Winter Experiment:
I have 10 different varieties, and started two of each variety in these mediums:
 
1) 10 cuttings in Calcined DE (Ultrasorb product from Autoparts store) and Perlite (approx 50/50)
2) 10 cuttings in Drystall (volcanic aggregate product normally used in horse stable) and Perlite (approx 50/50)

I'm doing this because I am tired of successfully starting cuttings only to have gnats get to them. Plus no one likes them flying around inside the house.  I'm guessing the gnats come from the fresh potting soil because that's what I was using with the perlite inside a sterlite container.  Otherwise they flew in quickly when I opened the container, but I doubt that.   The container is my garage which stays about 65 degrees day/night.

I'm also starting a bunch of cuttings outside in pots with above mixes, and then another batch with same mix with potting soil mixed.  Will let you know update as experiment progresses.  Humidity outside is in the 80's and temps between 50's to 70's around now (So CA). 

If anyone else has tried something similar, I would like to know how you know when to add water to the cuttings.  Right now, I see condensation in the container, but as the weeks go on, I'll open the top to let air exchange.  Should I mist inside the container or pour water on the medium containing the cuttings to rewet.  

I vote for water on the medium. Getting the sticks wet might promote mold if it can not dry out enough.

Good experiment, can't wait to see your results.

This is pretty similar to how I root cuttings too.  A few differences, but close.  At least close enough that maybe I can help about how often to add water.

I just pour water onto the medium, and I don't mist the tops.  When the air is dry (e.g. winter indoors with forced hot air heating) I use bags over the tops rather than in a bin.  And when the air is more humid (the northeast is generally humid, after the furnace is done in the spring), then I just leave them open on top.  I never use bins... not against it (and it seems like a convenient idea... I've just never done that).

As for how often to water the gritty medium, I just want them to stay moist, not dripping.  As a rule of thumb I check every three or four days... if it's getting dry, I add water (it drips out so quickly that I don't really worry if I've added too much all at once... it drains quickly).  It seems four days is about how often for the dry indoor air I've got, but sometimes it's longer.  I look at the insides of the cups for condensation... if it's there I figure they're still moist.  I do two other things to monitor moisture.  One is pretty obvious:  I touch the perlite on the top (sometimes with a tissue and sometimes just my bare finger... the tissue helps me know if it's moist or not).  The second is a little trick I came across by accident:  I put a couple of pebbles (ordinary bluestone gravel, small bits of roundstone or creek gravel, or even slate/shale) in the bottom of my clear cups before I add the gritty mix and the cutting.  The point being that I can see if the pebble looks moist from the color of it.  

I have other differences too:  my most-frequently used mix is mostly perlite (about 80%) with just a little bit of promix or other soil (usually a soil with some amount of organic matter).  The soil/organic matter is to provide just a small amount of nutrient once the roots do get started, and also to hold moisture).  One other thing I do is I cut holes in the sides of my cups to promote gas exchange  (that helps to evacuate the CO2 that is formed by root formation... the CO2 is a byproduct of root formation, which, if it collects too much, will inhibit the newly forming roots from continuing to grow... suffocates them).  Most fig varieties don't seem to need all this extra attention (lots of them root like weeds... and rooted just fine in sand+peatmoss plus being ignored)... but I guess they don't mind having good conditions either.

Good luck... I'm interested to see how it works out for you.

Mike   central NY state, zone 5

Great thread figfinatic.   Good info from all of you who posted above me.  I love reading this stuff, as I seem to be constantly changing and tweaking my rooting process.   I get most of my ideas right here.


I am trying  100% screened oil-dry in my cups this year.

I am planning to water once a week, saturating each cup.  Each cup is well drained, with 9 holes in it, and I am misting as needed.  So far that is every couple of days. I am using an extremely dilute miracle grow and powdered lime solution, saturating each cup and letting it drain completely before bringing it back in the house, the same as I use on my two trees.  Cuttings are kept in the house, where temps range between 65 and 72 degrees.  Our climate is a dry one.  Humidity has been in the 30% range all week, which is about normal for us this time of year.

My two small trees are in an 80% oil-dry,  20% compost mix that have been indoors against a south facing glass window for a month  and a half.  So far...no gnats.  Both are doing real well.

So far I really like the  oil-dry, which is just baked out clay granules.  When screened, it drains very quickly, and it retains moisture  well.  I paid 10 bucks for a 50 lb bag.   The only down side is, it's heavy.  But I find it easier to work with for that reason.  My cups seem less prone to  tip over,

I heard of someone rooting in cat litter (unused of course); did any member try it?

i have had wonderful luck with just perlite. set the pots in a drip pan of water and the perlite will leach just a little moister up to the cuttings. once a week look at the water level and add as needed. if you use a dome of sorts then no further watering may be required but keep an eye on it. if not then water the pots once a week.

in doing this i did an experiment with a 10 cutting conntroll group. 5 where scored between the bottem 2 nodes on one side the other 5 where not. after 17 days the scored ones had roots masses some as long as 4 inches while the ones not scoren did not show signs of roots for anothe 3 weeks. at this time rooting on none scored wood was not uniform or thick. 

under warmth still helps speed rooting along

Hi Mike and Dave and All,

great thread going here with lots of valuable info being traded. One quick question that I do have is when you are talking about " scoring", are you scoring vertically for a bit ( top to bottom) or are you girdling horizontally around the cutting?

