First time poster, second attempt with cuttings. I have several cuttings in a bin for humidity which have started to show signs of issues. They have been ok until recently the leaves seem to be darkening, and slowly dropping. I do not provide a heating pad, just have them sitting in the been. I usually allow some light in through a window on the other side of the room. A few of the cuttings have shown roots on the side of the cups.

Any idea what is causing the discoloration and unhealthy leaves? At first I was thinking maybe too much humidity in the bin, but really not sure if that's it.

Suggestions appreciated!

Hi Andy,
This happens to my cuttings also. If you have sufficient roots you can take them out of the humidity chamber and my experience has been that the leaves will stop having this issue.

See my propagation thread if you have a chance.

Rich on a similar note do you ever have a case where you have lots of roots showing for many weeks but no bud break?? I have a few that the cups are full of roots but no growth. I usually like to see signs of leaf growth before taking them out of the humidity bin but not sure what the solution is. Will putting them under grow lights help to trigger that? Any input is appreciated!
Tyler

Andy,
carefully cut the brown tips leaving only the green part before the brownness spreads. 
Too much humidity will do that to new growth, leave the covers partially open or leave a crack between cup and cover. You can still save the entire cutting and growth.
Keep us posted.

Edit: heres what they looked like after careful trimming.

   


Happy Thanksgiving :)

Wow, that was fast! Thanks guys! I will take both of your advice, and see what happens. I'll play it by ear depending on what they do outside of the humidity been.

Andy

Rich,
I've let it be in few just to see what happens, the brownness just progressed and reached the trunk, lost the chance to save the growth.

Have you fertilized at all? It doesn't look like fertilizer burn, but it's possible.

I'm inclined to agree with Rich that it's a humidity problem. They probably need more light, as well. A CFL or a regular fluorescent fixture will help.

I would not cut them.



Tyler - Some people have said fertilizing with VERY dilute liquid (10-25% strength) fertilizer can help promote bud break, but sometimes you just have to be patient. I've had a cutting that took 4 months from rooting to bud break.

Aaron - I thought you never lost a cutting?

I have not used a fertilizer.

Andjw,
If the cuttings have roots or leaves they can utilize dilute Fertilization or dilute Foliar feeding. I've used fertigation successfully for cuttings as soon as they are rooted, http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=6837609 .
I usually do not use Humidity Chambers once the cuttings are rooted and avoid the problems (bacterial and fungal growth) caused by excess humidity.

Good Luck.

Kelby,
I lose all my cuttings...to 1G pots, ;)
Sorry to disappoint you man.

My opinion:

Not really a huge cause for concern.  Stuff will brown and drop off, and the cutting will probably be fine.  This usually happens in a very humid environment when the top growth outpaces root growth.  If the same happens in a less humid environment, then you might not get the top growth, or it will shrivel before it gets brown. 

Most cuttings will do a bit of this at some point.  Important thing is to keep giving them fresh air periodically, and don't overwater.  If the mix becomes too moist, that can rot the roots and spell death for the cutting.  The top is much less important than what is going on below the soil. 

No need to use fertilizer until much later in the process.  Very diluted fertilizer probably won't hurt, but won't help much either.  Think of it as a seed.  For the first weeks/month or whatever, the seed will use its stored energy to produce leaves/roots.  Cutting is similar.  Only once it has established sufficient roots to be able to provide moisture to leaves for significant photosynthesis will it need any fertilizer.

Ideal situation is that roots grow ahead of leaves, because without roots, leaves really can't do anything useful.  But it doesn't happen this way in practice.  Leaves might grow first.  These leaves aren't really that useful.  If you can save them, fine, if not, if they drop off, no big deal, as long as roots are still developing.  I don't worry about brown stuff on the new shoots.  I get worried if it happens down below.

Hi Andjw,
It looks like cold burn to me.
That happens with humidity and "cold" air combination.
You should fresh air the cuttings but with "warm" air and not with fresh air as in cold air .
This time of the year you can easily get that problem. All it takes is someone opening a window, fresh air gets in and the
new growth will then darken like it has been cooked.
It can as well be that the pots are in a room that is not enough heated.
Provide those pots more constant conditions, and warm air in temps around 20°C/30°C .
Avoid humidity settling upon the leaves .
Good luck .

JdsFrance very good advice. This is sooo true especially in my area.

I Believe Rob is correct with withholding the fertlizer during the early stages of cloning, The stomata (small holes) in the leaves open when light hits them evaporating water while drawing water and available nutrients from the roots. Fertilizer isn't in the equation until growth is positive, like he was describing the nutrient reserve in seed, the clone is spending its nutrient reserves to get back on track establishing roots via hormonal responses correlating with humidity/temp/light. There won't be positive growth (nutrient uptake) until roots have shown and nutrient should be incrementally calibrated pending the root/shoot density.  

As an update all figs seem to be doing well with the exception of one I chopped due to fuzzies back when it was in the humidity bin. I will leave it alone and see if it sprouts. I've moved the final three out of the humidity bin today as they weren't looking particularly well in there. I've only just noticed root on those ones, and no roots on one of them so hopefully they survive. These are of the black jack variety which seemed to root a lot slower. I actually just put them in the soil mix prior to seeing actual roots because I was tired of waiting for them.

Two of the black jacks are in the back left and back right of the pic. The other one was on the window sill when I took the pic.

The ones In the picture don't look too bad.