After finally getting down my indoor rooting ritual, I thought I might try some outdoor rooting. I have a few unknowns left and thought i might try something new. Its now in the upper 80's during the day and upper 60's at night. Are these temps warm enough to attempt this right now?

What are your favorite ways to root them outside? Just stick them in soil in a pot or do you still use clear cups? Do they still need a humidity bin?

Thanks for any and all help!

Jenn:

That's warm enough, in fact ideal. I just stuck my leftover Strawberry Verte in the ground yesterday. These were the biggest pieces ~10 inches by 3/4 inch. Put them in the garden in deeply worked soil, covered with 8 layers of Agribon 19 floating row cover(~15% light transmission). Only left very top of cutting above grade and covered that with fluffy mulch then row cover. My hope is the bud will push through the mulch when ready and row cover will protect from sun until well rooted. I'll gradually reduce the layers of row cover until they can take full sun.

No prior experience just using what I have in a way I think might work.

In my experience, what Steve did is essential for starting cuttings in the ground this late in the season (for Central Texas).  I pre-rooted cuttings and stuck them in the ground.  All that went in after mid-March (and several before) did not establish enough root mass to keep the top alive once summer really set in.  If you want to try in pots, use a 1 gallon container with your normal growing mix (if it holds a lot of water, add some perlite) then put them in some deep shade and keep moist.

Here is another option.

Thank you Steve & James. I really appreciate your insight. I think I will try the 1gal for now.I just wasn't quite sure if it would be any easier than rooting inside. Sounds like it is! I already set up the pots & stuck them in. We shall see what happens :)

Just looked at the forecast and it said 90's late week! Already?!?!?

When we did cuttings years ago they were long. I'm talking 2ft plus in a 5 gal bucket. The ones that's took root and had leave growth and were ready for the ground were put in deep. I mean deep insuring that the roots would live even in the worst cold. Sometimes we put that rooted cutting 3ft plus into the ground where only the tip of the tree was sticking out of the ground only a few inches. That's how many of us did it in NY. After WW2 when my family came in this country many Greeks. Italians and Yugoslavians(especially from Croatia and Istria) brought figs(some grapes too) cuttings, and of course many seeds. The 1950s saw figs galore in ny. The good ole days. The greatest figs I ever had came from Sicily. Bar none.

Definitely makes sense to me to plant then deep. They would have the ability to grow more roots! Plus as you say in colder climates the roots would be deeper.

I had 2 cuttings of Sicilian Red? this year but neither of them developed any roots. I was pretty sad because I had really wanted to taste it one day. I will have to do some research on more Sicilian fig varieties :)

Ive been rooting them in moss and cupping them out side in the shade. I have good results in the fall and this last batch of cuttings are doing good as well out side. I put them in a platic tub with about 1 inch of water in the bottom. Place some bricks in the tub to put the cups on so they dont sit in the water. The lid gets cut wide open and I place some clear plastic on it so some light gets in. I also prop open the lid with bricks on 2 corners so there is plenty air circluation. If the cuttings leafed out in the moss I place a seperate cup on top of the cutting to keep the humidity up untill the new leafs harden a bit then drill a couple holes and gradually introduce them to the air. All in full shade. I have to do it out side now cause the wife is tired of my mess in the house!

I am glad you posted this, Jenn.  I was curious as to the success of rooting outside.  In the past, I always did mine inside. I always wondered how successful it would be this time of year.  Thanks, keep us posted.

here is how I do outdoor rooting:

dig shallow trench
fill with sand/potting soil
lay cuttings sideways
cover with 1 inch of dirt
lightly press down

I have several like this outdoors right now and most of them are starting to send up shoots. My daytime highs are upper 60s and 70s, with lows in the 50s.

It the rate it is going right now, I will skip the indoor hassles next winter and only start cuttings outdoors. A lot less work and so far a higher strike rate.

It is important to note (since I have done both)... Austin and Seabrook, despite being 175ish miles apart have very different growing environments.  This is especially true of the humidity.  As an example, trees grown in the Superroot Airpots in S. Houston had roots which would extend more than half an inch from the side of the pot before the tip began to die off.  In Austin, the roots didn't make it out of the hole.

Jenn, from my experience the best way to root outside is to get some moisture control soil . Then use self watering pots from Walmart. Connect them to a water timer using drip heads, keep them in the shade on your porch and make sure that the bottom of the pots always have water. So you always water from the bottom. You should have a very high rate of success around this time. I kept some on my porch all winter, but they were not connected to a water timer. I just left them out. My success rate outside is about 30% during the winter depending on the cultivar.

Wow! Lots of ways to root outside! Thank you all so much for the insight. I'm kind of inclined to try pots (my mastiff likes to dig up everything I touch!), but I might stick a couple in ground and see how they/he does too.

Again thank you for giving me more options for rooting outdoors.

Writing the variety name on the cutting with a paint pen would be helpful if there is a dog around that likes to dig.  Guess how I found out?

Lol! I will have to remember that :)

Hey James, I live in Seabrook. Are you still in this area or are you in Austin now?