I just got little Rockwool to experiment with, and was surprised to see in the instructions,
to soak the rockwool in lemon juice, or PH down in a water solution of PH 5.5 ?

Can anyone explain why it even needs to be soaked in an acidic solution?

Dan,

The reason is the rockwool is made from limestone and some other rock who's name escapes me.  The two rocks are superheated till liquid then spun ....picture a cotton candy machine in your head lol.  Because of the limestone some lime is still present in the wool and the acid treatment helps to remove it to bring it closer to a neutral PH.  Do you need to do it for the figs...probably not but I don't know exactly what the PH of the wool is and I "think" it can vary by batch.  So don't worry about the lemon juice..it is not making it acidic just bringing it to neutral.  

so you're saying, before I can root fig cuttings with it, I DO need to acify it?
And how long must I use the acidic juice?
can the acid be washed out and plain water used?
I imagion the lemon juice would burn the cuttings?
Sorry, rockwool is a new concept to me..

Rockwool is made from Basalt normally, for growing vegetables we acidify it to 5.5-5.8 ideally for optimal nutrient uptake, to root cuttings I do not think this is necessary since all they need is moisture. if you were to grow vegetables then you definitely should.

Ok, I understand now...
Thank you both for your help!
You've just taught an old dog, a new trick! :)
Thanks!

Thanks Chivas.  Basalt......that is the other rock used in addition to the limestone.   Even though the figs want alkaline there sure are a lot of people rooting them in just peat and perlite.....very acidic environment and they do just fine. 

Well, a little calcium carbonate works for that problem.
I crush and add a few Tums (read the label - Calcium Carbonate)
No more heart burn for my little cuttings!
They smell minty fresh too! LOL

Hey, I was thinking of trying rockwool but before I do:
Has anyone successfully rooted cutting in rockwool?
If so, could explain a little how you did it and would you recommend using rockwool?

I Picked  up a cpl products i will try soon.
 I bought some RootRiot cubes .
I will put these rooting cubes in the top center of a cup of soil perlite mix .
 I also bought some clonex rooting gel and clonex nutrient rooting solution.
The nutrient solution says to add the concintrate to water and ajust ph to 5.5.

AUSTIN

Hi Hank

a few months ago there was a thread or two on here about starting cuttings with rock wool. i ordered a bag full of small cubes. On arrival, I took the cubes, slightly moistened the cube and stuck my unrooted HC cutting into the cube. Then i took this cuttong with cube and placed it into a small container, and filled it up with a perlite, potting soil mix that was just damp. I covered the top of the cutting in a plastic bag and set them aside. No sphagnum moss, no heat mat, not too much fuss, and most of these rooted, set up new bud growth and now have leaves. I didnt soak the RW cube in lemon juice either.

All in all, seems like there are a lot of ways to get figs to grow, the use of rockwool cubes just another technique.

The plant in the center, growing in a clear soda bottle, is one started with a rockwool cube.

Thanks for the info guys. I think I will test it out too and see if I can make it works. :)