Hello,
Just purchased a few fig cuttings off of ebay from a forum member who is not accepting PM's or Emails.  The cuttings came with wax on the tips and on the bottom portions.  Do I remove the wax from the bottom before placing in the rooting bag (How?) or just ignore the wax.  I usually dip my cuttings in rooting jell.  I used the search but came up empty.

Thank you for your help.

anytime i get cuttings from anywhere else i always cut about 1/8 inch or so off the bottem so the fresh tissue can soak up rooting harmone.

dave

Doug,

Remove the Wax only from the bottom of the cutting, if you'll be using rooting hormone. If you decided not to use any rooting hormone, just leave the Wax on. Roots will grow through it. No need to cut any pieces of the cutting off. They were taken the day I listed them, not few months ago.

Also, I did receive your email three days ago (Dec. 3rd) and replied back the same day. Did you get it?


Navid.

I got some too. I left the wax on and the roots pushed right through. I was amazed how well Navid's cuttings rooted. You should have no issues.

the grafting wax is a good thing.  I just clip off the bottom as close to the node as possible and dip in rooting gel, it goes great.

What is the purpose of waxing the cuttings?

Navid,
Didn't see the email but was pleased with the condition of the cuttings.  They arrived in yesterday's mail. Thank you for getting them out quickly and I was glad that I was getting them from you.  I didn't mind paying for some hard to get cuttings when I knew they would be the real thing. 

What a great hobby!

The grafting wax prevents moisture from leaving the cutting and also protects it from disease and infection.  It just makes it easier on the plant in that it doesn't need to dedicate much energy to recovering from the cut.

I have posted before on this. Melted candle wax over the cut ends seals in moisture and retards entry of pathogens. All of my cuttings are stored with waxed ends. You can leave the wax on when rooting. It makes no difference and in my opinion still protects the cutting during the process.