Black Madeira going for 5 out of 5...

 

Just that one lower right needs to catch up.

Next is the first and so far best of five out of ten leafing Gloria's Celeste. Unwaxed.

 

I thought the other day there were six swelling, guess not.  Five still not showing.

Lowered the light about 1 ft.    

Worm castings definitely aren't going to be aerated enough.  I'm a little concerned with your followers lined up in neat little rows like that.  It reminds me of photos of N Korea.  Are you planning to rule the fig world?   :)

You will find takers for all the fig plants you can produce, I'm sure. Community gardens and Craigslist for starters.

What are the yellow things hanging from the window drapes?

You aren't feeding them tequila, are you?

Haha!  Easier to water all lined up.  Those ribbons are sticky traps as are the yellow boards.  Have caught quite a few gnats and one big ole fly.

Last I got close to tequila, they found me sitting naked on the toilet, passed out and the front door wide open with a straight eye shot into the bathroom.  That was about 30 years ago.

I did transplant the four Red Libya.  Only one had any roots to speak of and it also has a nice small leaf.  The other three have gone through stages of looking like they wanted to leaf but just didn't open up.  Still green buds.  Started on 10/29/14

Hey Charlie! The Figdome looks awesome ! Thanks for sharing!
The Atreano cuttings you sent are crazy! I stuck em in zip locks last week and I m ready to put them in clear cups already! Is it typical to this variety to root this quick?

Atreano was the very first to show roots and leaf of the 11/01 group.  Glad to hear of yours moving along! 

Thanks Charlie, I just got it planted in a half 2 lt ginger ale bottle! They seem to like the tinted green plastic when growing roots!

Sorry guys, this Atreano cutting has been in a zip lock bag wraped in damp paper towel in a clear bowl on top of the computer tower since last Friday! I check them every night and let some fresh air in! Average temp 78 F when the pc is on!

Wow charlie hope you have a big yard , very nice

ChrisK...Look at those roots!!!  :0

Joe...Yes a big yard.  Lot's of tree room.  

Rich...Thanks! 

Charlie, these one node trees look awesome! I have some questions regarding wax and tree vigor. What is purpose of waxing cuttings? I was under the impression that it was for mold protection/moisture retention when they are sent through the mail, but I'm getting the impression this may not be entirely true. I'm hoping I can get away with skipping this process!

Also, is there any reason to believe that trees started from one node cuttings will be any less vigorous or have smaller/weaker root systems long term in comparison to larger rooted cuttings? Thanks so much for sharing your experience in this thread!

Jenny I will try my best to answer.

Waxing, in theory is as you suspect, to protect from harmful contaminants like molds and pathogens and to help keep them from drying out.  In my particular case, the area of each cutting where roots are forming (at or under and/or below the node) are under the mix surface.  Theoretically, if I keep the mix moist, the cutting would not dry out.  

I believe if the mix is healthy, meaning alive with aerobic microbes and the mix is well aerated, pathogens may be held at bay, at least any anaerobic ones.  Disease viruses on the other hand, who knows?  There is quite a bit of mention of sterilizing shears between cuts or at least varieties.  Personally I have not done this between cuts for the reason being I'm dipping the cut ends into 250 F wax.  I don't know of any spore or germ that will survive that. I have washed the shears with iso alcohol between varieties though as an added precaution.   

Ten Celeste single nodes were done on 11/28 without waxing the ends.  There are now six of the ten budding/leafing so I don't know if it is actually necessary since these appear to be doing alright so far.

Long term is hard to know without some documented results.  I don't know if there are any such results.  A couple of members did some single nodes some years ago but the threads don't carry into long term.  Links to those threads are in post #20.

I have both types of cuttings rooting/growing.  Multi node do in fact take off quicker.  More roots quicker and faster, larger leaf growth.  We will just have to keep poking along and carry this on to the end to know.  There's just simply not enough of it having been done to develop good methodology and say for certain on any part of it, except for me saying I haven't had a bit of mold on any of these since starting to do it, that I can see, versus nearly every multi node dying I had under humidity covers.  I will gladly take five slow growers at the beginning and like to think they will end up grown and healthy, versus one dead one with five nodes when it may be another year before I could get another cutting of that variety.

Happy to have you along for the journey.  

These are not single node but I feel worthy of posting as they sit among the rest and receive equal treatment.  They extend to the bottom of each cup.

 

The left one, growing now from the only exposed node.  The right one with two nodes exposed, bud swelling at the lower node and stem shrinkage above the upper exposed node. These have never been covered and two more identical also with buds swelling.  

Four Peter's Honey 12/07 with some bud swell and three PP's Unk Peachy 12/13, no change yet, were done in like manner.  All appear to be doing fine far as moisture retention below the uppermost node and visible shrinkage above.  

Charlie
Wow I just read this whole thread and was very informative thank you for sharing! I will have to try this method myself Thanks Brian

I just went back and read through One Node Wonders again.  There has been long term success with these and I somehow missed it the first time through or it just didn't stick with me.  Wonder if Jon had good results with his trials?  

Jason (satellitehead) - "I gave away two Marseilles Black (VS) to forum members that were grown from 1-2 node cuttings, and my personal 6' tall 1.5" thick trunked MBVS came from a 2" long 1-node cutting as well."

Anybody else have good experience as well and being quiet? 

I've grown a few one node wonders  and they've all done well.  No different than any other fig in the long run.  But I don't have Hordes poised to overwhelm all of Middle Earth like you do, Saruman.

Your results have me convinced, so I'm going to give this a try! This will be a fun project after Christmas!

The 11/23 group under .25" of mix cover seem to be doing better starting off than any of the previous with stem exposed at the surface.  This Paradiso JM is typical of most of that group. Hoping the 12/13 will prove even better.  

 

Only thing with this group, I did some poking around in bowls with no shoots showing.  They have sprouted but are growing into the mix and will likely surface along the edge like some of the multi-nodes, if they survive the travel. I guess they didn't get enough light being buried under mix to tell which way was up.