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Too Much Humidity for Newly Rooted Cutting

I have small fig trees, for the past week and a half, the figlets have been in a pot with a clear trash bag on top in filter sunlight, I checked on them today and the new growth was mushy, which I believe is rot. The trash bag makes contact with some of the leaves so the leaves are very moist. What should I do so I don't ruin the new cuttings

Where are you located? My first thought is to get it outside in filter sun light without the bag on top.

Massachusetts, its in my sun room. it gets to about 75-80 right now

75-80 is not too hot. Contact with the bag with damage the leaves.

That is what I thought, the leaves don't look the best, but are ok, i will leave the bag off for tommarow. My sun room is on the south side of my house and the sun gets filtered by a screen. It gets pretty humid in the sunroom

On one of the cuttings, the leaves are drying up, the soil is moist, should i make it more humid?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ekierk
On one of the cuttings, the leaves are drying up, the soil is moist, should i make it more humid?


You can try more humidity and see if they perk up within a few hours.  Otherwise, could be too moist, rotting the cutting in the soil.  Hope it works out for you.

Moisture has several aspects to it:

The ability of the plant to take it in (root condition and quantity).

The amount of moisture available to the roots.

The amount of moisture lost through the leaves, which is affected by the humidity level.

So:

Add humidity, and the leaves loose less moisture, requiring the roots to supply less.

Reduce the amount of roots (through physical damage during repotting, rotting, etc.) and the ability to replace moisture is reduced. You can sometimes compensate by increasing humidity till the plant regrows enough roots.

Excessively wet soil leads to rotting of the roots, which is often a fatal condition because the plant has lost the ability to take in water, and the ability to regenerate or grow new roots is compromised. This leads to wilting that looks pretty much just like too little water. Different causes, but same symptom.

If the soil is too dry, leading to wilting, this can usually be remedied by adding water.

if it has good roots and top, start airing out regulary so it will get used to less humidity. sooner you do that, sooner you will be able to get rid of the plastic bag. i know plastic bag is suggested sometimes, but it never worked for me. either the leaves will rot, or the mold will develope everywhere.

It has been very humid here, so I have left the bags off, but once the humidity goes down, the rooted cutting which has the curled leaves, will get the bag put on. The other cuttings look fine, by the end of this week I hope I can place them outside in full sun.

Just for discussions sake I have been finding out that cuttings that were started in the root riot trays(this is my first year using them)seem to have just the opposite reaction to water as cuttings that were rooted in sphagnum moss(used to do all my cuttings that way)...with the sphagnum moss, I had to be so careful with the amount of water for fear of drownding them or the onset of root rot...with the root riot cuttings I am finding out that once they are rooted and uppotted to 1gal. containers they almost crave water, and when I back off on the water for fear of over watering they start to suffer with wilting leaves, and get a generally unhealthy look...but when I water them up, they revive almost over night...my conclusion, which I have already stated in another post, is that because the root riot cuttings were "birthed" in a watery enviroment, they are almost immune to over watering(within reason of course), and the fear of a watery death is now a thing of the past...(150 successful root riot births so far, and all have made it to 1gal. pots.)

I was told that cuttings (other than fig) rooted in plain water develop only "water roots" that dont function the same as the "feeder roots" that come in contact with soil and use bacteria to absorb nutrients.     Could this be true with figs?  If so water sprouted cuttings might face a starvation period until they develop feeder roots when we plant them into soil. ...  That's just a thought

I rooted mine in a rooting meadium, the roots were not the greatest. My soil is very moist, I worry about my roots and I want to check, but i don't want to disturb my roots. The plant looks fine on the outside, so I suspect the roots are fine. I have 20 more cuttings rooting in moss. They are going a  whole lot better then a rooting meadium. How big are root riots? I feel like they are too small for the bigger cuttings. I may try them out next year, but I will primarily stick to moss unless the root riots will work better.

I sent away for a Root Riot kit. I was wondering about the depth of the chambers too.   I'm trying to propagate hardy figs and other plants for a garden group that starts gardens for handicap people.  If Root Riot works as good as i've been hearing it will be wonderful to do on a bigger scale than I can now.

@ Ekierk...the length of the root riot roots vary from cutting to cutting...it's the thickness of the roots that is really amazing...in some cases twice as thick as cuttings rooted in sphagnum moss...maybe it's because the roots have to fight their way thorugh the thickness of the root riot cube, and by the time they break through they have become stronger somehow?? (just speculation)

@ SoniSoni...the depth of the root riot chambers is 1 3/4" deep, which is the exast size of the cubes
themselves...if you were refering to the humidity 'chamber' it is 7" tall...I have been told that there is an 11" humidity chamber available, but after searching the internet, I have not been able to find one. (any one with a link to an 11" chamber please post it, or PM me)...Thanks. 

Today, one leaf looks really bad, should i take it off or leave it on?

Let the tree determine that...when it doesn't need that leaf any more, it will drop it. 

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