it's getting to the point where my cuttings are bursting out of the cups. i need to move them to 1 gal, but the outside is still 20-30's at night. 

last yr when i moved them to 1 gal and left them in the house, they all died. 

i'm hoping the cuttings will stay in the cup for at least one more month then go into the garage and wait for the night temp to hit at least 45. god.. i hate winter rooting.

We feel sooooo sorry for  you - not! what a problem to have, figs growing so well he can't pot-up fast enough. Some people have all the luck ;-)

You can subsidize a fig vacation to California!
They will come back with a gentle tan and slightly larger cup size :) 

gene growing fig is easy :) and they grow like weed... really. and that is main issue with winter rooting. timing it for outside. 

igor, not sure about my figs, but i can definitely use a vacation. problem is i don't like going anywhere without my EDC and i heard that might cause cavity search from TSA. lol

Is your EDC a machete and a flame thrower? 
If you get across, you will blend in quite nicely! :)

they are too big and bulky. i like my 3" folder. it's a slicer with a flipper. cheap, thin and very reliable. i clean it with peanut butter every once in awhile.. i never know how well peanut butter will clean a knife. 

Why not just up cup to a 30oz deli, that will buy some time.

hmm.. that might work. still be in the humidity bin, but in a bigger cup. why didn't i think of that? must be too many dead brain cells.. thanks calvin :) 

Time to make a grow room.  Resin shelves, T8 shop lights, tarp underneath to catch the drippings.

Spring is coming go to 1 gal pots.  I am sure they won't mind a few weeks huddled in a corner for now.
I find the sooner I get the figs into into 1 gal pots the sooner they become independent and I don't have to look after them every day.

I potted up two from cups to 1 gallon earlier this evening and will keep them in doors for several weeks in front of a south facing window.  Last year I didn't notice any difference between up-potting and keeping inside for a few weeks vs. quickly transitioning outdoors after up-potting.  Either way, I did lose a few after moving to 1 gallons.  Normally if they make it through the first week or two they will be fine.

I can't tell what mix you are using but if you're are growing in coir you can use hydroponics solution. There might be solutions for soil mixes too.
My father has 18" + fig plants growing in 4 oz yogurt cups using hydro.

My plants are growing in quart containers full of perlite and I've got hand sized leaves and roots growing from top to bottom and all around the cup. I won't transplant them until March.
They are soaked daily with a hydro solution

Aloha. everybody.  I'm glad I don't have that problem.  Up potted 3 fig cuttings this afternoon from 1 gallon to 5 gallon pots.  The weather was cloudy with off and on drizzles, but at least it was warm.

Nate
 

See, this is why I don't understand why people in cooler climates rush to rooting the cutting when the cuttings could wait in zip-Locks in the fridge... the good time to root them would be March not January.This becomes a torturous task when timing is wrong. IMHO

aaron, it's perfectly ok not to understand :) there are few reason to start rooting early. 1) storage might not be exactly optimal way to back up the cuttings. fresh cuttings root better than old cuttings. 2) not everyone are willing to take cuttings in spring. 3) sooner you root, more time the cutting will have go grow giving head start. 4) it gives something to do during the winter. 5) with older trees to take care of in spring, it cuts down on the rush to root all the cuttings you have been storing... i'm sure there are more reasons. 

Pete, I've seen fig trees that were kept in 4" square x 12" tall treepots for at least 3 years, maybe 4 years.  I imagine they were being watered several times a day though.

Pete, the other difference between my approach and yours is that I don't use a humidity bin and I don't.  I presume once you transition from cups to 1 gallon you transition out of the humidity bin, correct?  If that's true then I can understand why you want the ambient humidity to be higher as it would be once the weather is getting warm outside.  I wonder if you could first transition the cups out of the bin and once the figs are used to being out of the bin then up-pot to 1 gallon.

try adding a little room up.

how about wrapping a strip of aluminum foil to add 1inch of soil?  what would give more room and allow more roots to form? Or try lowing the temp. by a couple of degrees to simulate the outdoors... and if you pot them to keep inside, water just enough to get them out of the cup. no more water in the gallon pot.  it is the overwater that kills them. (I think)

harvey, some of my Calverts have been in 1 gal since 2 yrs ago. they are hardened and no issue. i can root prune and up pot. but the trees in 16 oz cup needs to be moved.

steve, once the cuttings are out of cups and in 1 gal, they are outside. usually we have RH of 60% outside by then. young cuttings in 1 gal transition well. but in my house, its more like RH of 18%. most house plants live for 2 month max in here unless they are some sort of succulents.

Pete, my concern is early rooters still need to open their leaves, which have no chance to be healthy in dark, so cuttings will hurt greatly without photosynthesis and no stopping leaves from opening and growing more, and then the stems get elongated with starvation of light , also, the branches(if it still survived ) will be very elongated trying to reach some light sours. Just not a good start to me.

aaron, they are not a big problem. at least for me. first two yrs, i look for growth not figs or node intervals. i just want them to grow as fast as possible. either way, by end of march/mid april they are outside. most leaves that are not getting accumulated will burn and drop. new leaves will replace them. any figs being formed will be knocked off. by next yr, they will go out when night temp is above 40. the leaves coming out will be in full sun and they will do rather well. the node interval will be right by that time. 

leaves currently are not dark, but like i said, i expect them to all drop once outside. i'll be giving them iron and other supplement to get better color. the light they are getting right now is from south window. 

i'll post some pix later tonight so you can take a look at my figs grown indoor, they are not too bad.  

only main problem for me is space and humidity. i ended up putting two of my cuttings in 1 gal over the weekend. the roots were wrapping around the peat pot and some were getting mushy. putting them in humidity bin. not a good situation. i have others in 16oz in there. with 1 gal holding so much more water... the bin gets more humid. at the same time, i can't leave the bin open too long since i just move 4-5 new cuttings with tender leaves in there.. lot of juggling. thank god i only have 30 or so cuttings. last yr was a nightmare. 

but what's a life without bit of stress?

oh, btw, my cuttings get plenty of room for branching out and grow tall. i changed my set up last yr after noticing the cuttings hitting the lid. 

Pete,

Back a few years ago I was one of the lucky few that got the Sierra and Sequoia package deal from Jon.
The plants were at least 4' tall each and in deep tree pots. They were both root bound and literally without any soil because of it.
On top of that they went on a coast to coast trip twice!
From San Diego to Sacramento to Chicago back to Sacramento and back to Chicago and finally to Detroit.
Two weeks long and still made it alive and I still have those trees and are amongst the healthiest of my figs.

I wouldn't put too much worry into it if I were you. Figs are tough, once they get going they get going.
I'm sure your figs can handle the tight space for the time being.

Good luck

Doing the same thing I did last year.  Cuttings were started day before Christmas.  Up potted these from 32 oz deli containers to 1 gallon nursery pots this past weekend.  On a table in a south facing window and for 2-3 hours at night they will get light from a screw in grow light.

Pete - any reason you don't like or want to use grow lights?

hey rafed, not really worried :) just don't want to lose few that i'm looking after. one of the problem is i still use peat pot method. they are great when timing is perfect. move 'em to 1 gal and forget it. but when they have to say in the peat pot/plastic cup, the roots rather hang in the air with ton of humidity. some will turn mushy and some will air prune. i hate it when that happens. those that make it to the bottom.. are the ones that will support the cuttings, so don't push down. but it think i'm ok with Maltese Beauty and Dominick's Unknowns.