Greetings All

Although I was pretty successful last year at starting a lot of different cuttings, and really enjoyed the entire experience from cuttings to young trees, it was a lot of work, coupled with a daily fight against those pesky gnats. So last year i promised myself three things 1) start cuttings later when Spring is here and outside temps are not frigid, 2) use a proper plant heat mat, and 3) try the Root Riot cube method. So, I acquired a few cuttings from various members, UC Davis order came through, and my own HC cuttings, and last Wednesday, I placed these cuttings into the cubes. Cube tray was then placed inside of a humidity chamber that is sitting on the mat.

I've been misting daily, and the cuttings seem to be responding well. I can see some small new buds forming, and terminal buds are really swelling nicely.

This pix below is six days into the process. I'll post updates.

PS: the cutting in far back left sporting a yellow tag is the Black Madeira received from UC Davis.

Looks like you nailed it!  Whacha gonna do when you pot these babies up into cups and the fungus gnats swarm?  I suggest a 1" layer of sand on top of your planting soil.  Keep it dry.  Gnats won't lay eggs in sand.  Also, cover all the drain holes with nylons.  Seriously.  The gnats like moist places.

Oh, and put moth balls in your moisture chamber.

Suzi

Looks good Mark

I've seen quite a lot of pictures using Root Riot cubes and one thing I'm seeing is the the cuttings are rather shorter than mine. Do you trim them to make 2 cuttings? Some of mine are nearly hitting the top of the dome.

@MileHighGirl, my pix is a bit misleading given the angle, but many of the cuttings I have are about 6-7 inches, a few shorter as well. I have the riot tray placed inside a 14 inch tupperware container, with a lid. I did trim a few to make them fit their new " temporary" home.

I like the idea of the root riot and they seem to work well.  I'm just concerned about having that spongy material next cutting after it's potted up.  Afraid it'll cause rot.  And those things don't seem to degrade much at all.  There's been one lying in the back yard for about a year now and it's still recognizable.  

@MileHighGirl - last year I did a lot of rooting with Root Riot and that is exactly what I did i.e. trimmed the cuttings (or cut them in two) so that they were around 4-5 inches long.

Mark,

From your picture it looks like your Root Riot cubes have dried out considerably from the color in the picture (might just be the pic/my monitor).  I love the ease of the cubes, but I find I need to hit them with the spray bottle stream pretty often to keep them from drying out.

My UCDavis order is in the basement.  So far this year the fastest rooter is Excel - each of the cuttings was cut into two or three and they all seem to be putting out roots already.  A close second is the Santa Cruz Dark.

There may be lots of other ways to do this, but since my marginal cost is now a bag of cubes (I have the domes, etc.) I can't imagine an easier, more efficient way to get 25 to 200 starts going.

Now, of course, I need to think about potting up all the babies.

Andrew

Looking forward to your updates with pictures.
Thanks

I agree Andrew - if you are starting a large number of cuttings at the same time it is a good way to go.  I also used a spray bottle on the cubes about once per day.

Kudo's to RAFED for first bringing root riot to the forum forefront.

@Andrew, I agree, they were a bit dry looking, and I sprayed them down right after I took that picture. This being my first time using these cubes, I wasn't sure how often to water, and I wanted to be careful to not overwater. That said, they were dry, and I'm watching and misting a lot more. Thanks for your observations.

In my limited experience, it was hard to tell by just touching the RR cube if they were dry, but the color would lighten a little.  The worse sign of dryness is when you see a little space around the edges between the tray and the cube, indicating they were so dry they were shrinking a little.

It would be a good idea to fill in the empty cells with more cubes or moist potting mix. That will help keep the others moist by humidifying the air inside the dome.

I have all but abandoned the RR cubes.  I still have my trays and probably 50 or so cubes left over from last year.  I may try them out again next year on a few cuttings.  This year I went with 100% perlite in 4X8 sleeves.  It was a little bit more work on the front end (mostly cutting drain holes in the plastic sleeves), but the maintenance on the back end has been much easier.

Initially I had good results with the cubes, especially with cuttings dipped in Clonex.  I shot a video comparing a cutting dipped vs. undipped at 25 days.

I only read bits of pieces from this thread so I will say what I do.

I started off by preparing the cuttings as others have suggested here by cutting and scraping on the sides.
The kit comes with two trays;
1) The outer tray
2) The inner tray to hold the cubes.

I fill the outer tray with water just enough to reach the bottom of the inner tray without touching. This is to provide moisture and help keep the cubes from drying out as quick. Do not let the cubes touch the water!

