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Looking for Eve's Black Cherry and Calvert

Hello everyone,

I just picked up many, many cuttings from Jon.....potting them up in cups today....but I'm still looking for two more figs!

If anyone has a few cuttings or a small rooted plant of Eve's Black Cherry or Calvert - I'd be happy to purchase them.

Many thanks!
Adam D

Adam
Jon's list has Calvert. Did you miss it?

Hi Ottowan,

I managed to get pretty much everything I asked for in Jon's list....except Calvert.  I think he might be out....

I am totally happy about all the amazing cuttings I did recieve - now I hope I'm successful in rooting them!  Will be very fun to see how many I can get to root.  Right now I have 32 plastic cups with cuttings.....so the fig obsession continues   :)

Adam, I'm sure you'll be fine on rooting.  Just don't overthink it.  ;)

Jason -

Thanks for the encouragement!  I am truly excited about rooting all these cuttings - this is my first attempt.  I'm looking forward to watching them all grow.....

Hi Adam
cant help you with the clavert but did notice you mention your first attemp.
If you keep it simple you will have tons of fun and lots of success along the way. I look forward to seeing some of your plant pictures this summer or earlier.
Patients goes a long way also.
Worrying makes wrinkles.  ; )

OK, well, if you want some advice, take this or leave it.  It's not a hard thing to do, you just need patience, proper moisture levels, patience, stable temps, patience and maybe a little patience.  Use your brain.  Don't overthink it.  Don't over-care for things, we humans have a bad habit of caring things to death.  Just follow a general method and use common sense.

If you don't already have a method to use, Jon posted a good one here:  http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=4551910

Below is basically what I do, if you want to see it.  Nothing special to it.  I have 90%+ success rate on the last 100+ cuttings.  Some cuttings are stubborn, just plain bad, and can't be helped.  Again - patience is a virtue.  Mold is your single largest enemy, barely ahead of excess moisture.  Lack of patience is your 3rd.  See a trend here?  ;)

I take the cuttings.  I use the cleaning method suggested by many others - scrub every nook and cranny lightly with antibacterial dish soap and a toothbrush, rinse in clean water, then dunk in 10% bleach solution for 30s (1 part bleach, 9 parts water).  Let air dry on a clean paper towel - be sure to keep "like" cuttings together and mark everything well - work with one variety at a time to prevent confusion (trust me on this one).
 
I don't let the cutting come in contact with food or contaminated surfaces after air-drying.  They go straight from the towel into the bag.  This prevents introducing mold spores and food sources.  I stick all "like" cuttings in a baggie with a damp paper towel - doesn't need to be wrapped around the cutting, you can just fold it up and stick it in the bag if you want, the point is to keep humidity/moisture in the bag so they don't dessicate. DO NOT overwater the towel.  I squeeze most of the water out of my towels.  You want to avoid water droplets larger than a needle head forming inside the bag, a fine humid mist is OK.

I put the baggie in a place that DOES NOT get direct sunlight, and stays at a stable room temp.  I personally put mine on top of my kitchen cabinets, just above the fridge.  I check the baggie every 2-3 days to look for rootlets.  DO NOT be fooled by the little white fluffy flecks like you see in the attached file below - wait for ACTUAL roots to appear before you pot.  I circled the "real" rootlets in the picture attached.  It is in your best interest to wait for these rootlets to be at least 4mm-5mm long, so you know it's really a root.  If not, you'll probably pot it up and sit, wait, sit, wait, sit, wait and wonder why it's not showing signs of rooting.  If you see a root in the baggie prior to potting, it should continue that process after cupping/potting.

When you see these little rootlets, get some clear cups, burn or drill some drain holes in them (4-6 in the bottom, optionally do a couple about 1/3 of the way up the side).  Make up a well-draining mix with a high COARSE perlite content (50% or more).  the rest of the mix can be whatever you really want, alhtough I avoid anything with the word "soil" and avoid anything with fertilizer in it.   I find that a goot potting mix is easy to find in any brand.  Don't buy into the hype that folks put out there about various brands.  We all have ones we like, but ... take that with a grain of salt. 

Rootlets break easily.  I'd recommend mixing a batch with a healthy amount of LOTS of chunky, coarse perlite ahead of time for great drainage.  I fill the cups 1/4 of the way to get a "base", and let it drain, place the cutting on top of the base mix, hold it upright, sprinkle in more mix, then lightly water again.  DO NOT overwater.  It's better to slightly underwater than to overwater.  Let drain for a few.  You'll become really familiar with this process and how to know how much is enough water. 