I had good succes this Fall on some air layers where I girdled, just curios if this is what you mean by scoring.

Many thanks

I did vertical (i.e. "slits"), and I think that's what Dave did also  (he and I corresponded about it).  Girdling serves a purpose in air layers.  But cuttings and air layers are different in one important respect:  if the cutting has a fresh bottom cut, that's effectively a very similar thing as girdling.  The phloem is cut off from any roots below that point... 

Mike  central NY state, zone 5

<edit:  I corrected my statement above... I had said xylem where I meant phloem>

Great, and many thanks for the very quick response, and you confirned what I thought. I have a few Hardy Chicago stems from my tree just starting
In sphagnum moss, so maybe I'll give a few of them a score or two.

Thanks!

I decided to try and score a few figs and the results were so great that i dont root a cutting now that i didnt score. i stil use dip n grow.

I have some hydroton that I use for my aquaponics systems. I had stuck a cutting off of a bt in the system and it had roots in about a week but when I removed it I wasn't careful enough and broke the roots off. I have extra hydroton media so I might try it in a cup to root. I have several cuttings I just received but don't really want to use them since the are varieties I don't have. But I do have some figs that I can take cuttings from and try that. I will set up some tomorrow and see how they do. Then post updates with pics if I succeed.

sounds good thats how we learn

Learned yet another thing about the scoring.  I wish I knew about that before trying to root them.  I'm tempted to pull some out and score them.  How far in does your slit go?  I have more cuttings so maybe I'll try on new ones.  Problem is I am nearly out of the mix.  

I got some of mine in just plain miracle grow seeding mix, some in a perlite mix, and some in miracle grow moister controll. and all seem to be doing great. lightly score down to the cambian layer more like a scrape. this will then calluis over and form roots on the corky calluis. often times before roots start on nodes (at least for me). i do use a rootong harmone dip n grow. dont know thats its needed. just makes me feel better to use it.

Dave

I will be doing cuttings again in about a month or so, i will take step by step pics from start to finish. hows that. beings i have a few cuttings going right now. 42 potted up for rooting. no baggie method. just score dip and popit in its pot with moist loose soil. mist a few times a day and let the steam from the shower get it. thread called my babies has the pic of those.

normaly 5 to one and dip for 10 to 20 sec, depending on if i wen to the pub or not.

Figfinatic,

Just noticed this topic tonight. I am doing some experiments myself this winter, before rooting purchased cuttings. Thanks for posting.

I have not used straight Perlite and or DE, but have placed rooted cuttings directly in the 5-1-1 potting mix, they all survived. These cuttings were in 3 inch containers and grew all summer, they were started in late May 2012, they are currently dormant, with minimal (no) care, they are still alive. They were also left outside until the end of November (in 24-26 Deg F nights). The cuttings were only in a humidity dome (plastic bin) for 1 week after potting, and were placed outside after 1 month, exposed to the weather. Similar cuttings that were treated properly and up potted to 1 gallon containers (same 5-1-1 mix) grew 2 to 3 feet. Note attached picture taken 10 minutes ago.

I know in my attack they came with the cutting, perhaps already inside of it. I did not see any flying around. Since that attack, I am counter with olive oil hairspray, soap water spray and even insecticide, but this only if I actually see them, I know there are still something sucking the life of new young leaves, so I am monitoring very close.  I also saw them inside of a tub I had them in moss, so I removed them all, cut the tips off and gave them a good warm soapy bath, and put the moss in the microwave, and back in the moss they went. they seem to be fine now.

It is my own mean to protect them, upon receiving, I will soap them and wash them well, cut the bottoms and tops if I can. 

I have to agree with you those bugs are annoying. Fly traps will also work hang some by your lights, getting the adult from not laying eggs is half the battle.

Here are 20 more cuttings I also started about a week ago.  This time, almost all of the figs are the same variety.  

Mix: 60% Oil Dri/40% perlite in sterlite container; stored indoors with temp range from 55-70 degrees. 
Oil Dri costs $4.22 for 25lbs at Walmart in the auto section.

Here's a small update on this.   All the cuttings are looking good.  None seem dead yet.  About 8 of them are leafing out.   The one pictured here is the Dotatto.   The best part is not a single gnat around, and no mold.   I've watered them several times to keep the medium moist.  I don't see any real difference between using the Ultrasorb (calcined DE) vs the Drystall (volcanic aggregate), except that the Drystall seems to hold less water.

I potted up the first round of cuttings.   Started another round of cuttings (pictured) within the last 4 weeks. So far, no losses.  The cuttings did well in both mediums, but seems like I got more roots with the Dry Stall (volcanic aggregate) which has a bigger particle size than the Oil Dri or Ultrasorb.  Differences are probably not too significant.  

The big difference is no gnats and no rot, so I highly recommend this if you are having problems with that.  Actually, I do have a few gnats that are flying around from some cuttings that I was also trying to root with some potting soil, so they went outside today as it is nearly 80 degrees today.