Hi all; I got some fig cuttings around the end of January and I'm trying hard to get them to grow but I'm having issues and I'm worried I'll lose them.
I'm no expert so please forgive me if I made some obvious mistakes.

the cuttings are about a foot long and as you can see from the setup photo are in a 5 gallon bucket with holes drilled at the bottom and miracle grow as the soil. I dipped the bottom tips in rooting hormone before placing them into the soil. I also have a Walmart grow florescent and a brooders 120watt incandescent lamp both are on for about 14 hours a day, humidity is pretty constant at 40% and temp is about 72. Initially I watered weekly but I realized that might be too much so for the past two weeks I refrained from watering and also got a moist gauge which is now showing that the dirt is between moist and wet (7 out of 10 where 10 is wet), did not fertilize at all so far.


my problem is the cutting appear alive for a few weeks, give out leafs and tiny figs but then the leafs and figs fall and the cutting dies. please note photo greenleaf which is one of the cutting that just lost a large leaf and I'm worried will be the next one to go into that dying phase (dried photo).

As you can see the leaves are very green but brittle and almost crunchy. the figs usually get brown spots before falling (see goingsoon and almostgone).

Some have lost all leaves/figs but still show green tips so I think they are still alive but then when the tip turns into a leaf the leaf edges turn gray and it never develops (see whitedust)

Anyway; sorry for the ramble but I really want at least one of each type (3 verities don't know names just know they make amazing figs) survives.
Most of the advice I got was to let them be and I'm fine with that but since I have a few of each type I don't mind taking a chance and experimenting with one or two cuttings to increase my odds.

Many thanks, SterlingGold

SterlingGold, have you taken time to read any of the growing tips at http://www.figs4fun.com or looking for rooting discussions in posts here at this forum?

I see several problems:  A foot long is about 4" more than I'd try to root at one time, rooting hormone does more damage than good, you should never use soils with slow-release fertilizers already in them (like most Miracle Grow products) for rooting, 40% humidity is way too low you should be shooting for 75-85% humidity if rooting indoors (try putting a bag over the bucket and airing it out daily), you never leave figs on a newly rooted cutting because it drains energy that is crucial to survival, and "wet" dirt is your enemy with rooting (leads to rot) while moist is perfect but on the verge of too much water.

I am also not seeing pictures.  Try clicking the "edit" button for your post and re-submitting.  There is a bug with this forum that sometimes will hide your pictures until you do this.

Thanks for responding. I hope the photos are visible now.

I know I've done wrong and I'm in the process of reading through this great forum site but since I'm already midstream is it worth it to pull out some of the cuttings, reducing their size and rooting again with the methods recommended in these forums?

If you do, and I think you should, separate those cuttings into individual containers you should remove the mix from the container rather than pull up the cuttings. They may have rooted some and pulling will damage those roots, turn the bucket on it's side and shake rattle and roll everything out and inspect your cuttings. You should have your new mix and containers ready first. They still look lively so I would rather use taller cups than reduce their size now, If you halve some of the longer ones you would have fresh cut tops to experiment with different rooting methods though.

You are very likely not getting enough oxygen into the rooting zone of your cuttings. If your rooting mix cannot "breathe" very well, roots will not develop and grow.....or at best they will be very slow in forming. 

Personally I would not use a 120 w bulb.......can give off too much heat and lighting IS ABSOLUTELY  NOT necessary at this stage of the rooting process. Those new leaves cannot provide energy (photosynthesis) at this point. If you feel you must use a light source use a fluorescent one and better yet, use one especially designed for growing plants.  Sounds like you are dehydrating your leaves. Remember that a cutting must re establish its pipeline that connects the leaves to the roots. Only after roots form will water be able to travel all the way up  the pipeline to the top portion of the cuttings where the leaves have formed. Don't make that a long distance.......use shorter cuttings.

Without roots to supply needed moisture into the internal pipeline, the leaves cannot long survive. Do not encourage leaves to form by adding light. You want to encourage "roots" to form FIRST.....not leaves or photosynthesis.  Once you have some roots going, they will later support the leaves. Until then, do not let them dry out by using heat or light bulbs. Keep those rooting containers  in a larger bin or cover them with a "vented" bag to keep the humidity level higher....so the tiny leaves do not dry out.  AIR air air is what you need the most right now.