I will insert cuttings in all the cubes, mist, cover with dome and place in a warm dark place for about a week.
From that point they go into the light.

I uncover everyday to air out for about 15 to 30 minutes. Very important to do this part every single day.
During which I mist the cuttings. I also mist the cubes too. Or if needed, a turkey baster with a few drops of water directly over the cube only if needed. I check the tray to see if I need to add water and I fill through the holes from the centers of the inner tray with a turkey baster.

I prefer to transfer the cubes into pots once the roots become visible. This gives them time to acclimate to the soil (of you choice) and grow. If you choose to let the roots grow a little longer that's fine too. 
Keep the cubes slightly uncovered from the soil when potted so that you can continue to mist the cuttings and cubes with water everyday. You must continue to mist even when potted up for at least another week or two till the roots grow into the soil. The longer the better. And water the soil when it feels dry. The is very crucial for the transitioning stage. Need those roots to grow from cube to soil.
This plays a big roll between success and failure.

Just as any other rooting method. It definitely works, it has been documented time and again.

As for the rooting gel goes.
I never cared for it and never was a big fan of it but I too took the dip and used it. I can honestly say I will not use it again. If you go back and look at my original post on the thread I started you will see the pictures of my first ever trial and success and they were all done without the rooting gel.

IMHO,
I think the rooting gel or hormones do more damage than good.

Good luck

Thanks Rafed, really good rundown of your procedures with the RR cubes. I've been following a similar approach, checking daily, misting, airing out, and squirt bottle to each of the bases/cubes to keep them plump. Time will tell, so far so good.

No problem Mark and glad to help.
Just remember, When you transfer into a pot just mist it as you would do when it was in the tray. If you want to use a turkey baster to give the cube a few drops of water that's fine too. But gradually start to spread the pattern (in circles) as you go along. Basically you are chasing the roots now. It's a guessing game.

After a week or two (or longer, better) you can treat it as another potted fig.

Good luck

Greetings all

Just about three weeks now since I started some cuttings in Root riot cubes, in a large plastic humidity dome, on a seedling mat. Starting to see lots of vegetative growth now, and even a few cute baby figs. What's nice to see is the Black Madeira cuttings in top left that are starting to look good. These were received from a one-year old UC Davis order. The trick for sure is keeping the proper moisture, so I'm monitoring a lot closer now.

What do you all think, is it a good idea to keep these cuttings in the dark, room light, or plant lights now that leaves are developing? I'm leaning toward a wee bit of plant lighting now.

Top photos are from three weeks ago, bottom from a minute ago. Cheers.

Do the ones with leaves show roots too?  As soon as I see roots protruding I pot up and introduce to light from a window.  If there are leaves also I would put them in front of a window with no direct sun and then after 2-3 days put them in front of a south-facing window.  Did the CdDN cuttings take for you?

Mark:

What do the roots look like at 3 weeks? Isn't it about time to pot them up?

I'm about 10 days behind you and so far have only seen one root.

Hi Maro2bear,
I would give them light or they will exhaust their resources growing leggy.
You want dark green leaves, so as soon as I see leaves popping out, give them light , artificial or from a window.
Did you check to see how the roots were performing in the cubes ?
Good luck and remember that this is just the start; keep your efforts on !

Thanks everyone, including Rafed who indicated in his 4/10 posting to get the RR cubes into light after about a week. So, I'll get these guys under my plant light for now and transition to sunlight maybe next week. As far as visible roots, from a top down look, I can see one or two with roots at the surface and edges of the cubes, but others nothing is visual. I don't want to pull out to look so as not to damage the tender young roots.

@Steve in Rockville, I have those CdDN in there, and I think a few are looking good. I'll let you know as things progress. Still cold evenings here, so I'm in no rush to get them in pots outside yet. Updates to follow.

Question: Does anyone apply any diluted MiracleGrow type fertilizer at this early stage? Maybe a very dilute solution would give them a boost?

Question to RR experienced members:

Is it wrong to pull them out, push out from bottom?, to check roots and moisture?

If one doesn't check the roots, how will you know when to pot up, look from bottom?

About how many days before they need potting up?

Thank you!!

Greetings all,

Just wanted to share another updated photo of cuttings started in these cubes a few weeks ago. The large leaves are coming from UNK "Sweet Diana" that Danny ( Long Island) discussed last Autumn. Top left is the UC Davis Black Madeira coming along nicely as well. I'm planning to up-pot a few of these on the weekend.