To all on this forum whom I received so much info and knowledge from. I want to thank you and share with you my first rooting try.

This is my first rooting experiment in a controlled environment. I'm using negronne cuttings supplied by a forum member who I'm most grateful to. Each evening I open the green house and inspect each cutting and take notes on progress. Each cutting is numbered to be able to track the changes.

I received the cuttings on Oct 1, 09 and put them in the fridge wrapped in moist paper towel in a ziplock bag. I checked them in one week and all was well. I checked again about a week later and found some ice on the paper towel and some ice crystals on some of the cuttings. I removed them from the fridge and wrapped them 3 or 4 to the pack in fresh moist paper towels and put in mini greenhouse (storage container).  So far it doesn't look like the ice hurt them.

I have included some pictures below to follow along with the experiment. I've done two things that I have not seen mentioned here. 

Number one, I purchased a cheap moisture meter ($6) from Lowes to have a better grip on the moisture I was fooling with. I wanted to be consistent if nothing else. I used the "add enough water to hold together when squeezed into a ball'' method to get an idea of where to start. That method produce a reading of 4 to 6. I will try to maintain that through the whole process. The meter is also useful to check the moisture level in the potted trees I have outside.

Number two. I had many bud breaking leaves and no initials. I had advice to keep wrapped and I've had advice to pot right away. Well I did a little of each only differently. I wrapped the lower part of the cutting allowing the growing bud to remain unwrapped and stood it in a cup in the greenhouse. I hoping to get the best of both methods. Now for some pictures.

My cuttings fresh out of the fridge.


What looked like my first initials.


Swelling buds and no initials.


Finally some real initials.


The best ones yet.


Ready to leaf but no initials.


Wrapped up cozy with bud sticking out.


Same cutting wrapped and standing in cup ready for the greenhouse.


My el-cheap-O meter.


Moisture level I am using.



I will try to add at least weekly to this post as I note changes of success or failure.
I hope this isn't too long or boring, to me it's very exciting and a much better way to spend an evening than watching TV.

Hi Gene,

The moisture level you are trying to maintain is the very same level as I use, so I guess we are on the same page on that one!
I would hate to try to make it without my little moisture meter.

Good luck

I need one of those! Moisture meter. Gene, you are doing better than I am.
J.A.

Gene Congrats on your experiment you are having allot better luck than I did with the baggie method I think next time I will use papertowel instead of the newspaper . Lovely roots on that cutting by the way and I too will be buying one of those moisture meters this weekend.

Home Depot has a meter which measure moist , light and pH under $8

Hi gene, looks like they are off to a great start! You'll do fine, I'm sure.Thanks for posting.

Hey Tim,

Not long ago Nelson said his Dad wanted to maybe buy a Hobby Farm, then he said his Dad would like to come to Texas to see some real Cowboys (surely he wasn't talking about the Dallas Cowboys)

Anyhow, if Nelson keeps rooting the cuttings and buying plants

He might have to come to Texas and buy the "Kings Ranch" that way he would be killin two birds with one stone!

Cecil thats not a bad Idea all I need now is the Money, I keep saying im going to win the Lotto but I always forget to play.

I really hate to tell ya this Nelson, but winning the World Lottery if they have such a thing MIGHT, key word Might make a small down payment on the Kings Ranch.....Really.

Cecil this what you were refering too http://www.king-ranch.com/ ?   Sorry Gene for hijacking your thread, the picture you have with the meter in a cup is that the cutting in soil already ?

Yes Sir, that would be it, they use to have one in Cuba too, but Fidel took it,

Cecil, who's got time to watch the Dallas Cowboys when you are busy trying to grow figs?Hahaha!

Nelson, come on down, there are lots of cheaper spreads. What you think? That condo and office are soon gonna be real crowded. Real quick!

Here are a couple of other related pictures.

This one shows the temp and humidity in my mini greenhouse that is sitting on a file cabinet in my computer/junk room. If you look closely you'll see 74 on the left, that's the temp, and 75 on the right, that is the humidity.


Here are some of the ones I've potted up alreadyl


Cecil sounds like you and I are spot on. How did you ever end up in Texas, Ha. I guess it just goes to show that although people are all different yet in many ways we are so close.

Figarite I wish they would have had one of those meter you spoke of at the store I went to because I sure would have bought that one. I could use the PH meter. I may have to buy a separate unit.

