Hello fig lovers this is my first post and I want to thank all of you who share your wisdom with those of us still learning the basics. I have a 3ft plant of unknown variety in a 15 gallon pot that has a very low branch almost laying flat on the soil and curving up almost a foot. I have read what I could find about stooling and would appreciate any tips. It is going to be scorching hot here for the next 2 months and I would like to know how to approach this. There will be 3 months of decent weather in the fall before it gets cold and I hope that would be enough time to root it. The tree is doing very well and just started bearing some figs.
Thanks for the advice
Larry

Stooling...
Cool word for rooting or layering. 
Welcome aboard, Larry. Where do you live?

If you cover that low lying branch branch with potting soil, mulch it and keep it damp throughout the summer, I am sure it will stool for you, no problema. If you live in the desert and have problems keeping the stool damp, then I would suggest air layering using a plastic container which will retain moisture for longer periods of time.

Good luck.

LOL, I've heard it referred to as "ground layering" but "stooling" is a new one.  I did this once with a good sized branch but did not girdle the cambium layer prior to covering with soil.  Probably because of that I didn't have as many roots as would have been optimal but it did survive.  In addition to girdling (just as you would for air layers) I would suggest using landscaping staples or a large rock etc. to hold the branch down.  You don't want the wind to bring it out of the soil that is covering it.

Stooling is a pretty common term if you step outside the fig circle. Thats how many your rootstock plants for apples etc... are produced. I thought about trying it on a fig this year that sent a multitude of shoots up from frozen to ground plants. I decided not as I didn't want that many of that cultivar, but I would think it would work fine

Larry,
Welcome to the forum community.

A single low branch is more easily air layered instead of stooling. Any of the documented fig "air layering" procedures will work better because a single container will be used to contain the new roots of the air layer and it can be removed well before the end of the season.

Stooling works quite well with fig trees because multiple shoots are produced at the lower nodes when the apical tips are pruned, but the stooling process is a bit more involved and is better suited to propagation of multiple plants like the mentioned apple rootstock... A single trunk with a substancial root mass is cut close to the soil line, similar to pruning in a bush form, the soil is then mounded as the multiple shoots grow out, when the plant is dormant, at the end of the season, the individual rooted branches are seperated and grown as individual trees.

Good Luck.

BTW, Stooling is a form of Layering, as is Air Layering and Ground Layering.
 
Stooling just requires additional planning, pruning and a longer period of time to harvest new individual plants.

Hi goodeats4me,
Welcome to the forum.
More heat, more watering for you.
I made some stooling on a branch - the branch was already bent towards the dirt, and just a shovel of dirt over it made it stay down- and even without watering the area the branch rooted - ok not as quickly as it could have, but still the branch rooted,
and is now a tree in an eighty liters trashcan with bottom removed.
I tared apart that tree in April 2013, and this year the tree has some 6 brebas and is growing strong.
The tree is now 1,5 meters in height.

Thanks for all the good info, I must admit "stooling" is a new word to me also since searching for answers.
Would have preferred something a bit more normal. lol  I think I will do an air layer with a container after considering all the suggestions, that seems to be the best method. I am a Midwest transplant living in the twilight zone also known as Arizona, a few miles east of Phoenix. I am now retired but have worked outdoors in subzero weather and in 116 here and the heat is a piece of cake compared to the cold. I have half a house worth of plywood cut into small squares protecting the sides of my containers from the sun. I am also growing bananas, mangoes, guavas, passionfruit, various citrus, and apples.
Thanks again for the advice
Larry
Mesa AZ
zone 9b

Welcome to the forum and good luck with all that fruit!

Mangoes, man I wish I could grow them here in Arkansas! I loved fresh mangoes when I have been in India.

Stooling is essentially the same as air-layering, in terms of the basic process. you put soil around a shoot or branch, keep it moist, and it will grow roots. Then y0u detach it from the parent plant. What you are proposing is more often called layering or ground-layering because it is done in the ground. whereas air-layering is done "in the air" above the ground. Just another way to skin a cat, so to speak.

Welcome.
You have enough good advise already.
I'd just add that I use a small bamboo stick to hold the little guy in place and then put a piece of colored tree tape at the top of the bamboo stake so I remember where it is and as it's color coded what it is.

Hi,
I do agree that stooling and air-layering are essentially the same, but with two big differences :
Drawback of airlayering: If the tree is not at hand - say 30 km away from you - eventually the container will get bone dry ... and the air-layering will fail.
Drawback ?yes/no? of stooling   : The roots are not in a container. So they can grow wild - but when you fetch the tree, you'll be cutting some and so you don't get the full root-mass.

For me the point was the watering that I knew wouldn't be done even if I asked. Damn nephew ! Just Playstation the whole year everything else is not worth caring of, for him !