Hi every one. Last month I got 2 cuttings of Black Tuscan and 3 cuttings of Melenzana from a generous fig grower. The cuttings are very special because it's very hard get those varities down under.
1 cuttings of both Black Tuscan and Melenzana put straight into seed raising mix and put in a humidity dome with plenty of moisture to keep them happy. Now after 4 weeks i still can't see any root but lot of leaf devolopment. Seems they are happy and healthy but i want roots.
The other lot i put in Sphagnum moss already rooted and now in the 50-50 seed raising mix and perlite.
My dilema with the first lot should keep there and hope it will root eventually or transfer them into Spagnum moss?
Please help me if . If anyone has similar situation before please advice me what to do?
Any advice will be greatly appreacited.
Thanks,
Kausik
       

I'm a strong believer in going with what works. You've seen the moss work for the others, and this isn't working. If they don't have roots you won't damage the roots by moving them. Of course, you want to be very careful in case there are tiny roots started that just haven't gotten out where you can see them yet, I don't wait for much root before moving them up to a soil mix. I don't think it shocks them as much if they haven't settled in, And, if they're in a soilless mix they're building roots out of reserves in the stem, I want to get them feeding ASAP. I use willow water on the ones that are slow to root, don't know that it helps but it gives me the satisfaction of doing something.

I don't remember using Clonex but I open box everyday to bring new fresh air. The leaf growth stopping me to put the cutting into Spagnum moss.
Just wondering anyone was in a similar situation.
Come on roots, where are you?

Greysmih mate, I do feed them with a dillute solution of seaweed solution. I don't have access to willow water, but seaweed solution is preety good for the plants. Hope that works. Thanks for the advice mate.

You could check them, it did look like you had one small root, some cuttings just take longer than others.
The reason for the willow tea is because it is a natural rooting solution.
Some people have found honey to help too. But at this point you can find out if if you carefully un-pot it, then you can do the thumb nail test and see if it is rotting. That being said I have a cutting with leaves that has been in the bin for months...and not a single sign of roots...just checked and it could be a plastic plant two perfect tiny leaves ... but one from the same time is finally got roots everywhere.... it just comes down to if you can wait or not...

For me trying to root fig cuttings in cups has been a low odd success method. I've noticed that in order to have some good odds of success, I have to try to prevent dehydration of the cuttings as they are rooting. So the more exposure to the elements the higher the chance of dehydration. That's why I use deeper and larger pots than what I see in your pictures.
Another thing to consider is that when re-potting a newly rooted plant, disturbing the roots leads to a high mortality rate. So I look for a way when re-potting that has as little impact as possible on those newly formed roots. By using a larger pot, the plant has more of a chance to get more established before re-potting.

Those cuttings look healthy to me and I would be vary wary of trying to transplant or otherwise disturb them at this stage.  They're probably taking a little longer to root than the others, but I would let them do their thing and only panic if/when the cuttings start looking stressed.  I would let the soil dry out a little to try to coax the roots into searching out the moisture.

Thanks guys for your advice. I think I will keep them in the cup for little bit longer. They does look happy in the current stage, so hopefully roots will come. I will make sure the humidity level stays high to stop the cutting drying out. Next time any valuable cutting, I will start in sphagnum moss. Cheers.

I don't feel that you are doing anything wrong. Your cuttings look healthy. You do not need to start in sphagnum moss if your method is working, and it is!
Leave your cuttings in these cups for another month or two. Don't rush this. Above all, do not keep touching, moving, or picking these cups up for curiosity.
In other words, try not to disturb them in anyway. Leave them in the same area and water gently.
I've learned from the hard way that moving these babies around will stress them out and believe me, I've lost a lot of cuttings by fiddling with the cups.
Hope this helps you!

Like Leon said,

Do not move them and just leave them alone.

I too have learned the hard way of losing my cuttings due to moving them around. For some reason they just don't like to be disturbed.

Your plants look healthy and happy.

I agree with rafed and Leon.  Patience is required, nothing else.  The leaves look great, I would expect roots to pop out within a week.

Thanks rafed, phil. I will do the same. Take care.

Hi Kausik

I am very interested in the Black Tuscan

Did you get it from SA society

Love to get a cutting

Cheers

Yog

I agree with what's been said above, I had a few cuttings that just would not seem to root for me so as a last chance I put them in a cup of water, to my surprise they rooted. One variety was smith, and another was gentile.

If you get one rooted tree out of all that mess, you should be happy!

Suzi