Get some "air" inside of those rooting containers ASAP by drilling holes on sides and on bottom. Put those rooting containers (pots) on a wire rack to help with the air flow. In the future, use shorter cuttings, add perlite to your rooting mix (use a 70/30 ratio for potting "soils"), never use a rooting mix which has chemical fertilizers already in it. That fertilizer can cause CARBON DIOXIDE to form inside which will damage your cuttings. Carbon dioxide will be removed from your container if you vent it as suggested. FYI......I have a thread going on about the negative affects of Carbon Dioxide on rooting.

Best of luck to you.

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

Also, get rid of those fruit 'figlets' - they are worthless at this stage - all they do

sphagnum moss is the key!!!!  You will lose a very few if any by using the zip lock bag and moss technique.  I used to try and root cuttings by sticking them in soil but I had terrible results.  Go with the moss trust me you will not be dissappointed.  just my two cents I'm no pro by any means GO UCONN!!!!

Thank you all for helping. I'm tending toward leaving the cuttings at the current state while making some modifications based on what recommended here.

1. I removed all the figlets
2. I drilled some holes at the side of the container to let air in. and will try to poke some holes from the top of the soil far away from any cuttings so not to damage any existing roots
3. I will cover top with a clear plastic leaving ventilation opening to increase humidity
4. Move to a south facing room so it will get more light and warmth
5. Remove incandescent light and only use the florescent grow light

I'll keep the thread up to date for any development.

Thanks again!

Thanks will. I got a brick of sphagnum moss from HD. I might remove the cuttings that appear dead and try to revive them with the moss in a zip lock

Sterling I am willing to bet all those cuttings die.  sorry but it is the hard truth do some reading gather the right supplies and try again with new cuttings. It can be trial and error sometimes but that is how we learn. Do a search on the forum do some reading and start over it is not to late.

Hi Sterlinggold,

what indicators made you think that? is it based on my description or the photos?

I've been very lucky so far in my very first attempts at rooting.

I know there is alot of info out there on getting started. I took 3 months reading through forum after forum, post after post, trying to absorb and come up with a way to root. I experimented in the beginning with 5 ways.

1) Straight coarse perlite(cutting right in)
2) 70/30 perlite/soil mix ( cutting right in)
3) Baggie method- mold up the wazoo!

Stunk it up with these three!

4) Horizontal just under the surface in 70/30 mix
5) Stick in cup of water- wait until root or white primordial turned brown stuck in 70/30 mix

4 and 5 ( especially 5) outstanding results so far

I pinch off any new figlets appearing at any time. I take off any leaves that are going to be below soil line as not to break through and grow up.

Here is my set up


Open bin with cookie cooling racks for ventilation


Roots on Dottato- these are the smallest roots I am receiving- most are 3 times as big and numerous

the media looks way to wet and miracle grow soil is almost always a disaster on cuttings. rooted trees is a different story. Even though the tops are turning green and leafing out does not mean the cutting is viable. or even has roots. Sorry just my opinion not being mean we have all been there and made alot of mistakes but we learn fast from them.

Thanks northeastnewbie. I appreciate your opinion. If you had to salvage these cutting what would you do?

If your goal is to produce one or two figs trees from those twigs that you already have.....leave them alone.  Unless those cutting are actually roting below the soil line......there is still plenty of energy left in those long cuttings. You have already made those suggested changes and they should root. Do not remove them from the soil to see if they have roots.....that will only damage what you already have going on.  That's why we use clear plastic cups for rooting.....so we can see the roots developing.  

FYI....... I conduct some serious research activities on the propagation of figs and have personally killed enough fig wood to build a house!!! Be patient and learn from this experience. Your patience will be rewarded.


Dominick, you have it going on mann!! .........real nice. You and the Misses must have separate bathrooms.....

