The following variant cuttings that root easy for me are Salem Dark, LSU Hollier, Desert King, Moscatel Preto, Nero 600m, Excel,
Bourj. Gris, Col de Dame Noir and Quarter Pounder. Unfortunately my experience with CDDN have been unfortunate in the sense
they all(likely 10) died after potting. Could be just me. Hope other fig friends can chime in on their experiences. Worst experience
is with LSU Improved Celeste -- did it for 2 seasons and total cuttings did not root is at least 8. Hope to get some cuttings this season
and one more try before buying a tree.

Great topic Paul,

The two variants that have shown me no love are the Chicago Hardy and Excel.

Don't know if it's me or what.

Most others have shown a decent success rate.

Being on the road I really don't have time but the other night I read what Dan wrote about rooting cuttings and he said not to use any mix with fertilizers.
Well, Goes to show you my ignorance.

Given the fact, I'm still doing good but if I follow Dans advice my success rate should hit the roof. 

nasty weeds....

These were started in water and moved to cups of perlite and soil-70/30 mix.
They all have roots showing after about 6 to 8 weeks from first emerging in water. Some are just about ready to pot up.

Salem Dark-Super fast-potting up in a few days
Salem White-Fast
Dark Portuguese-fast
Brooklyn Dark
Binello
Barada-quick to initial
Sweet George
Weeping Black
Italian Honey
Dottato
Stella-super fast
Texas unknown (Cathy-Texascockatoos)-fast


Stella-% wise was huge-6 of 7 rooted so far

I have others that are showing primordial markings on bark that I am going to put in cups soon.

For a first time rooter, not bad. If they grow in the second season then I know I was successful.

Try using a 3 inch peat pot (the cup shaped ones) inside of your 12 oz plastic cup and YOU WILL NEVER LOSE ONE AGAIN. Did you catch that BIG TIP Paully??? 

I posted that formerly secret technique of mine on the GW fig forum.  Couple that super simple technique with rooting at a "stabilized rooting temperataure" and using a "UPM/perlite rooting mix" and you won't lose those Col De Dame Blacks ever again!!!


Dan

Dan, I've been reading your post here and on the other forum.  I'm going to give those peat pot a try.  However, I think the 3 incher one are too short.  I found some that fits perfect inside a 16oz clear plastic cup.  They are 6 inches tall.  I have not started my  UCD cuttings yet.  And I got a few Col de Dam Noir cuttings from a friend so I'm going to use the peat pots and see how they work.  I started a lot of cutting on Jan 1st and haven't lost one yet using the ULine bags.  I think the peat pots will work great too.  It is important not to disturbe the roots a much as possible.  So, I'm looking forward to using those pots.   cheers,

Dan,

Just got five cuttings of the CDDN.
I had my wife place a couple in the bag with moss to get them started along with some other variants that are hard to get.

I will read your advise like a Bible. So to speak, don't want to get smacked by the "Great One" up there.

I will let know know how I do.

I think it is the 3 inch peat cups that will fit within a 12 oz plastic cup. There is about a one inch void between the bottoms......just fill that void with some already moistened rooting mix before inserting an already moistened peat pot. The roots will grow right thru the walls of the peat pot.

If you use UPM/perlite as your rooting mix, observe the color of the moist mix when you place your cuttings inside. Also, notice that the mix touches the sides. Whenever you see the color lighten up and/or the rooting mix shrinking from the walls of the peat pot, and/or the peat pot itself looking lighter in color......it is time to add a bit of water. The peat pots will wick away excess moisture that might be in the rooting mix. If you start your cuttings off in baggies, you may find that you do not need to add any water at all when they are placed in the rooting cups. All of this adds up to much better moisture control. 

I also believe that this technique helps with carbon dioxide degassing....something I will get into later in another thread.

When you see roots coming through the peat pot, they can be extracted from the  plastic cups without you disturbing the roots at all.....i.e. no root shock. Keeping the peat pots in the plastic cups prevents them from drying out too fast and also protects the roots that will emerge from the walls of the peat pots. After planting your rooted peat pot cuttings in a larger container.....keep the container at an "even temperature" for a few days and you should get a very high success rate.

FYI.....this is one of my tricks for single node rooting. Works real well with regular length cuttings.

Dan

Best rooters so far this year have been, vasilika sika, col de dame gris, negronne, kathleen black, conadria.  Worst petite aubique.

It's funny you said you had problems with Aubique Petite.

I could not get that sucker to do squat in water. Nothing! I waited about 8 weeks and gave up. Most turned to mush.

So I clipped a couple with at least 3 nodes and planted in 70/30 perlite soil mix horizontally just below the surface. I have a few going well now and growing with strong roots appearing. One is about 3 inches high.
_______________
Dominick
Zone 6A-MA

Thanks for the tip Dan. Like Rafed's comments --- read it like a BIBLE. That's a good one Rafed.

Hi, everyone!
Last year..I lost lots of cuttings..I was a new.. who was trying to study..and first I lost many.. but.. Blue Giant, Brooklin White, LSU Gold done good. Nero and Strawberry Verte 8 plants each..I don't think I lost any of them..
And 50% Scot's black, Unk Yellow, Vernino, Osborn OC, Portland 4, Preto tarde, Long Yellow, Flanders, Dark Portuguese, Celeste JN..
But, this year..I change almost everything.. hopefully this way will work better... Stella doing good this year...but..for now..I afraid to say anything...