Put the cuttings in a plastic storage bin.  I recommend using a wire rack to keep the cups off the bottom of the bin, better airflow, they won't sit in water, drainage, etc.  See the other attached picture for an example that Jon has posted in the Basics section.  Mine is some metal mesh on 2x2 pine, which is cheap as hell at the hardware store.

Check the walls of the clear cups every couple of days.  Watch for those roots to touch the side walls of the cup.  When you see the roots circling the bottom of the cup and running up and around the sides, you're pretty much done.  If the leaves go limp after appearing, check for lack/excess moisture.  If roots go solid brown, you're probably overwatering.  You want nice white roots.  a little touch of tan or brown is OK.

Tip:  Consider going to a pet store like PetCo and spending 6-7 bucks on cheapo temp/humidity gauges (they sell a combo pack at PetCo).  Put the lid on the bin and keep it in a room temp area again, just like the baggies.  You want to target temps around 67-70 degrees, and your humidity should stay in the 45-70 range.  You really don't need gauges, the ones at the pet store for reptile gauges aren't totally accurate, but they're a nice "training wheel" to get started.  STABILITY and PROPER MOISTURE are the name of the game with baggies and bins. 

Tip:  There are those injection needles for marinating meats at your local kitchen supply or grocery/home store.  These can be REALLY handy for spot-watering of your cuttings once they root well.

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Jason ,
Thanks for posting your experiences in rooting cuttings. I am rooting about 80 cuttings now and it helps to see what has worked well for you. Your emphasis on moisture control is important , but where can I buy some of that stuff you are using called patience ?
Best ,
Kerry
zone 5
NH

I found it sitting on or around a lake with my dad as a kid, with a fishing pole in hand, and rediscovered it as a teen when I got tossed in jail for being a dumbass.  It may not be too late to acquire some patience, you find it in the strangest places, some cases it's a blessing, others it feels like a curse ;)

Jason I like you're method.  I have one question.  I do basically the same things you do up until the cuttings get roots.  Maybe I wait until the roots are longer than you do but once I have a nice root structure (right out of the baggie in most cases) I cup it and place it next to the window if it has leaves.  I am hesitant to keep the cupped plant covered if it has leaves.  Dosent covering kill the leaves?  If the answer is that you want to promote roots vs leaves I can understand.  But I havent lost any yet that had leaves and small roots by placing by a window for light. 

Wow Jason!  Thanks for taking the time to explain in detail your method...I'll apply much of what you do to get these babies to root.....especially the patience part....
Martin...I'm more likely to get wrinkles from smiling rather than worrying  :)  I'm almost 40 and already have deep smile lines around my eyes  :)  I don't really count those as wrinkles though.....

Adam,
althoug smiles do create wrinkles not as much as a frown as they say it takes more muscles to creat an unpside down smile than a smile.

Jason
Now you have posted your own cautious rooting method that makes sense and works so you can freely post critique on rooting methods on GW.

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  • JD

Thanks Jason. Good stuff and even better that you shared it with no frills, declaratives, or imperatives. As you know, I follow something like this method and I am also 'experimenting' with media and not seeing significant differences in rooting ficus carica. I stopped my straight to cup test because of impatience, a desire for more control, and mold wars that were lost before I could see that a battle had begun.

For me, the next step of this rooting method discussion must include more information and more photographs about what happens after the buds break and the roots circle the bottom of the cup and the roots don't turn brown and the roots spread throughout the soil such that it forms a root ball/cup. For me, it would be nice to read a diversity of approaches. I'm not there yet but I have two cuttings that are close. When I get there, I will share what I have done and what I think I think.

JD

Quote:
Originally Posted by ejp3
Jason I like you're method.  I have one question.  I do basically the same things you do up until the cuttings get roots.  Maybe I wait until the roots are longer than you do but once I have a nice root structure (right out of the baggie in most cases) I cup it and place it next to the window if it has leaves.  I am hesitant to keep the cupped plant covered if it has leaves.  Dosent covering kill the leaves?  If the answer is that you want to promote roots vs leaves I can understand.  But I havent lost any yet that had leaves and small roots by placing by a window for light. 


I never deviate from the bag->bin->window route.  I skipped the bin with a couple that had tops, and found that the same variety with buds but no top growth actually developed roots faster.  I think the lack of humidity or excess evap from the window actually slowed root development, but I have zero proof of that. 

At this point, even if they come out of the bag with shoots and leaves, they go into the bin until I see several roots touching the sides of the cup, and they're starting to run for a short distance.  Then I sleeve them and toss them in the window.


Quote:
Originally Posted by OttawanZ5
Jason
Now you have posted your own cautious rooting method that makes sense and works so you can freely post critique on rooting methods on GW.


;) ;)

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