Hi Everyone,

This is my 1st post so please go easy on me.

I was wondering what success rates as a percentage you achieve from starting with a cutting through to a 1 year old tree?

I've had a good look around the forum and can't see that anyone else has asked this question.  I new to the world of figs and just want to know what I should be aiming for...

Thanks

Overall I achieve about 80% with some of the losses due to mistakes made because I have too many to pay close attention (i.e., up to 250 going at one time I have smaller plants in the same tray as larger plants and the smaller ones sometimes get over-watered.)

Some varieties or very good quality cuttings are easy and I get 100% with those.  Some others it's much lower.

I really like rooting right in ProMix HP potting mix, it is working out well for me.  No rooting hormone being used.

Welcome to F4F!

I am in my third season of rooting cuttings, so I can only give you my own subignorant point of view.

Season 1: 100% mortality. I used peat moss instead of long fiber sphagnum moss and kept it too wet.

Season 2: didn't keep records, but I'd guess 70% cuttings from same tree rooted. About half of those made it past cups. All that made it to soil in pots are alive today. Rooted in perlite, cupped perlite/vermiculite, potted happy frog soil.

Season 3: separated cuttings into batches and experimented with a few different techniques. First three trials had around 90% mortality due to mold. Last trial used rigorous preparation in rooting cuttings in damp, chopped sphagnum. So far about 80% are already in cups. Those that are not rooted yet just started showing signs of activity today so might get close to 100% of this batch rooted!

What I'm getting at is that very high success rates are obtainable, but it depends on the cuttings, the current conditions, time of year, and what YOU put into it. Like Harvey pointed out, a given amount of effort will produce 80% success. You can certainly improve that by putting in more time and effort (and maybe money), but 80% or even lower may be acceptable since it might be easier to get more cuttings rather than get an extra 10% success rate.

By the way, that last batch with hopeful 100% success was all cuttings from Jon. ;-)

Hi timmsm,
Here is my own way:
If you have the choice and access to trees go "rooted root suckers" - even if those only have one small root - they are the easiest to go with.
Buying a tree is another way to crush the nut !
Last solution, go with cuttings . That works fine as well, but requires much cares especially during the winter time as one has to control/provide more heat and more light to the cuttings!
I started cuttings for trees I couldn't find at nurseries and for playing during the winter time.
I have right now, two cuttings exposing "burned" leaves - I hope I can get them to go through - If they make it until the 15th of May they will be saved - so I'm close to success, but may well fail !
I had to change my artificial lighting system, and those leaves were too close from the bulbs as the new bulbs were providing too much heat - every little thing you change can get you to knock your head on a stone wall ! It hurts !

from stage to stage, the rate was higher than last yr. then again, i didn't do mass rooting like last yr. i did them in 3 separate group as they came in. the 1st group was 99% from rooting to 1 gal. the reason why it's 99% is i threw away one cup since it was having such hard time growing due my mistake of sticking the cutting into the cup upside down. 

the second group also 99%. i threw away one that was keep getting molded on the cutting itself. it was growing fine, but i got tired of looking after it. 

the last group is still in cup, but so far no issue. 

there were few cuttings that came in that didn't do anything. i waiting for over 3 months and they are all in the trash can. 

i have another 3 groups coming in soon. in totally, i think i rooted as much as last yr, but i spaced them out and it has worked well this yr. after this yr, i'm not going to root any new cuttings unless it's one of the those cuttings that i have to have.. and i can't think of many at this point. 

Last year, my first year, I think I had about 70%.  Would have been closer to 80%, but left some in cups in a tub in the sun.  cooked 'em.

This year, I WAS at about 95% up to the cups stage, using 32oz deli cups.  I was using MG potting mix, perlite and some cow manure compost.  Then switched to sp peat moss/perlite for some.  Most of the later went south, but a couple are doing great.  and a few of the earlier ones suddenly started getting root rot after having healthy white roots.  I think i'm down to about 65% so far.  I'm doing a lot of different cultivars and seeing many difference between them of how well their initial roots form.

I've gone back to my original mix of MG potting mix/perline/cow manure.  Other than that, I'm not really sure what to do to increase the chances.  Nothing gets watered so much that it drains from the bottom.  My moisture meter says they are plenty moist.  To the touch, the medium feels damp only.  barely enough to make it stick to your skin.

I think i might trial perlite/vermiculate on a few.  That's what I used last year, which seemed to work well.

This year using perlite 36 good so far 1 not so good.

Strike percentage is pretty good 85-90%, infant mortality is biggest area of loss due to over watering, Gnats, too much sun, too quick, tree rats, etc.  seems that if they start rooting, they do well, if they sit there too long, it's not going to root and they generally get tossed.  With that said, I have pulled rooted cuttings out of the trash pile that seemed to start and grow without any interference from me.

