptionally fast. They are mix/soil-borne.

Spider mites.... Can hide out on cuttings, at the terminal buds or wherever. Where they come from is a mystery, but they affect houseplants - especially palms - and have for years. They are resident to stems and leaves, primarily setting up home under leaves and in nooks and crannies.

For strength on dunks... I have a 2 gallon water can I use, and I use a chunk about the size of a sugar cube for 2 gallons of water.

Two things:

Here is the best thread I can find explaining another method for fungus gnat control, best I can find searching using my Blackberry: http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=4918778&highlight=mosquito+dunks

Oh, and I've always heard the Miracle Gro mixes are *the worst* about being packaged with fungus gnat eggs.

Hi Noss,
Jason beat me to it !  ; )
I read this online about the M Dunks.
Slide on a pair of chemical resistant gloves.
Mosquito Dunks may irritate skin.Set one Mosquito Dunk on a sheet of newspaper. Cut it in to four equal pieces.
Fill a 1 gallon watering can with water, and drop one of the Mosquito Dunk quarters in it.
Save the other three pieces in a plastic sandwich bag.
Set the watering can aside for 12 hours.
Don't stir the ingredients. They will combine on their own.Water your houseplants with the Mosquito Dunk water in your watering can. Repeat this once per week to keep gnats away.

Them spider mites are devastaing and a real pain also as they will kill a small plant in no time as i have also experienced.
There very small and hard to see least for me as im blind as a bat.

But i used a jewlers eyepiece last season to see them and was shocked when i saw some crawling out of a very tight wound fig bud , how they manage to get in there and get free rent is beyond me but they did. Also they are gross looking !
I used Ortho ecosense brand insectisidal soap to get rid of them but lost 1 plant in process to far gone in its infestation.

I've said it before and I'll say it again,

Use "Garden Safe" insect soap.
It's safe and made from seasweed extract.
It will handle those bugs.

As for the mealy bugs,

Get a Q-tip and dab it in some rubbing alcohol and dab it directly onto the mealy bug, It's game over in an instant.
Then get a spray bottle and fill with water and alcohol and spray the entire plant, pot and soil.

This will take care of the mealy bug.

I know because I use it for my citrus trees.

Good luck

Thank you Jason, Martin, Ottawan, Rafed, and all for this terrific advice.

The first thing I tried (today) was bagging the plants so no gnats could escape, and them I took them outside and chased away as many gnats as I could see, then put about an inch of Perlite on top to make it harder for the gnats to get to the dirt if they returned.  There was an immediate improvement, no gnats right now, but they may be back.

If so, I will try the above rememdies, starting with those that are least toxic.

I am finding that the budding fig cuttings are helping me deal with the garden withdrawels I usually have in the winter.  It is great fun to look at them every day, see what growth is new, and dream about planting them in the Spring and then harvesting some great figs in a few years.

Happy holidays to all.

John
North Georgia Piedmont
Zone 7b

I found that they eventually returned with perlit on top - it was my first thought as well.  What I found is that it did seem to run a lot of them off, but the pervasive ones would just crawl down through the perlite to get to soil and lay eggs.

As for the spider mites - I found a quick and easy way to see them.  If you take plain 'ol water and put it in a sprayer set to fine mist, then spray around your plant, the water will stick to their webs.  Look around any nooks, like the tight angle where the leaf stem meets the trunk for beads of water.  It's harder to see them under the leaves, although that's apparently where they live.  If you have spider mites, you're definitely going to see their webs spun between the trunk and leaf base.

Thanks, Jason, Martin & Rafed.  I thanked y'all earlier, but I must not have hit the post message button because it's gone.  I've added this thread to my favorites.

noss

Vivian,

Based on my personnel experience,
Alcohol kills the mealy bugs. The heavier the dose the better.

After the heavy dose I use ave. 20% alcohol and 80% water and spray every other day.
However, I can't tell you if this practice is performed while I'm away.

But it definitely is game over for them.

I used Rafed's advice after buying an infected fig tree last year.  The alcohol actually melts the mealybug into brown mush.

Fungus gnats are soooooooooooooo annoying. Got one of those hand held battery operated racquet to zap  them.

I've had lots of experience with mealybugs, but not on my figs(so far). The alcohol on a Q-tip works great as does the alcohol water solution, as Rafed stated. They have a waxy hard coating on them and the alcohol is able to penetrate and kill them where more toxic insecticides fail. Once they invade a greenhouse, they are very hard to keep them in control, so regular maintenance is required. Also, the alcohol/water spray is hard on some sensitive plants like Coleus(which mealybugs love) so be careful what you spray it on.

Here is a picture of mealy bug on a fig I purchased:

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=4345836

Also, rafed's great advice in there ;)  He helped me to quickly solve that problem (thanks again, rafed!!)

Tim and Jason,

The next time you go out and spray I would like for you to hold the spray bottle towards them and say: Who's You Daddy? Whooo's Your Daddy?

Let them mealy bugs have it!

Rafed--Could you explain why - whoever - asks who's your daddy?  :)

Thanks for the info.  Glad to hear alcohol melts the mealybugs.  I hope I'll never get indtroduced to them, but if I do--I'll let 'em have it!!!  Right between their little mealybug eyes.

noss

A few drops of soap in the water you use to water anything will kill the larvae and disrupt the cycle of fungus gnats. They don't have to be a problem if you water with soap water when you see them. I takes a few days because the adults have to die off but the larvae and eggs are destroyed.

I have also had great results with alcohol and Q-tip for scale as well as mealybug. I have never sprayed a whole plant with it, though. I also like soap for spider mites. The soap works better than anything else I have ever used for spider mites.

I use Dr. Bronner's castile soap from the health food store.

Susan