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

I would lay the container on its side as recommended and roll it until the cuttings drop out where you can pick them up without pulling them from the media. I would cut the cuttings in half so you are working with a 6-8 inch cutting. Remove all fig embreyos from the cuttings and replant in a media of 60% straight perlite and 40 % turface (clay used to make oil dry) you can use oil dry if it is the clay based material not the synthetic stuff.  The perlite allows air in and the clay holds moisture. you can easily monitor the moisture in the clay as it changes color when damp from when dry. Remember even though the top is dry there is still moisture down in the cup. I would then put them into styrofoam cups 20-24 oz. You can buy them at wal-mart. I would fill the cups around the cuttings with the media leaving 1.5 to 2 inches of space on top to add a light compost/perlite mixture later when there are roots to feed the newly rooted tree. I would put 5 drain holes in the bottom and six to 8 air holes around the sides at various locations and heights. Then I would put the cups back into the 5 gal buckets place them in a dark warm place to root. Cover the top of the bucket with a plastic bag to hold the humidity in you can hang a damp paper towel down inside the bucket from the top this will tell you when the humidity is low as the paper towel will be dry. As the plants grow and get true leaves start to introduce them to light and back off on the humidity simply remove the bag  keep using the paper towel though. as the trees start to grow you will see roots coming out the holes in the cups and possibly growing by the hole. Leave the tree in the cup as long as possible they need to develop a large amount of roots before potting up in the late summer. Watering through the compost will push micro nutrients down into the cup to sustain the new tree for a few months.

Thanks Dan!

I used alot of your notes and research suggestions. So you could say this is another person's interpretation of your hard work.

By the way, I lucked out. We had an addition put on, leaving us with the old Master and bath to be free. Left me with a free bathroom to use.  Unfortunately its worked so well, that when the room gets used again next year, I'm out a propagating room.
____________
Dominick
Zone 6a-MA 

Hi all, I wanted to give an update on my salvaging attempt and maybe get some guidance on what I should do about my current state. I followed all your good advice and as you can see from the photos managed to get a bit ahead with some of my cuttings. They are now in a 50/50 Pet/Ver mix with a bit of soil on top. I have a regular light bulb and blue light plus a warming mat to keep it at about 73-75 and water the cups once a week plus minus till water run off the bottom.

My problem is that even though roots and some leafs are present at some point new leafs cannot materialize (they sort of dry out when starting to bud) and eventually good leafs drop and once that happen within a week or two the green stem rots off. already lost a few cuttings to this problem. Also noticed that no new roots emerge and existing ones turn brown.

Any suggestions?

I think it is about time they went outside, where are you and what is the weather like there? It looks like you are keeping the humidity very high in your tub with that lid on, so you will need to acclimatize them to lower humidity and higher light gradually, start by taking the lid off more everyday and try to get them some more sun in stages. Or just take some and move them out to a very shaded spot outside during a rainy spell.
The leaves dying are most likely from fungi thriving in the high humidity. Roots do turn brown as they mature, the ones I see there look fairly healthy, rotten roots soon turn very dark brown and wither up. Fresh stems withering is usually rot at the end of the cutting, the bark and roots will slip off the wood easily. Cutting back a little on watering should help prevent more of that. In the seventh picture I see a "decomposer fungi" growing in the top section of the cutting, I would clip off the top carefully without disturbing the bottom half. It looks like you are doing OK though, good luck.

Thanks for the advice, I'm in the northern VA area. Its been very hot here lately in the 90's so I'm worried about moving them outside in this heat. maybe I'll move one cutting to a shady spot. Humidity in the box is around 70% based on my gauge so not too far off from the 58% outside. when cutting back on watering what is the first sign to look for when it gets too dry?

Move to the shade.  it will be fine.  My plants saw 40 degree or greater temp swings the last couple months.

Leaves will soften, then wilt, but regain water pressure when moved from any sun and watered. In a mix like you are using the cups will be considerably lighter when fully dry. Move #7 outside first, it might give in to that fungi all the same though. Sprinkle a little cinnamon after you make the cut to try and kill that fungi, also carefully expose more of the cutting and see how far down the damage goes and get some fresh air down there to dry out the fungi. Clip any other dead tops (make the cut on dead wood, not healthy), and pick out any of those fertilizer balls you can find.
It has been hot, supposed to cool down a bit tomorrow here.

since the current setup is not working I might just move all of them.. shallower box for better air circulation, some direct sun on the AM and then shade for the rest of the day. also no watering until cup gets light. Any thoughts on how to trim the fungi one? I'll probably cause too much vibration with a blade or scissors.