hiya, guys. i thot i should report this.

this was my first year growing cuttings. i did it like you are supposed to, rooting in
paper towels or moss. when they had roots, they went into plastic cups, with  other cups on top.

11 made it that far. some grew leaves, but those dropped off as the plants died. all 11 failed. i'm not sure what i did wrong.

but my season wasn't a total failure. i shoved 2 cuttings into 6'' pots filled with 5-1-1. i never tried to root them in moss. they were buried half way. they got watered about half as much as my house plants. all winter they sat there. i thot they were dead but didn't get around to tossing them.

just when my bigger trees were breaking dormancy, both burst into life. they seemed to be breaking dormancy too. they have full size leaves and are very healthy. it may be that plants that were never babied are tough. all winter they were 6' from an east window. when they had full sized leaves i put them into full sun, no hardening off and they are happy.

if i continue to have success with this method, i'll recommend it to people like me. i'm no longer a fig fanatic, figs are just a crop. i'll have 10 or 12 figs inground, but only because different varieties  have such different tastes.

this method takes a long time but requires little labor. i'll plant some twigs now to see what happens, but i don't know if living in pots all winter was necessary. does anyone know?

anyway, that's what happened. 100% success with the old way.

Thanbks for the post .
In Gustav Eisen's book things were done simple as well just stick a stick in the ground.
Good that things worked out for you.

you're welcome martin. does nobody do this anymore?

My best rooting experience was in Houston.  Stuck them all in the ground.  Unfortunately my soil was infested with RKN, but it was still better (both in terms of strike rate and total top growth for the first season) than any other method I've tried. 

In Austin, I learned timing is everything.  Put them in the ground too late, and the roots do not grow enough to support top growth in the blistering heat (as early as late April).  If you put them too early, and the bugs eat at the cuttings during winter.  January is a great time, but that is when the Forum is quiet and UCD cuttings are still a few month away.  So I mainly used other rooting methods. 

If you live in a climate where you grow figs in the ground, try it.  Put them at least three months before you expect hot (90F+) weather or later if it is a shady area.  Bury most of the cutting and cover with a nice layer of non-composted mulch.  You can also combine methods... root in a baggie then transfer to the ground just when it starts to root.

I have had my greatest success with just putting cuttings in ground and forgetting about them.  They surprise me when they show up, and then comes the ID part.  I usually forget which cutting I put where.  The old ways do work!

Suzi

I have the same experience. 

I shove a cutting into a pot with a complex rooting medium I call "dirt".  I occasionally will use rooting hormone powder after scratching the bark, and this year several got wrapped in parafin tape except for the bottom inch or so.  Then they just go in the shade with minimal watering. 

I agree that timing is important.

I stick untreated, non-washed cuttings (as fresh as possible) directly in new damp mix (1 part perlite, 1 part generic planting mix) in bands or well ventilated/drained (lots of holes punched in) narrow baggies, and then into a humidity chamber. Temp goldilocks warm - not too hot, not too cold. Average about 70*F. When they are very well rooted (root ball holds together very well), I transplant to gallon containers.

I handle them as little as possible, and not much moisture. Less is more.

I do look at them a lot. :)

That is my experience in my environment.

thanks guys. it's good to know it works generally.

i guess my next step should be planting right in the ground where i want them, but i guess it's too late.

can i pot them in the house now, or should i wait til fall?

will cuttings last in the fridge til then?

Aloha, everyone!  I've heard that just sticking a cutting in the ground would just grow, and since I've never had any experience with growing figs, I thought I'd just give it a try.  I didn't have the heart to just throw away a one-node Kadota cutting, so I just stuck it in a small pot with regular potting soil and put it aside.  The only time it got watered was when it rained, which is maybe once to twice a month.  To my surprise, this little guy popped out of the soil...

 

Nate

My family tradition has it that our trees ...or the cuttings... came to America from Italy before the first World War. Like many of the people in our old neighborhood, we used the "old way" to root cuttings: stick the cuttings in the dirt and see what grows. Most of them did. It still works. 
I will say that putting root emzyme on the south end seems to speed things up, but dirt and moisture are best - better than paper towels any day.  Joe, in Athens GA and new guy here on  this forum. Thank you for having me.

I have to agree 100%. Every piece of scion I stuck in the dirt grew. All the babied ones have at least a 10% mortality rate. This year I am putting them in moss to root and then cupping them and sitting them in the shade on the back porch. Three days ago I put one out with 1 1/2" roots, looked today and the 32oz deli container is filling up with roots. I am going to have to put it in a 1 gallon in a minute and under the oak it goes! I'm convinced they do better with the warmer days and cooler nights.

these are great posts. i'm not gonna try that moss/humidity bin stuff again.

sticking twigs in dirt is not only less work but is more satisfying.
too much fussing around involvedwith that high tech stuff.

As soon as it gets a bit warmer here I'll try to just put cuttings in pots outside and see if they make it.  I'm having a real gnat problem inside and it's causing a lot of my cuttings to fail.

I enjoyed this.
Figs are tough plants, made to survive.
The simple approach is many times the best method.


I start cuttings in Dec and plant them in ground in March

Easy, and it has worked well.

Doug

yeah, that's what i'll do henceforth. i'll stick twigs in dirt in december and plant in march, but only if just sticking them in the ground outside doesn't work. it seems to me that a cutting planted where it will be forever should thrive.

Oh a freshly picked peach off one's own tree yum.
Grandma had several tree's many years back i recall them fondly.

martin, i've seldom had fresh peaches just picked at peak ripeness, but they are head n shouldera above trucked in peaches.

as yum as figs.

Not to  brag, I grow peaches.
Last year squirrels had been eating our peaches.
Wife and I went out and ate every peach on the tree.
We stood there a good half hour just munching fresh Belle of georgia peaches
until there was not much left.
The squirrel finished the rest of them.

Dang, I'm hungry again

Doug

doug, what else bothers peaches [and cherries].

no squirrels here, but i've never tended peaches so i need to know what elseto worry about.

Hi susieqz, birds and squirrels have been my only problems.
I just use a 22 air rifle on both.


Doug

Raccoons will clean a tree.

The dammn (excuse) BIRDS, coons, and possums will clean a tree, BUT... You men need to pee all around the tree and ladies need to hang pee rags and bird scare tape in the tree, and you will get peaches, apples, apricots, persimmons, plums, and all that stuff...  Ooops!  Forgot our fav, figs!

Seriously, we worried so much about our first apple tree last year, and I read stuff online, and I made JD go down and pee around that tree.  Not one critter touched it.  He has male pee, but I'm thinking rags soaked in female pee might just work too.

Bring me a bucket!

Suzi

Susie, I've grown peaches for 25 yrs. raccoons are the worst but squirlz and groundhogs and crows and bluejays also are peach thieves.

People are surprised, but I have seen groundhogs up my trees multiple times. They tend to take several bites from one fruit them move on. Trapping them and relocating or eliminating them is the best solution. You don't have groundhogs in NM, do you have raccoons??

Ed,
I didn't know groundhogs could climb trees until a couple years ago. I heard my dogs barking like crazy down the road. I went to check it out and they had treed a groundhog. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure the groundhog knew he could climb trees until my girls showed up LOL.