Greetings All,

Need some cutting rooting help pleae. Here is the scenario as best I recall with some history to offer help.

We have what I believe is a brown turkey fig tree. This is based upon leave and fig size, shape and inner color. The tree is about 35 years old and had been on the CT property where we moved in 5 years ago and no one knows anything about it. It was 20 feet tall when we moved in and had alot of inner dead wood.

I've been actively pruning yearly removing dead wood and wrapping it up for the winter the past years and it produced very nicely for us, always at least 200+ figs on both the breba and main crop. I found if I pruned half of last years growth the breba is better quality and the tree is healthy from what I can see. Happy to report the pruning and care quality tips all have come from this forum and have worked wonders, thank you all.

So I have taken a few dozen fig tip cuttings wrapped in paper towel, an inch exposed, dampended in ziploc bag. They are in a light room, no direct sunlight, about 75 degrees. I have opened the bags, blew air in there every other day to inflate them and zipped them up. I have added water once to the ziploc bags. Been there for 2 weeks.

The cuttings have white bumps all over the exposed end so I thought all was well. Today I noticed that some ends are beginning to turn brown.

No visible roots growing yet, just the white bumps (I think it's callus I see) are starting to turn brown. There is much more visible moisture in the bags that before so I believe I need to open the bags and let some of the water evaporate out.

Or is it time to move them to perlite in clear cups? I have a big tupperware container I plan for them to live in to help maintain humidity.

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you in advance for the help.

Regards,

Vince Russo
http://www.vincentdepaulwines.com

Your fine but I would relax on the water.

Thank you Dominick. I will let them air out for a half hour and refrain for watering unless using a sprayer.

I'll definitely try the sphagnum moss next time. Also want to try the New Bag method as the results look fantastic.  Thanks again.

Hi Vince, welcome to the forum.
I think adding the extra water was where you went wrong, it looks pretty wet in there.
I am not an expert in the paper towel technique but have had a similar problem when using newspaper. Water evaporated from the cuttings and paper and condensed inside the bag, eventually areas of the paper were near dry and the bag was loaded with condensation. I switched over to sphagnum moss in a little plastic tote and it has been great.

But, if I were to try and tackle your current situation I would: take the cuttings out, turn the bag inside out and shake the water off, unwrap the cuttings and check them out, soak them in water for a day if they are looking dry or pot them up if roots are formed, get the paper towels at the right moisture level and reassemble.

Drops of water are bad news, either they are breeding grounds for bacteria and mold when sugars and starches from the sap are present, or they are super pure water that will cause plant cells to burst because of osmotic action.

I second Dominick's suggestion of using sphagnum moss, get some, and take more cuttings in late March before bud break; you will be assured of success. I will not be starting any cuttings for 2 months because the days are so short in the winter that it is hard to keep young plants thriving, this will be good practice for you. Good luck

Thank you Brent,

I checked and I do have a bag of sphagnum moss in the garage, I picked it up a few months back with the intention of trying an air graft fromt he mother tree and completely forgot about it.

I have plenty of these cuttings so I will try Dominick's and your advise and let you know how I make out. I've aired the bags out for about 2 hours and sealed them again and still some beading so i suspect still too much water.

Time to pull them apart and reassemble.

I have a 3 season porch that has been sealed up and heated so it's 75 all winter long, have some lemon, limes, and tomatoes growing currently.
 
Thank you again and talk soon.

Hate to break it to you, but those aren't roots (you say roots in title).  That's 'barking' or 'white fluff'.

Nothing to worry about, but as mentioned, cut it out with the water.  You just need humidity, not wetness.

Don't move to cups till you see more than one or two roots 1/2" long.

Thank you Jason, they do look a like fluff. Just need some Skippy and Wonder bread and I'll be good to go.

I have emptied and rewrapped 1 bag of cuttings and will do the sphagnum trick this evening with the other bag. Bought myself a spray bottle @ HD.

Thank you all again for the guidance. I'm sure we'll be rooting some more cutting but with those I will try the new bag method, those roots look awesome!

I noticed in your picture that it looks like the cuttings are touching the side of the bag. If they come in contact with the bag they are much more likely to have issues with mold. I would not allow any part of the cuttings to touch the plastic bag.- Just my thoughts

Great point afigfan, thank you.
 
I have pulled the cuttings back a little bit and towards the zipper end of the bag. The fresh paper towel wrap is keeping them off the plastic on the bottom and top of the bag.
 
I will be mindful of that detail over the next few weeks as I NOT over water them. :-)