These few Lampeira Preta cuttings were put in 3 to 4 Inches of rain water early April outside, under full sun
moving now to a rich potting mix or could even be put in their definitive place 'in ground' if required.

   
 
Francisco
Portugal

very nice info and pictures Francisco

Francisco, you have the magic touch - with the camera, and evidently with the cuttings too.
There's been some talk about roots that form in water, and the theory that they will quickly fail when transferred to soil has kept me from trying this approach.
Did these cuttings spend any time in storage, or were they cut and immediately transferred to water?
I wonder if all the growth is new after the water rooting.

Thank you all for you comments.

Rui, these are fresh cuttings from a bundle,  kept in a bucket with water for 2 or 3 days  to avoid drying up and before being potted to root or as gifts to good friends !
These on the picture were leftovers..which were not destroyed and kept in the bucket where they put up nice roots and once carefully potted, quickly become strong plants.

btw,.. this is a new strain of Lampeira Preta (San Pedro) providing great brebas 1 month after the standard cultivar. This is to say that in this climate and combining the two trees output, one may have brebas flowing through all of June and July through August.

these are the figs... the July brebas are sweeter !
Seeing these growing one day coast to coast..would make me very happy !! ..need at least 4 bites to swallow one of these !!

Francisco
Portugal

     

Франциско, вы действительно легкой руки. В России, некоторые садовники как на первом этапе увековечить черенки в воде. Я вот тоже в хорошем настроении на этого вида. VdB , Breba.  

Water roots are at a disadvantage when transplanted into soil. This is because they lack root hairs which is needed to absorb more nutrients and water in the soil. New roots with hairs will have to be grown.

Hi lampo,
Nice roots and nice leaves.
Are you planning on making a new orchard ? ... ( I saw the pots behind in the pic :P )
Those roots are so huge; I wouldn't worry about planting those cuttings in a potting soil . They are on the right track .

Francisco ," ... coast to coast ...", you mind from Portugal to Bulgaria ,right ? :)

Greetings,
I have do disagree with Jarrett, I found if you gave them enough time in the water and added food they would develop feeder roots and transfer great to dirt. I had my biggest success with water rooting because by the time they were transferred to dirt they were strong enough not to be killed by shock. It is also the first year not to lose half to gnats. Also waiting till the roots are brown and no the brittle white makes a big difference.

How often do you change the water? Any fertilizer or pure water?

I changed it once a week and added hydroponic nutrients.

Good job Francisco I tried it a couple of times and never had any success 

Well done, hopefully they adopt well to the soil when they are planted. I have tried this, and failed. Every time .... : (

Thank you all for your comments.
Sorry to hear that some had failures using the system.
What I have found is that one needs to be  patient and allow time for the root system to establish a good deal of sufficiently strong roots.

In this case have used rain water and changed it once or twice a week when irrigating all other potted trees  and according to the ambient temperatures (Aim in zone 11)
For the picture, moved the sticks from the black/opaque bucket to the transparent plastic half bottle
No fertilizers were added to this water but as Gloria says, I agree that the addition of the correct dose of hydroponic fertilizer will certainly bring some help and  expedite the process.

My friend Jeremiah does this all the time with an infusion of crushed willow tender shoots and seems to be very happy.

I am not advocating that this is 'the system' but ... mentioning that I do it occasionally and for me it works.
(just like the air rooting)
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/cheap-rooting-in-the-air-7383479?pid=1287011003#post1287011003

jdsfrance  - Thank you, yes a new orchard.

pako - Believe that there will be some already growing over there not far from the Black Sea coast

Francisco
Portugal

Not that I advocate water rooting, but...

Another solution if you're worried about the transition to soil or potting mix would be to increase the humidity levels by placing in a humidity bin or placing a bag over top.  This should give the leaves enough humidity during the transition, while more roots, or roots with hairs, or whatever, are growing, that they should survive. 

I had four unknown cuttings that i started by water rooting. Once roots formed I repotted into deli cups with coco coir. In there the roots really took off, I have since up potted to potting mix and all are doing well.

I have also had 100% success with water rooting of green cuttings. I use 8 inch cuttings and remove all but one leaf and cut that leaf in half . I have heard that changing the water often is critical .

Back in the day, My mother had me go find some tree cuttings for her. Ha asked for willow trees and I found some . When I brought them home , she took off some leaves and dropped the whole lot into an old milk bottle.
Everything of course rooted and she planted them in the back yard to give her shade in the summer. Well 60years later I had to cut that tree down as it was impeding the flow of a small brook.
 Needless to say I was off and running and ever since I have rooted plants and tree alike. I do not remember if I was 100% most likely not. However  I have been successful enough to keep it up.
When I started to grow figs I was astounded to see all of the diverse methods that my fellow hobbyist employ to root plants. It seems that it is after all up to the plant it just wants to prosper or not. The fig will live long and prosper,if we do our part. No matter the physical surroundings.
Right now I have a MBVS in water and it has many new root initials and a bud has just opened. Today I started an ALMA. the MBVS was cut this season and the alma was cut in December. I hope it does well.
Larry

I put 20 fig cutting into water and 25 cutting in dirt for rooting in January this year (indoor) and I found 90% did have root in March then I transplanted into soil with 4" plastic pot and kept them indoor until mid April, the success rate are as follows :
90% success from dirt method (I changed water almost daily)
75% success from water method

Really not sure why this happened, One nursery told me that I should not move them outside before Mother's Day. Is that right ?

I root cuttings in water and never had a loss. When I see roots into ordinary potting soil they go. You don't need any special supplies to root and grow figs.