Tell us something about yourself, we are helpful to newbies but we are a nosy bunch.

Good luck

Thanks for everyone's replies, I now have a number of bench marks to measure my success against.

I have got a number of cuttings arriving this week from various sources. One being HarveyC (what a pleasure it was to do business with you).

I've been propagating fruit trees like apples, pears, cherries and plum for a few years now and like to make family trees. Living in the uk I didn't think that I could grow figs due to climate but then I started to read up a little more. I've got a large green house that I think will give me some advantage early and later in season and then it's going to be a case of using a warm garage for winter I think.

It's seems a really friendly and helpful forum.

Rates are pretty variable. As you can see, there are many ways to go wrong. And when you think you have it figured out and it's all no worries, BAM you get a batch of weak cuttings that don't seem to want to live no matter what you do. So, some varieties I have 100% and others 0% survival, the majority are somewhere in-between toward the more favorable end. As far as I'm concerned all I need is one and it's a success, the rest just get given away anyways.

All along, my fig rooting success rate was around 70-90%.
Sometimes less, sometimes more; mostly depending on the TLC I did give them.

I have heard of some 'funky' arithmetic where some people claim 100% (plus+)
success rates by cutting the original twig(s) in 2 (or more) pieces...

Hello Timmsm,
Welcome to the forum community.

Most of the cuttings that I've started over the past 2 years have been used in rooting and growing tests and experiments, most have been aborted or discarded in different stages of development, but the approximate success rates are, Rooting... 98% and 5-gal 1 yr old...92% . Good Luck.

I'm new at this as well and my success rate this season was about 20%! I'm starting round 2 now so the % should increase dramatically, but then again, ya never know! Even at a low rate you still end up with more plants than you started with so it's all relative. Good luck and just make sure you don't over water! I think you really have to just dive in and take a crash course to get the feel of it. Loose a few and you figure out pretty quick what not to do. No matter what it's fun!

i've been off loading my plants last month or so. gave some to co-worker, gave some to contractors fixing my house.. gave some to structure engineer looking at my foundation.. yeah.. you will end up with more than you really need. one per variety should be enough and when you think there will be a problem, make a back up just in case.  

Of course, what is meant here by 'success rate' is the percentage from ALL the twigs that made it.

However, there is another very important 'success rate' for me when it comes to rooting NEW fig varieties.
When I can say that 'at-least-one-made-it', that is a success for me - irrespective of the quantity of tried twigs of that variety.
For figs, unlike baseball or jail, one-strike and you-are-in...
That being said; mostly it has been 100% for me - but not always :-(

so gorgi.. what you are sayig it... it's always 100% as long as one cutting out of that variety makes it. once you have one tree.. you can make 100s out of it. 

Agree with George also some strike well some not so well not even of the same variety.
Glad i do not root anymore.

>>> what you are sayig it... it's always 100% as long as one cutting out of that variety makes it.

NO; it depends on one's goal.

What I meant is that if I wanted a NEW fig and one twig made it - that is a success for me (due to space, I usually grow one of each kind).

I had cases with both a 1-twig (e.g., GM#141V - 100.0%) success and a 4-twig (e.g., Hunt - 0.0%) failure...

I rooted about 65 new varieties this winter and I would say the success rate to root was 95% closer to 99% if not for one batch of cuttings of 3 varieties that all rotted.  Now in the cup is another issue but would say it was 75%+ success which I can live with.  I did have 3 varieties where I lost all 3 cuttings which is a bummer but gives me things to trade for next year:)  

Thanks everyone.

I will let you know how I get on in my maiden growing season in the next few months.

Thanks everyone.

I will let you know how I get on in my maiden growing season in the next few months.

Your greenhouse will be a tremendous help to you for lengthening the growing season.

I have a small 12'x16' greenhouse with about 15 one and two year old trees in it. They are leafing out nicely while my neighbor's in-ground, outdoor tree (from which most of mine came) is still completely dormant.

Just out of curiosity are there any uk growers on the forum?

I thought it only fair that I give an update after creating this topic in my first season and getting so much great advice from everyone. I started out with 18 varieties this spring and am pretty happy to say that everyone with the exception of Deanna has been rooted and is growing nicely. Today

Brooklyn White
Flanders
Gulbun
Italian 215
Negra d'adge
Monstreuse
Deanna
Col de Dame Noir
Lampiera Branca
Grise St. Jean
Igo (Prsuch)
Gino Black
Longue d'Auot
Lsu Gold
Conadria
Laradeck (Turkish)
Nero De Telizzi