Paully, my best rooting selection this year has been Improved Celeste. A 66% rooting success in only two weeks. These were cuttings that developed a high number of strong roots in only two weeks.

Hello Bob, my Improved Celeste came from 2 well respected members where one is from a JR strain & the other I believe from LSU(If I guess right, same source as yours). I am
not sure whether they are different strains but I am determined to give it a go especially sighting that yummie picture of an Improved Celeste Dan posted ---  deserving a
place to be in my stomach and good for my bowels. hahaha. I know its a must have fig.

The strain of Improved Celeste that I have pictured in the other thread is the one that is replacing many regular old Celeste fig trees in the commercial orchards in South Louisiana. This is because it is nearly ever-bearing and produces fig preserves that are better than those made with regular Celeste figs.  Too, shrink loss is less when these figs are processed......meaning they have more product to sell.  When a Cajun replaces his Celeste fig trees with another fig cultivar......you know that it has to be good.

Dan

My interest in the Celeste family of figs, is two fold. I have read that Celeste is very cold hardy, and we are testing cold hardy figs, here in Connecticut.

I agree with your reasoning.

Dan

Hi Ed.  I had a total failure with the Aubique Petit.  Nearly all of them rotted, and the one that sprouted a few leaves quickly wilted and died.

I really don't think it was anything I did, but all the other cuttings are doing fine.

The cuttings that really amazed me though, were the Lindhurst Whites.  They all took off right away, 100% success, starting in just a few days.  And now I am having to prune back leaves on the largest one so it doesn't get too big before it can be safely set out.

The other cuttings are growing, but nothing like the Lindhurst White.  Hope it continues this vigor outside.  If so, it might even have a couple figs by fall.

Best wishes to all.

John
North Georgia Piedmont
Zone 7b

Hi Bob,

Best of luck in finding those hardy Celestes.

I wish the Celestes down here would hurry up and develop a love of high-nineties and triple digit, dry weather and quit dropping their figs!

But the LSU Purple is growing in their shadows and laughing at the heat.  Now, if I would just end up liking the way it tastes after growing it for five whole years, that might be real nice...  :)

noss

Noss, are you growing your Celeste in ground or in pots???

Hi Bob,

If you mean my regular Celestes, one is in-ground and one is in a raised planter frame my husband built for it and it has no bottom on it, so I guess that's the same as in-ground.

I have an Improved Celetse growing in a pot for now and just got an O'Rourke (hopefully) which is also in a pot.

When we had the icy rain a few weeks ago, the Celeste out front in the frame and the one out back in the ground sat there coated in ice, just a-smiling away.  It didn't even kill the nice green bud tips of either one of them, but it didn't last for days.  Don't know what would have happened if that were the case.  We had some low temps and the bud tips were fine, until I chopped almost all of them off in pruning back both trees.  The ones that were left are leafing out nicely and the wood is popping out buds, as well.  They're just appearing out of nowhere.

It's the heat that gets them down here, or warm weather in the winter that gets sap flowing then a freeze, which will split the trunk and branches.  Even when that happened to a different Celeste I had years ago, it didn't kill the branches, or trunk, it just left little split marks all over the tree.  The tree healed itself.  I took a knife to the places and shaved away the bark, then put tree paint over the areas, but only on the main trunk and large branches.

Noss, I'm surprised that after a couple hundred years there are not certain 

I pulled my slow rooting cuttings out of their bags and gave them a soak in a glass of water for a few days. I've been reading about water rooting methods here and think i should caution that the water needs to be changed regularly or aerated.
I remember someone posted a link to a video of a guy doing a rooting experiment in water, he was actually successful with a hardened cutting with leaves, but all of the roots were located near the water's surface where oxygen was dissolved from the air. He then planted the poor thing out in his garden in fall.
But anyway, oxygenating the water is crucial, soft water is best and would not need to be changed as often if stirred or aerated.
City water usually has chloramine in it which is not quite as bad as chlorine, but doesn't evaporate and can build up in plant tissues.
I've had good luck growing orchids in water the trick there is good algae in the container to produce oxygen, no algae and the roots die without regular water changes. Not what I would do with cuttings though.
Also, the "danger zone" is the moist area on the cutting (or orchid) where water is wicked up, plant pathogens need that sort of environment. Starting with couple inches of water and adding more periodically to the container to raise the level would move this zone continually upwards and reduce pathogens taking hold, and would oxygenate the water as well.

I still have not gotten a Black Marseilles to root, the fastest for me this year were unknown purple, Marseilles White, Stella and Atreano.

Hi Bob,

The trouble is--It's only been so very hot and dry here in the past few years and the Celestes don't like it one bit.  They take the cold weather much better as long as the sap doesn't start to run in warm spells, that is.  That didn't happen here this winter.

There very well may be some Celestes that don't drop fruit in the heat, but I don't know of any, or I'd have already been dealing for some cuttings.....  :)

You'd have to ask Dan about Celestes that don't drop fruit in the high heat.

noss