What have you folks seen when rooting cuttings. What's too big and too small in regards to caliber of wood? Does 2-3 yr old wood root as well as one yr? Are other factors important like maturity of wood?

Thank you for any input!

Apparently there's someone that has rooted a log. I feel shorter cuttings are better.

Hey Sid,maybe you can chime in on this?I know you've got several hundred going for your green house
project and rooted many in the last year.I'm curious about this myself

My opinion after rooting a few hundred cuttings in now going on 3 winters is, Sharpie sized up to 3/4 inch root the best for me.

I have tried rooting about a dozen larger than 1" in diameter, and had poor results than average, could have been just me though.

Similarly, the twigs, smaller than a pencil, don't root as well either, or produce very small and thin growth.  These dry out the fastest of course.

I can't answer other questions as I have only tried to root one-two year old growth.

I have a slightly better success rate with 2-year old wood than 1-year old wood. 2-year old wood has more energy stored in it. But 1-year old wood usually roots faster, especially if it's cut right before the first frosts and hasn't hardened off completely.

I have rooted several cuttings as big as an average size man's thumb! Shorter cuttings do not seem to have the root mass as longer ones...

Don:

Thanks for your input. In reference to caliper I guess it depends partly on rooting method. For instance the big stuff doesn't work well in root riot cubes. But for other methods I'm probably so far liking the sharpie size class.

Frank:

That's about as big as I've tried so far. Success was below sharpie size but my sample size is small.

Since i am being called out :) Here it goes.  1st here are three Fico preto cuttings I received last week Friday at 3:01pm that were about sharpie thickness.  They are my 1st three to break bud out of 33 cuttings that I am rooting of that variety.



   Sharpie thickness seems to be the perfect size for the quickest rooting and highest chance of success.

 Next is what age cuttings, newly dormant, under 1 year old cuttings like these 6 desert king cuttings, with lots and lots of nodes are very likely to root as each node gives you another shot.

If the bottom one or top one rots you can cut it off and you still got all those other nodes that gives you more chances at success.

 They are like a cat with 9 lives cuttings. :)  
   
Then what about bad cuttings, Here is a Conadria cutting is about sharpie size but that is very green, and a Flanders cutting that is sharpie thickness but only has two nodes, one at the bottom that can root and one at the top that leaves can sprout out of.

 That gives you no room to make any mistakes since the chance of rooting a single node cutting is about the same chances of you taking a trip to Vegas and leaving with more money then you came with. :) 
 
Then cuttings that are to thin, cutting under pencil thickness are still able to root but you have to carefully watch the moisture levels or they will dry out.  I am rooting my pencil thin and less cuttings in coco coir in clear humidity bins like these.

 

A pencil thin CDDG cutting


Then cuttings that are to old.  If the cutting is white/grey and you can barely see where the nodes are then its probably to old.  

This is a seven year old Excel fig trunk almost 2 inches wide.  

I have rooted old wood but it usually take 4-6 months and that gives you lots of time to make a mistake and forget to water, over-water, or mold to find it and bugs to eat it.


Here is what my current set-up looks like.  Its a 5x5foot growlab growtent, with a 6 bulb t5 6500k lights four feet above the cuttings that is on from 6pm-6am 12hours on 12 off. 

And clear bins set on the cuttings that are growing in #4 extra coarse perlite and watered with filtered de-chlorinated water with a mist sprayer at 6pm and 6am.
currently I am rooting 33 Fico Pretos, 34 Napoletana Negra, and 14 Grise Olivette cuttings. 

 

Sid, Excellent post makes it very clear!
Good luck with all those cuttings!

Thanks for your input Sid. Nice to see your operation and hear your experiences.

I guess my experience would differ in one regard. New shoots can only grow from nodes. No question there. But in my experience roots can and do grow from any area of the stem not just from nodes.

@Pino: Thanks! I hope they all make it!

