Hidee ho, I'm a newbie who has been lurking for a while - sorry for the poor decorum!

I have a lot of growing and research experience but am new to figs as a crop.

I live in Minneapolis and, if you can believe it, had not tasted a fresh fig before sampling a black mission (correction) from a small tree growing in a greenhouse I was working in a few years ago. I was smitten. .

I cannot bear the thought of paying $6 for 5 small figs at the co-op once/year any longer so I recently bit the bullet and ordered cuttings of Hardy Chicago, Fico Nero and Desert King.

I've been using the Baggie method as described here as well as a heating mat but today potted the cuttings up in cactus potting mix in plastic cups because I saw evidence of mold. All have root callous tissue except Chicago Hardy. I have the cups on a heating mat without tops to air the cuttings out a little before covering them again. I left the Chicago Hardy cuttings in the bag however.

We'll see what happens.

I am unaware of anyone growing figs in my area, although there probably are some

Thank you for being so generous with your time and expertise. You have all made this site a valuable and entertaining resource! I will in turn try to share as much as I can. No more 'stealing' knowledge he hee!


-Darci

Hi and welcome from and fellow lurker
There's so much knowledge to "steal" on this site :)

Welcome to the forum. Your cutting should be ok. Check the cuttings in baggy. See if you can easily scape bark off. If you can cut bad part off cuttings. Always wash you cuttings in 10% bleach and use coir or other soiless media. This will reduce mold and dont put baggie directly on mat or you will cook them. The cups on matt should be fine. Try putting hardy Chicago in baggy in a towl ( hand towl ) wrap it up and put on heat mat. But washing cuttings first and rooting them in tupperware container with lid on top of heat mat works perfectly for me. Hope this helps. And use very little water to root. Doesn't take much. This keeps mold down as well as rot

Welcome to the forum Darci!  Good luck with your cuttings!

Suzi

I started growing figs a little too recently to have any solid information I'm afraid. My goal is to grow in-ground figs without protection eventually. Right now I'm gathering as many early ripening and hardy varieties I can, but the language barrier in europe doesn't make it easy. All my figs are potted and one year old or less. I'll be transplanting my oldest ones this season and protect them during winter. Once the trial is over I'll be able to make a pretty helpful post on hardy varieties.

Growing figs where midnight sun is a thing isn't very common, I'll have to change that :)

Welcome!  A greenhouse or hoop house helps a lot.  You can get an early start on the season and ripen the last stragglers in there.