Just started round one of 2011 cuttings for the year.  I will try to update this weekly for everyone out there to see; hopefully some people may benefit from my experimentation with Jon's "new style baggie method"

I had a tough time squeezing out the time to clean and bag everything with a 4month old in the house + a long list of chores I have going on - I didn't even have time to seed veggies this year, figs took top priority this year.

I am relieved to have these taken care of.... and I must say, that the most time consuming part is bagging - the followup is non-existent (sit and wait, crack the lid for a couple hours a day)

(NOTE:  I didn't root all of the below, one or two of at least half of the below went to a couple of fig friends for good measure)

Wow beautiful collection I hope all suceed for you.You sure have your hands full.

as crazy as it may sound, i think this is actually 50% less than what i rooted in 2010.

Wow lol man I give you credit I have trouble rooting a couple twigs.

Awesome-I love it!

I went a little nuts this year with about 30 varieties.

So far so good.

___________

Dominick
Zone 6A- MA

This is around 30 varieties. Last year I wound up doing about 50 varieties, and about 40 made it.

OK, so some of you guys have a lot of cuttings going . . . What do you do with all those varieties?
I mean . . that's a lot of fig trees. I'm considering doing multiple graftings onto some root stocks so
I will have multi-variety trees. Do any of you have any thoughts on this?

My original intent behind acquiring this number of trees was to graft out an orchard tree.

But at this point, two years and several dozen successfully grown trees later, I feel like I'd basically be cutting the arms off my babies to build a millipede, you know?  Seems a little barbaric ;)

I'm going pot culture.  If I have more than 2 of any given variety after 1st year, or for trees that are less appealing, I give them away to friends and family.  I've also began to "go rogue" and plant fig trees around my neighborhood - in the community garden, in people's yards, etc.  There's already a good 20 trees in the neighborhood....

Yeah Satellitehead:
Jason
I could see by that moonshine crazed stare . . .you'd be the rogue.
That's hilarious. . .planting around the neighborhood. I have visions of the same thing at times. I once sprouted a bunch of Giant Redwoods from seed . . and I dreamt of planting a stand of them in a more remote area of the town. If it weren't for a watering situation to establish them, it would have been a great plan. Giant Redwoods in Southern California

Rest assured, some of the current stock I'm growing will end up around the neighborhood.

10-20 years from now, people are going to drive through this place scratching their head wonder, "where the hell'd all these damn fig trees come from?"  By then, I'll be long gone.  What better gift to leave my mark with?  ;)

Consider this the start of my experiment - this is day 4 - everyting has been bagged up, put in 3-5gal pots and lightly watered/drained twice as of 3/13. 

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Some background info, in case anyone is interested..... I'm sure the sharing gets annoying, so bear with me.

All of my cuttings were scrubbed with a toothbrush and soap to debride, then left in a 10% bleach solution for 1-2 minutes.  They were left to air dry for a couple of hours on clean, dry paper towels before continuing.

I followed the rooting in a bag, new style method from Jon V, using roughly a 85/15 mix of perlite/potting mix, pre-mixed in a big bucket.  It was a trick to get the corners cut right for me - the first couple were a miserable failure and all the mix slid right out.  I had to cut my corners just slightly wider than a pencil when laid flat.

After packing, the packed baggies went in nursery pots, then into clear bins with the lid on (I don't have a greenhouse).  

I put the baggies in nursery pots so I can water them all simultaneously in a container that drains - water goes in the baggie, out the bottom of the baggie, then out of the bottom of the pot - no stagnant water is my goal.

Every few days, I take the pots out, hit them with a small shower of water, let them sit outside for a couple hours to drain in the later hours of the evening.  In my mind, this is serving multiple purposes:  Airing them out to prevent mold, letting excess water drain off (keeping water from pooling in the bin) and giving them time to evaporate off excess water from the baggie walls.

None of the fundamental ideas above are necessarily original, they all came from other folks' shared experiences (thanks for that), and I tweaked them to work for me with what I have.

I really like this setup a lot!  I vent the boxes for a couple of hours at the heat of the day in the afternoon, and I haven't had to water but once the whole time, and the perlite/potting mix is staying perfectly wet and compact.

I'm seeing a lot of top growth - about 10% of plants have started top growth in the last week.  I haven't looked at the bottom growth yet - don't want to disturb them.

They get lots and lots of indirect light.

Best part:  11 days have passed since bagging and packing these, and ZERO SIGNS OF MOLD.  I hope I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch.

Also nice is this:  Due to very controlled water situation, the newly sprouting leaves can touch the sides of the baggies with no harm at this time.  Because the baggie sides are dry and the humidity is around 70%, they do not collect moisture and do not seem to mold.