If anyone would know that roots can grow from anywhere its the person who lives in a humid cool misty rainforest.  I have seen fig trees send roots out of the side branches that grew so long they reached the ground like banyan trees.  Also roots can even come out of the fruit!  I know! Why! I don't know why! but I have seen it. :P  

@Fignutty: Here is what I mean by nodes giving you more chances, as you can see there are 100's of white root nodules all over the middle of the stem not near the node, but if you look near the node in the middle of the picture. Those nodules are much larger so they will send out larger roots which are more likely to survive then the thin hair-like roots that come out of the middle in-between the nodes. 
 

I've started rooting larger cuttings just recently. These are 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter. So far they seem to be doing well but they are just now ready for Potting after being in water for a couple weeks so the nodes would expand/root nodules would form. Here is a quick pic I just took of one but they all are showing nodes like this. Obviously I'm still new and I have no idea how likely this is to actually root and survive but seems good so far. Second pic is a very green cutting of Flanders that I've only had a couple days now but is already showing root nodes that are swelling which is quick compared to the others it came with. Maybe the variety and environment the tree came from plays a role in how well the cutting will root. Obviously the more the nodes the better your chances but there seems to be many factors the grower can't control which may influence the success or failure of the cutting. Idk for sure just observations and my very little experience.

Sid I did a few single node cuttings last winter as an experiment.  You can check it here if you have a few minutes...

 http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/single-node-cuttings-experiment-7144815?&trail=50

In a nutshell for this topic, I discovered that those which were larger diameter, say around 1/2" or larger, did much better as single nodes.   Many smaller ones did make it but were slower growers.  Roots primarily formed along the area below the node, as if one were considering it while intact on the live tree.  

Sid:

Great pictures and thanks for clarification. I didn't know roots would be bigger near nodes.

Were those root initials from cuttings soaked in water?

Bryan:

Thanks for your input and pictures. I'm going to start some today in water, both green and well lignified. I hope to do as well as you are doing.

Charlie:

I'm going to try single node cuttings based on your success. That sounds like good use for some larger wood I'd normally throw away.

@fignutty: I did not soak that fig tree in water to get the nodules to appears. :) Its just been raining for 3 days without the sun appearing, so some of the trees are starting to root into the air. Sometimes it rains here for weeks at a time, like this 40 days and 40 nights of rain event. http://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/03/29/news/story05.html

@Charlie: Sorry I ever doubted you. :)  That is an amazing accomplishment!  I am going to root, looks like about 20,000 cuttings and will probably have at least 20,000+ single node scrapes, I used to call them. :P

Instead of tossing them in the compost, I will try your single node rooting method on them. Just need to find somewhere that sells 50 gallon drums of cheese wax! ;)

Oh yah 20,000 cuttings... I am not planting that many trees, its for an experiment... Top Secret stuff, (because I don't know if it will work):P  If it works I will make a post about it.   

Getting big fat cuttings to root usually gets you a bigger tree faster. They take longer to root but worth it in the end. 1 inch diameter is perfect.

@tylerj: Yes they are large maybe 1/2 inch to inch and a half size. It's called pahroc giant #4 I saw a website selling it that says in their description, not recommended for rooting cuttings... Oops to late. I have tried many other perlites, fine, medium, medium with fines sifted. This works the best, it just dries out fast so I water 2x a day.

@charlie: OK but don't say I did not warn you. ;)

I use perlite #3 size.  It doesn't dry out so fast.  For me it's been perfect.  If I can't get the #3 I use the #4 but I add more peat moss (Maybe 10% at the most).  It holds a little water and prevents mold. 

3 year and older wood roots quickly but may take over a year to produce shoots if it ever does.  Two year wood does very well for me. I've had no trouble rooting large diameter wood.  See the first post in this thread and scroll down until you see the large cutting that was in a bag in the first photo..

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/jons-bag-method-writ-large-6378923?pid=1285069098&highlight=perlite

Here's some 4th year wood that I tried earlier this year.2 inches at it's largest diameter,stuck it in a pot in the shade and walked away.Never fertilized,hardly watered.I think this size,back in the day,was what could be placed in the ground with no intervention and 5 years later you'd have a producing fig.

oops,