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My Black Madeira Cuttings Died :'(

Hi,
I dont know what happened there are small worms everywhere and they only attacked me black madiras and the growth died. I thought they were dropping leaves because of temperatures but then the growth died so I pulled them to see an infestation of small white worms eating the cuttings! They attacked only my BM!!!

If any buds are viable maybe you can bud graft them?

Will try that I think I will graft any bud I can find until they grow. I hope there are live buds.
thanks!!

all buds were dead and worms were coming out of them. They seem to have attacked the buds...
I removed some bark and grafted it to another tree hoping that it will grow. I took the bark from where you expect roots to form in the joint between areas where buds are. Hopefully they live and form buds. I grafted them where buds used to be in the branch and removed all the buds srom my stock branch.

I dont think it can form a bud but still worth a try.

WaTch this thread
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/chipbud-grafting-4743760

Hope youl save it.

The white worms are most like from fungus gnats.  You can prevent them with pesticides and over-watering attracts them even more, it seems.  I've never seen works on cuttings above soil level.  Are these cuttings stuck in pots?  A photo would be helpful.  As Eli wrote, if you had any good bunds remaining a grafting would have been the best way to save what you have.  Black Madeira are slow to root usually so it's best to be very careful to avoid over-watering.

I was away camping and someone did over water them. They died in only 4 days :(
They were in pots I removed them so they do not infect my other figs.

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  • elin
  • · Edited

Thats why i think its all karma when rooting cuttings.

The cuttings knew you werent home ...

Good luck to you.  If you see any fungus gnats around your remaining cuttings, it may be too late.  One adult can lay thousands of eggs.  They love damp soil, and I learned to put an inch of sand on top.  They hate sand, but will enter through holes at the bottom too.  When the eggs hatch, the larvae eat roots to survive.  Then they suddenly start hatching and you may see swarms of adults flying around.

When I water, I use BT in the water, which kills the larvae.  I just got so over fungus gnats, I only root mine outside in dirt now.  They don't bother those cuttings.

Suzi

I guess I should wait and see if they are able to form buds like my other figs. Col de dame and RDB did form new buds, so I am still hopeful.
I was not aware of gnats in my area... I guess you learn things from your mistakes.

Fungus gnat larvae.  I found one of my cuttings just like that yesterday.  The batch of cuttings rooted so beautifully, too.  :-((

Sounds like cabbage worms. I deal with them eating the roots. Malathyone. Water plants to keep them awY and to kill them. Doesnt hurt plants,

They could be anything.  We need pictures!
Jim

I'm sorry to hear that Speedmaster. Black Madeira is one of the fig trees on my wish list. Somewhere on one of the fig forums someone posted that BM was one of the hardest varieties to root from cuttings and advised to not even try. So you won't be the first person to lose cuttings. I decided to wait for a BM cutting already rooted to pop up on eBay, even if I have to pay a little more. Best of luck in the future.

Funny that it difficult for some. Black Maderia has been easy for me so far, now if I can just get them potted up. Now I -258 is another story. I'm still sorry to hear your bad news, I've thrown a few varieties out in the past few weeks but most have done very well. It could just be the cuttings, or not.

They were rooting fine :(
they had leave and all...
sorry I killed everything before I took any pictures.
those worms were white and a little transparent with a black line from thir head to end. atleast I still have CDD...

GNATS MUST DIE!!

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