They changed their entire line recently, and the bag designs.  Previously, I was using Fafard 3B because that's what the Atlanta Botanical Garden uses to start everything, and I know those folks are picky as hell and have an immense and breathtaking collection of thousands of plants.  My local nurseries won't carry 3B anymore because the bags are enormous.

See this page:  http://www.fafard.com/Products/PremiumMixes.aspx

Notice the last one - the Professional Potting Mix.  That is what I like to use for rooting.  Then, I use the Complete Container Mix (the red bag, second from top) for all of my potting/up-potting because it contains slow-release fertilizer.

I will reiterate:  I buy ALL of my bags of mix AFTER a rain rolls through and only from my local nursery that keeps bags outdoor.  This way, my mix is pre-wet to the perfect dampness with nice, nutrient-rich rainwater.  I do not add any water using the rooting method described on this page.  I go for 6-8 weeks without having to add a drop of water in most cases, if the bin stays sealed 23 hours a day.  The tall, skinny baggies used in this method do not allow much moisture to escape, and sticks need humidity to root, not water!  Sticks are not rooted plants, with no roots, any significant amount of water will sit there with no roots to soak it up, thus your stick will rot or mold from excess moisture.

The cool part about this method is that you can just mark the baggie with the plant name, fill it with soil, cut the corners, shove a clean stick into the soil, then drop it into a 1gal pot with four or five others, and stick it in the bin.  Little to no followup required.

this will sure help me when i do my first cutting. great info Jason. you sure make it look easy enough. i'll have to wait til end of season when cutting will be available to buy. i'm going to order the bags so i'll be ready when time comes. again thanks for showing us, it does make people take a step foward. as always good health, luke

Yes they did change there line, my bag is all together. This is what I have been using .

You can really use anything you want.  I've had issues with vermiculite holding water, and that seems to be one of the main ingredients in the mix you have there. 

Yes vermiculite does hold to much water.Changing mix

I'm trying to root in my Self watering container mix- 7:2:1 ratio- Peat Verm Per. Next year I am going to try and take a live cutting off a tree  around June 1st and stick right in the mix in the SWC and see how that does.

Any of y'all who know me know how much I love coming back and updating old threads with new pictures.  Here's an update of the same trees pictured in post #18.  About 4 months has passed.  Obviously not growing horrendously fast only getting 18hrs of fluorescent lights all day, BUT obviously progress is being made.

Nice job Jason. They look great. I appreciate the points on the not-so-wet soil. It's suprising just how long the cuttings can go without need of any additional water. Very useful to know this.

Good thread Jason.

Hello Jason,

Your plants look great. Thanks for all the great tips and pics. I would never had thought to cut the roots coming out of the bag(thinking it would possibly kill the tree) to stop mold issue's.

What do you use for plant tags? Also, looking at the young leaves of some of fig trees resemble mulberry leaves. Are figs and mulberry trees related?

One thing that seems off is 18 hours under the lights. Wondering if your stressing the plants? In nature it would never get that many hours of sun in a day. This is just a question, because I don't know and with other plants 14 hours are enough. Again thanks for all the good info, it helps a lot.

luke

Luke, I've got a P-Touch labelmaker made by Brother (Use Google to search for "P-touch").  It cost $20 at buy.com and the labels are like ... UV resistant, fade proof, they won't strangle the plant, the plant can grow for years without the label being broken.  Look at the smaller plants in the last couple of pics and you'll see them.  I stick them to themselves when I pot up the plant, around the base of the stem.  All labels include the plant variety name in capital letters and the source in lowercase just after.  Works like a champ!

Figs and mulberries are indeed related.  Main difference is that the buds on a fig are more round, and mulberry is notably traingular.  I had an experience early on trying to propagate an "unknown fig" which ended up being Morus Alba or Morus Rubra (I forget).

On the hours ... this is typical for indoor growing and I believe for hydroponics also.  18/6 or 16/8 is a typical cycle; if this were outside, the sun would be providing much more nutrient and fulfillment, so 16-18 hours would be overkill... under a grow rack with cheapo insignificant lights, increasing the hours I'm using aren't a problem.  I've been growing all of my indoor winter plants and seedlings with this for years without problems....

Sold!  I am starting a bunch of cuttings today and I am going to try this method.

Those look really great Jason, hope ours grow to healthy looking figs trees like that in a few months too. 

I'm going to get a P-touch this weekend too and label my cuttings like that also, an excellent suggestion. Right now I've been writing on the plastic bags and bottles with a Sharpie.

Is that a hedge trimmer, chainsaw, or leave blower?

leaf blower.  had to take apart and put back together the engine one it twice, but ... it still works. 

i use a sharpie to write on my baggies.  I don't badge the cuttings till they are transferred to pots.  with an average root strike rate of ~65-70%, i need to save all of the labelling i can.  abbreviating names in a way that is easy to understand is your friend as well.

I wanted to follow up on this.  That cutting died.  I snapped off the one that was rotten on the end and up-potted it with the shoots close to the top of the soil line (barely buried).  It just didn't seem to have enough energy.

Your plants are just lovely!  Thanks for sharing.

I've started lots of other cuttings, and will be starting my first figs very soon.

I don't play Jason on TV (Freddie, maybe) but I inspect my bags 2x/wk for green shoots or roots.  If I see a green shoot or a bulge I cut an opening for it and put it under a bright fluourescent light.  Those leaves will manufacture energy for the plant to root.

That one just got potted up last night

There were no roots for over a week after I cut the hole for the bottom shoot and the top shoot came later.  It's the angle of the cell phone shot that makes the top shoot look bigger.  I cut a hole for the top shoot as well.

I also pot mine up long before the roots get that big.  I found out the hard way that those long roots are stiff and brittle.  The shorter they are the less chance of breaking them.  Just my 2 cents of how I'm currently doing things.  My temps are sub optimal so YMMV

I also found the same using this 'new baggie' method (tall skinny bags).... up-potting with very few roots had waaaaay better success.  I lost almost every tree that I let send roots out of the bottom of the bag.  The ones above that had greater root development had a much harder time recovering after transplant from bag to pot.

I do not recommend allowing a lot of root development with this method.  When you get a couple of roots an inch or two long, I'd carefully up-pot.

Also, I stick a label in the bag.  I found that the sharpie markers rub off somehow.  As long as the label is below the edge of the bag it wont fall out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by satellitehead
So far, no losses after transplant.  Everyone that had leaves prior to transplant (all but two) is still looking good, some have even put on new growth.  This is a big improvement over recent trials with this method.  I'm not sure if it's because of the change in rooting medium, lower moisture level, or if it's because I up-potted with much less root development than I would have in the past.

I still have the other 14 cuttings in a bin.  So, 13 rooted and in 1gal cheater pots, 1 trashed, 14 still rooting (very very slowly).  I might transfer out a couple more tomorrow.

Picture, just for S&G:

Fahim

Bump