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Roots

Vince wanted to see the soil and root progress for my cuttings after potting in cups, so tried to take a close up.

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that's a nice root ball. i think that one's ready for bigger container :)

Yes Jim I see what you mean...those are some serious roots...and the soil added on the top to get the roots used to potting soil...all great ideas that I'm going to try.  Thanks for sharing.

Hey Jack

looking really nice! Is that a Hardy Chicago, sure does look like my young HC plants at this stage. I up-potted before they got so root bound, I'd say you better get this into a 1 gal pot soon to let those roots spread! Nice job, keep us posted.

Here's a pix of my HC a few days before up-potting

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nice roots

It looks like a whole bowl of noodles! Awesome looking rootball!

Jack, would you mind sharing what your rooting process with that plant is?

I have posted parts of this I think before , but let me summarize:

I use either very large zip lock bags or very large plastic tubs with clear lids (the type used for large catering events) and use long fiber spag moss that is very damp but not dripping and surround the cuttings in the bags or tubs. The larger the tub the more space between cuttings is good because they tend to grab onto the moss in every direction as the roots grow out. I put these in a dark warm location typically in a closet or kitchen cabinet. After about 3 - 4 weeks they tend to have at least 1/2 in spurs if not a ball of roots at the ends.   I then place them in a clear cup in pure moss, and a inverted cup taped in place as a top hat to hold the humidity up. Another month they tend to have leaves and a good set of roots throughout the plastic pot. Different types and various cuttings have no leaves or many leaves depend ant on the vigor of the cuttings more than anything else. If they show leaves I remove the top hat inverted cup. The entire set of cups are placed on orchid humidity trays with 360W of T5 lights about 10 inches above them.  I water daily with distilled water ( mainly because my carnivorous plants that are with the figs need only that) Ones that develop to the point of the ones shown today are migrated to 1G nursery pots. About 3 weeks prior to moving out of pure moss, I fill the top of the plastic cup with a 50/50 mixture of African violet perlite fine moss mix and orchid bark mix. The moss is left very loose to allow air and visibility. When I pore the soil in it slowly filters down to the lower levels, but the lower section of the pot is still pure moss.  If you look at the picture I posted for Vince you can see this.  The roots need a "passive" introduction to soil like media in my experience so this step helps prevent root shock and leaf drop common in the migration to the 1G step mainly due to the drop on localized humidity levels at the roots.  In previous years I have gone to soil mixtures right from the rooted stage in the zip locks and it is fine but much slower root growth and leafing. Two months in pure moss allows me to regulate the humidity levels easier and allow them to grow a robust set of roots which I think is key to later season success and vigorous growth. If I did this inside a well heated greenhouse or a location with grow lights and a higher regulated humidity level I would have no problem going to soil much sooner. Nothing magical or right or wrong just what I did.

Looking at your wish list.  I may be able to gift you Coll De Dama Negra which grows all over Spain.  My bog that you sent is doing fine!!  Let me know!

Suzi

Great, many thanks for all the compliments

Really nice roots.

perfect!

Jack, thanks for sharing. I missed your other posting of this and it certainly is something I will consider trying myself. It apparently works
well for you from  the looks of that awesome root ball.

This is the Latarolla cutting, not yet leafed out after about 4 weeks in pure moss and 2 weeks in the soil mixture

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Looking "GOOD" Bro.....great roots.....keep up the good work.

Beginning to migrate some of the more aggressive rooted cuttings into 1G pots this afternoon, here's a couple SAL's fig cuttings and a picture of the roots before potting up.

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LOOKS GOOD !

Looks great, definitely doing a lot of things right for nice roots like that.

Outstanding transplant Jim...thanks for all the info & pics.

very cool jack. Never thought of straight moss - will have to give it a try. I gather that when you pot up and pull out of the cup, roots stay intact and don't fall like when coming out of a perlite mix. Good looking roots!

looks like general potting mic without much perlite..

btw how long is the branch? i am using long branches too and the roots come out somtimes in the middle.

Thanks for posting this. I had never thought to just let them root in moss, but it makes a lot of sense. I'm going to try this out. I've been planting them straight into soil, I never attempted potting them in perlite, it always seemed the roots would get damaged too easily during transplanting to 1 gallon trades. But I would imagine the moss holds up much better then loose perlite.

No its not straight potting mix, I put straight peat mix on the top layer of each 1G pot to slow down the evaporation from the looser lower layers. I generally use a 30-30-30 mix of potting mix, orchid shredded bark mix, and perlite in the bottom 2/3rd of the pots.

I had some Binello and Sicilian Red cuttings ready for coming out of the dark closet/moss phase and into plastic cups, here's one seeing the light for the first time

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