I visited with Slavi today and forgot to take my camera to get some pictures of his fig trees. They look so amazing. They are to make anyone feel jealous.

What I was the most impressed was his rooting system.

He puts the cuttings, long and short in moist spagnum moss inside a large tub with lid on top of his refrigerator. We all know how to do this, but he goes farther. 

  Once the cuttings shows roots, he puts a bit more moss and a little bit of potting soil and wraps the roots and tapes them semi closing the  soil and moss around the individual cuttings where the roots are starting to push out.

If the cutting roots by the tip, that is where he puts the little sack with moist soil.  Then, he puts the cuttings with sacks in same large tub  and put them together with the other cuttings  that are in various stages of rooting. Lid back on, air it out every 2 or 3 days. 

He has a tiny seringe that he gives the little sacks a bit of water as the soil indicates needing some.  I have to go back there with my camera to document the complete stage for everyone to see.

By doing this, the roots get stronger almost like those in airlayers (completely protected from gnats) and other nasty bugs and in good temperature. Also, the roots will not tangle with other cuttings and are allowed to grow stronger inside each little sack. Genious idea!

I could  not resist and brought some with me to my place, which I took pictures to show.

I am super impressed. Thanks Slavi for sharing your knowledge and being such an awesome fig friend. I am lucky.

These are Desert King that grow well for us in Seattle.

Good idea thanks for sharing.

I think I like this method and I will try it. Thanks for sharing.

Looks easy. I just may try it!! Thanks for posting this.

I like it too!  Easier than the cups!  Doubtful fungus gnats like all that moss!!

Suzi

Nice! Thanks for sharing. I do it slightly differently. After the  figs show some roots in the moss bin, I pot them up into 1 gal pots leaving only 1" on top at most ,covering that top with a tight clear cup keeping it moist. The pots are in a warm place outside. The pot surfaces are covered by a fine orchid bark that gnats either do not like or cannot penetrate, it is about 1" thick layer. I water from the bottom about every 2 weeks.

I have some cuttings that are in a bin and ready to go further, I will try your posted method too.
I have a question. After this:
Once the cuttings shows roots, he puts a bit more moss and a little bit of potting soil and wraps the roots and tapes them semi closing the  soil and moss around the individual cuttings where the roots are starting to push out.

Where do you store the cuttings with the bags wrapped around the roots? The will start pushing the leaves for sure.

Looks awesome.
I did a similar thing, after taking the cuttings out of the fridge. I put Sphagnum moss (wetted with filtered warm water) in the same zip-lock bag that the cutting were when in fridge and put them in picnic Styrofoam cooler with a lid, they are in pantry , 9 varieties about 45 cuttings.
So, I will add soil later as soon as I see roots shooting about 1/2 inch or so... I already bought the soil, it's made by Miracle-Grow , Special rooting soil, it's on special now in all Home Depots...$4.95 or something...
Thanks a lot Grassa ;)

Igor, I edited the post. Sorry, was too excited to show them... Slavi put all in the same clear plastic box, it is quite large, maybe 18 X 24 x 8. those you store clothing for the winter inside of them.

He has the moss and cuttings (some as long as a foot or so) in all stages of rooting and leafing.  He just piles the ones with sacks on top, in a crossing manner where all get moist, and air about them.  Lid back on and on top of the refrigerator again. It was quite a sight.

Thanks!
I've got one more question, if I may.
Since the roots are kept moist inside the bags with soil and protected against the little bastards, why not to keep those cuttings outside the bin?
Just like the air layers, the leaves would grow nice and strong. When the roots would become larger, just up pot them straight into 2 gal.

For the ones leafing out you've got to get them under light.  Weak, lanky shoots aren't a good foundation for future growth.  Also roots that young shouldn't be tan they should be white.  I'm afraid there's not enough air in there for the roots to be at their best. 

Robert, those were ready to be potted, that is why I stole them from him. the roots are white, it could be bad picture or too much yellowing on my walls and floor.  They look super good to me.  I potted them already.

Aaron4usa, you might consider adding perlite to the miracle grow mix you bought.

I was thinking of starting cuttings in root riot cubes but instead of standing them upright in the humidity trays, just tossing them in sphagnum moss. When they push enough roots I could pot them from there or, if they pushed top growth without roots, they could hang out in the humidity tray until the roots caught up. Has anyone tried this?

That was a terrific report, Grasa.   You got me,  I'm thoroughly wowed......... :-)

Actually I am always looking for a new fool proof rooting method and was going to try some cuttings in Jon's Uline bag system.  A question..... is this not very similar?   If in Uline, maybe close off the bag and let roots develop a little longer.  Only downside I see is, the Uline bag may be a bit small diameter wise.  

Thanks again...

Edit... on second thought, Jon's system is 85% Perlite/15% chopped moss and Slavi's is 100% Sphagnum moss to start.  Guess that could make quite a difference!

Very interesting Grasa.

@ Aaron. I'm doing something very similar to what you're suggesting. In fact it's crossed my mind to do exactly what you're saying with some of the others I have left.

What I've done is dip some cuttings in Clonex, stick them in the peat cubes, and then placed them in covered bins with damp newspaper in the bottom. So far, so good. Only issue Ive seen so far has been a little mold trying to start where a cutting tip or two has been laying against the wall of the container. I just pick them up wipe the bit of mold away, air out the container & place them back in. No real issues though. Too early for roots either though.

Sorry Grasa, didn't mean to hijack your thread.

Slavi success rooting rate is awesome. He has a special way of doing and by this weekend I am going there to document all the steps to share. 

Jack, I don't know that Uline method, as you can see in these picture each bundle is a bit different, depending on how the root is forming, this handmade living sack is totally tailored to the roots, having no stress at all, the plastic is loosely wrapped with plenty of room for the roots to grow and the masking tape can be removed easily,so it does not break the roots when potting.

I think the uline bag being the one size fits all would limit how much growth is allowed, similar to the cups. One advantage would be saving time, making individual sacks can be consuming and I can see it would not be feasible in mass rooting.