Nelson I am not good at guessing so I bought the meter. It maybe isn't that critical but I know if it works using a method one time then it should work again. Then if I run into a problem I can look elsewhere besides moisture. The one thing I did notice is that the moisture I started with is almost the same as it is now. It only came down a little. I have a piece of newspaper laying in the bottom of the greenhouse that I pored a little water on, just enough to make it totally damp but not be able to wring any water out of it. It acts as a moderating device. It can absorb or release water to maintain a rather constant level in the greenhouse.

 My friend Joe, don't give up keep at it and you'll get it going. I think I'm having beginners luck.

I do also have to acknowledge a good friend not far from me that took the time to talk to me at length about using this method which has been very successful. My hat's off to ya.

I hope we can all learn a little something from this. Thanks all for the replies and good words, we are all in this together.

Tim looks like I left you out of my reply, my apologies. Yes I'm off to a great start and so happy for it. I just hope my luck continues. The next batch may be more of of a test.

Gene I bought a moisture meter like yours this weekend that little gadged works wonders. Gene something I forgot to ask you earlier you put the cuttings in the papertowel and in the fridge for one week then into your little greenhouse right how long after you put into your greenhouse did you have those nice roots? I tried this with newspaper instead of papertowel and after 3 weeks I barely had any initials. The other cuttings that I put into potting soil from day one had root initials after one week and started to root in the second week.

nelson, my whole experiment started around October 5th, which is roughly four weeks. I'll check my records when I get home to see exactly how much time it took to see my first initials grow. It seemed like forever, but like they say "a watched pot will never boil". I'll let you know.

Thanks Gene, your cuttings seem to be doing really well congrats.

Really nice pictures.  Might invest in one of the meters myself.  Already have one of the PH meters.  Good idea for Xmas presents, too.

As for the King Ranch; I was once in their business office ;in Kingsville, Tx  and saw a world map with pins sticking in it wherever King Ranch properties existed.  Many of them.  I seem to recall that the "station" in Australia was larger than the home ranch  in Texas, but of course probably mostly desert.

Ox

Thanks Ox, I might think of getting a PH meter myself, mostly out of curiosity, but it never hurts to know the facts.

I wonder if the King ranch could use a few fig trees. Sounds like they have enough space to plant them. Ha,ha.

Nelson, I checked my records and here goes.

10/1/09 - received cuttings and put them directly in fridge until later.
10/5/09 - cleaned them with dawn and bleach, them put back in fridge.
10/14/09 - noticed some ice on paper towel so I decided to try to root. I wrapped them, 3 or 4 together in a moist paper towel and put them in a baggie in my mini greenhouse.
10/17/09 - I saw first evidence of swelling initials.
10/29/09 - First initials growing to 1/4 inch.
10/30/09 - Next set of initials grew and then a bunch more followed
11/1/09 - Saw first roots in the cup of a cutting I put in cup on 10/17/09. I put this one in a cup a little prematurely. I got a little anxious. Potted a couple more today with growing initials. As of today I have 10 of the 17 in potting soil in cups. Only 2 are showing roots. By tomorrow I will probably have at least 2 more to put in cups.

Thanks Gene those are good results, In the future I will try the papertowel method and just leave it and see what happens. The 5 cuttings I started on the last week of september 2 had visible roots within 2 weeks the third cutting rooted in the third week the forth one I just noticed one root on Nov. 1st and the 5th cutting has been around 5-6 weeks and just started to show some root initials crazy how sometimes they take off so rapidly and others cuttings from the same batch take so long.

I have # 17, the first one I put in the cup starting to wrap roots around the inside of the cup and # 8 which hasn't done much of anything yet. A little swelling of the top bud and a few little bumps at the bottom. It has been like that since day five with no changes.
I'm sure glad some are moving along quickly, not that I'm impatient, but at least I see changes every day.

Things are still growing and none of them look like they want to give up yet. Here are a couple of pictures showing some progress.  Check out the question on the last picture.

#17 roots all over the place.



The other end of # 17.


I've a question about this one, # 14, Should I take the lower sprout out before it gets any bigger.

Others may have different opinion and thats what we need for we all do not do things the same.
In past when this has happened i left them alone , santa cruz dark comes to mind last season that i rooted.Here is thread with pictures.
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3416547&highlight=santa+cruz+dark

 Gene, you have it down! You are doing all the good. How often are you watering the ones that are rooted and leafed out?