If roots are a good success this year, I think this will become my yearly choice for rooting.

Picture update 3/26 (13 days after bagging).

Nothing much to report 'cept a lot of budbreak.  I had a lot of tip cuttings this year.

Awesome pictures and best of luck! 

Thanks!  I'll try to keep updated and realistic pictures every couple of weeks.  I am literally putting next to no effort into rooting this year, I'm hoping this will be a good "lazy" method to use. 

I may break these out into smaller pots soon, they're so packed right now that I'm sure i'm disturbing the roots of each one I pull out.

Hi Jason, great saplings, wish you great success. Your Morley is growing by leaps and bounds by the way, thanks again, Sergio.

Hi Sergio,

It seems to be a good grower - if you look in the 2nd photo of my last post, the two cuttings in the back with huge leaves are Morley.  It doesn't waste time in putting out growth, apparently. 

I have high hopes that Morley will be a good one!!

update 4/3 (21 days after bagging from "fresh" cuttings/no roots)

i'll provide full picture update tomorrow. 

i haven't had to water in almost 3 weeks now.  about 60% bud break so far.  roots have gone nutso on Meridian (unknown) and Italian Honey (saxonfig), and a few others are showing good roots as well - this is the first week i've noticed roots

Most notable - Ischia Black - popped out a figlet (I already ripped it off), and is sprouting roots, small (for now), but showing roots.

All I can say is, Wow!  That's a lot of cuttings!

Jason, it all looks good, thanks for the pictures. I tried some like that earlier this year not much luck, I guess I didn't get the process right. I must say my rooting in a Styrofoam cooler with lid on has worked fine. No mold at all, I'm real satisfied. You're right, the "Morley" is a fast rooter and grower.
"gene"

Jason,
Being brand new to the forum I have to say I have found this post very interesting. It is nice to see the technique you use in photo, and your passion for figs is quite obvious.
Keep up the great work!  I don't even have a plant in my possession yet (I think everything will arrive en masse and I will be quite busy very quickly getting my plants and cuttings settled in their new OLD KENTUCKY HOME.)  One day I hope to be able to have cuttings and/or plants to gift to others.  I never knew that figs could even be grown in my area, and quite well at that. A family member who lived most of her life in CA but has since moved to KY also, told me I was crazy, it could not be done...so I gave her the link to the forum. She is now researching fig varieties for her home.  See, I already have increased the fig population in the state!!!

Ok, here are pictures taken 4/4 (22 days after bagging).

Note the first picture - this is the same Ischia Black, one day later.  Number of roots and the root growth has doubled (at least) in just 24 hours.

I still have not watered, which makes me think I should have stuck with only a single watering on the first day, since perlite can hold up to 400% of its weight in water.  Yes, even I, the guy who beats the hell out of everyone about not overwatering ... may have overwatered.  We shall see.

I saw my first leaf drop today - only on one cutting (out of 60- to 75-ish?) with fringe on the two out of four leaves that looked a little like rot - and this is on a cutting that was previously doing well.  I still have not lost a cutting (knock on wood).  I'm not sure if this is a bad sign (yet).  Will report back later.  I've seen minimal leaf drop so far, but ... I know it happens, even when nothing is actually wrong.

I also noticed a touch of mold on two cuttings - greysih white, very fluffy on the leaf scars and a bud or two.  Last week, I noticed some mold on the tops of three cuttings that I kept in the fridge for an extended period, but I cut off the top three nodes off them.  I am now keeping the bins cracked at least 12 hours out of the day to decrease humidity (I am doing this because I still have not had to water and because I'm seeing mold)

I noticed (see 4th pic below) that there is a little green growth - lichen or something - on top of the perlite in the bin that is closest to actual sunlight (although both bins are in indirect light).  It's hard to see in the picture, but it's there, look towards the middle baggies.

I'm seeing good roots (1, 2 or 3) on about 15% of the cuttings - I'll take pictures next week when they have a chance to really develop.  I have confidence with this that I have secured at least a dozen cuttings that will survive to tree size.

I intend to transfer the baggies into smaller 1-gallon pots where they won't be crowded in the near future (not transplanting, just stacking the bags in smaller containers where they can breathe).

I had the first traces of fungus gnats show up this week.  Only a couple of them.  Not a nuisance yet.  I'm hoping putting them outside, open, in the 20mph winds earlier blew them out.

Here are the pictures:

They look great!  What will you do with them all if you don't mind me asking?

See post #8 above ;)

Cool, that sounds very kind of you.  I'm sure the people you plant for appreciate it to.