I trashed five more cuttings today:

On Friday, I trashed:

2 x Tarantella
1 x Abebereira
2 x Grantham Royal
1 x San Pietro
1 x Bari (unknown)
1 x Brooklyn Dark

Right now I have 22 cuttings discarded, 4 cuttings still rooting.

That's 33% failed with 6% still rooting.

Well Jason,

Looks like it's been a bad year for cuttings that's for sure.

I tossed away many my own self so I can relate.

Just got to work with what we have now and move on.

There's always next year, that's for sure.

Indeed.  When it comes down to it, I think I will see approximately 50% success for the number of cuttings, and about 85% success for the varieties of cuttings. 

Last year, I really knocked it out of the park using the [bag->cup] method.  I only took a hit that year because I spent 2 weeks away in Spain and Italy, nearly all of my losses came from that one trip.  I had much better success.

I can't complain this year.  Successfully rooting 85% of the varieties is a good year in my book.  (Gotta stay positive)

Baby comes first

Funny thing:

Figs are the only thing that keeps my sanity with a 2 and 4 yr old. Aye ya aye! Looking forward to yard work is not something I expected.

After having forced retirement, I look forward to work- Actually missing it!

There is definitely a soothing, calming effect to be had from it all.  I had a blast tying up trees this weekend.

(ok, now I sound like an arborial pervert!)

I look forward to Saturdays, which usually ends up being my yardwork day. 

Enjoy the time because it is fleeting, and that is a good thing! I am thankful for any time, be it several minutes out back to water or a few hours to cut the grass.

The chronicles of the life of our 6 year old and and 8 year old always include birthday parties, games, sports, practices, lessons, trips, and general quality time. It also includes planting, seeding, watering, weeding, pruning, fertilizing, and harvesting but not in the large and regular chunks of time that I used to have when they were younger.

When you have a good balance between the two (the kids and the figs) and your children show an appreciation, understanding, and respect for growing what they eat, join you, and take an active role in doing just that...THAT is a beautiful thing. I cherish those days and enjoy that time with them the most!

As of today, I have transplanted all of my 66 cuttings for the year.

Between last weekend and this weekend, I trashed 15 of the cuttings and transplants that died and/or were rotting under the soil:

1 x Brooklyn Dark
2 x Bailey Unk
1 x Hative De Argentile
2 x Atreano
1 x Dottato
1 x Ischia blk
1 x Morley
1 x Sal Corleone
1 x Bl mission
1 x R# Unkown
1 x Black Yugoslavian
1 x Col de dame
1 x Angelo Dark Unknown

At this point, I have discarded 37 cuttings so far this year.  That's approximately a 56% failure rate.  I don't think that number will change much, most everything else looks like it will pop and continue to go strong.  While only ~44% success rate may sound bad, I managed to get nearly one successful rooting on each variety, including Ischia Black (assuming it continues to do well).

As I reflect on this years rooting, I managed these numbers using some good wood and some bad wood.  I had a lot of damage from Fungus Gnats that I didn't get in check fast enough.  The new method I used was a hell of a lot easier, but with significantly lower success rates than I've experienced using the baggie-to-cup method.  I feel like the losses were worth only having to do 5% of the actual work.

I still have another batch of ~30 or so cuttings like Noire de Carombe, Dark Portuguese, Pastilliere, VdB and some others that need to be rooted this year, I'll probably start them soon if I can find the time.

Hey Jason,
  I noticed in your pics of the cuttings that failed all or most had terminal buds. I've had very poor results with cuttings that had the terminal buds left on. Also, in one of your pot-up photo's I saw a droopy leafed fig that was mostly T bud growth. I'm sure you had many that made it with T buds intact but do you have any idea of your success rate T buds on V/S cut off?

Michael
P.S. great thread thanks!!