Most of us have had problems with the cupping phase of turning a cutting into a fig tree. We finally get that rare cutting to root, only to have it die in the cup. Crap! Why does this happen?
Three reasons: over-watering, over-watering and last but not least, overwatering. Oh yeah, occasionally it will die from under-watering (life happens, we forget).
You can optimize the growing medium by screening out smaller pieces of perlite, using turface or by sacrificing a chicken to Santeria. Still, none of these measures will eliminate our predilection for over-watering (or under-watering). Human nature to over-nurture our babies is too powerful an instinct to control completely.
We literally drown out plants with love.
So, what are the possible solutions?
The benefits of SIPs (Sub Irrigation Planters) has universal agreement. Many forum members grow their adult trees in SIPs. See Bill's Figs for details (http://figs4fun.com/bills_figs.html).
Why do plants do so well in SIPs?
Simply because SIPs free plants to self-determination. SIPs allow a plant to feed and drink however much it requires and whenever it wants. In other words, we can't kill it by over or under-watering no matter how hard we try.
The mini SIP in this tutorial cost $0 to make and around 5 minutes of my time by recycling 8 and 32 ounce styrofoam cups.
I am experimenting with the notoriously finicky, FMV laden UC Davis Black Madeira cuttings. If these succeed, all others should be a cinch.

Frank ,
What a great adaptation of a proven growing system.
I think I will try this on some Summer cuttings.
Thanks for posting this now.


 

Thank you Frank for posting the pics of the build. Will give this a try on the next batch of cuttings to up pot.

Pretty sweet!

Anybody could do this on a nothing budget.

Kudos Frank

Frank,

  You are right and that is a great idea. Where were you in February when I needed you?

Very nice Frank .

Keep us updated on their progress .

John

Very nice.

Is it still advisable to sacrifice the chicken?  If so, can it be fried chicken with a side of cole sla... Hey look at that, it's lunch time.

Very clever!

 A MacGyver special all the way! Good luck.

Updated results...

I love this and I think I could even do it but I guess I'ma dingbat....where do you put the water in? Into the straw on top, or do you submerge the whole cup for the bottom spout, or what? <blushes>

Sophie, I use a 60 cc syringe to water from above but I suppose it would work using your method from below.

Am also a dingbat, does the water sit below the over flow pipe? And if you over fill it drips out,
I always thought you need a wick of some sort for sip.?
But as soon as I get my numskull head around it, I will surly be doing the same thanks for sharing you great idea.

Luke, there is indeed a wick. Look at picture 8. The potting mix around the outside of the small cup at the bottom of the big cup acts as the wick to the rest of the potting mix.

Sophie, I water via the top straw.

Thanks Frank! I'm definitely going to give this a try, and not just with fig cuttings either! :)

How often do you find that you have to water on average?

I kind of had the same idea, but my sip was not quite as elegant as yours.  It's a 32 oz plastic cup inside a clear 32 oz plastic cup. The wick is a Keurig coffee filter.  I cut a smaller clear plastic cup to use as a spacer for the top cup to sit on, so it would push the Keurig cup up.  No overflow, since I can see in the cup.  I just lift the top cup in order to fill the resevoir.

 

I made one like yours today, but used a 32 oz plastic cup.
  

Thanks!

Very nice, James. Thanks for posting pictures of both systems. The bigger the straw, the easier it is to water.

Sophie, initially, you may have to water every few weeks. As the plant grows, you will need to water more frequently. When watering daily becomes the routine, it is time to re-pot the plant. 

Hi Frank I can't wait to try this, I use Bill's pots for some of my big plants. Just to clarify, the 8 oz cup has its top ring sliced off, then you cut about 4 gashes in its sides, then you place it upside down inside the 32 oz. cup? Let me know. Thanks

Rafael

This is awesome for baby figs! I had a few in cups, one seemed to not be doing anyting at all and didn't seem to have happy roots. It had only 1 leaf that didn't seem to be growing. After about a week of being in one of these SIP's, it has a new leaf and it neary doubled in size in the past 2 days. It seems very happy now. Thanks!

I put a freshly rooted cutting in one (pics in another thread of mine) w/o going to a humidity bin. Waiting to see if it continues to grow. If that works, then all my new rootings will go straight to one of these.

Very nice, thanks for sharing.

Best,
Tam

Rafael, you are correct in how you summarized the process. Good luck.

James, I've had similar results.

As a matter of interest, I believe that rooting cuttings with or without root riot cubes would work incredibly well in one of these mini-sips. Imagine setting up the cutting in one of these and not having to water again for 6-8 weeks! This is the Ron Popeil method of "set it and forget it".

Over the weekend I experimented with a 16 ounce clear cup producing a super duper mini-sip specifically to root a small KB branch that I accidentally cut.
I will let you all know how it turns out.

Hmmm.. I have some new cuttings. I'll try too root one like this too. Do you put a dome over it until the roots get started to keep it from drying out from the top?