My first rooting experiment -

To all on this forum whom I received so much info and knowledge from. I want to thank you and share with you my first rooting try.

This is my first rooting experiment in a controlled environment. I'm using negronne cuttings supplied by a forum member who I'm most grateful to. Each evening I open the green house and inspect each cutting and take notes on progress. Each cutting is numbered to be able to track the changes.

I received the cuttings on Oct 1, 09 and put them in the fridge wrapped in moist paper towel in a ziplock bag. I checked them in one week and all was well. I checked again about a week later and found some ice on the paper towel and some ice crystals on some of the cuttings. I removed them from the fridge and wrapped them 3 or 4 to the pack in fresh moist paper towels and put in mini greenhouse (storage container). So far it doesn't look like the ice hurt them.

I have included some pictures below to follow along with the experiment. I've done two things that I have not seen mentioned here.

Number one, I purchased a cheap moisture meter ($6) from Lowes to have a better grip on the moisture I was fooling with. I wanted to be consistent if nothing else. I used the "add enough water to hold together when squeezed into a ball'' method to get an idea of where to start. That method produce a reading of 4 to 6. I will try to maintain that through the whole process. The meter is also useful to check the moisture level in the potted trees I have outside.

Number two. I had many bud breaking leaves and no initials. I had advice to keep wrapped and I've had advice to pot right away. Well I did a little of each only differently. I wrapped the lower part of the cutting allowing the growing bud to remain unwrapped and stood it in a cup in the greenhouse. I hoping to get the best of both methods. Now for some pictures.

My cuttings fresh out of the fridge.

What looked like my first initials.

Swelling buds and no initials.

Finally some real initials.

The best ones yet.

Ready to leaf but no initials.

Wrapped up cozy with bud sticking out.

Same cutting wrapped and standing in cup ready for the greenhouse.

My el-cheap-O meter.

Moisture level I am using.

I will try to add at least weekly to this post as I note changes of success or failure.
I hope this isn't too long or boring, to me it's very exciting and a much better way to spend an evening than watching TV.

Registered: 12/23/08
Posts: 810

10/31/09 at 07:10 AM

Hi Gene,

The moisture level you are trying to maintain is the very same level as I use, so I guess we are on the same page on that one!
I would hate to try to make it without my little moisture meter.

Good luck

Jstall

Registered: 08/09/09
Posts: 60

10/31/09 at 07:45 AM

I need one of those! Moisture meter. Gene, you are doing better than I am.
J.A.

Registered: 07/27/09
Posts: 306

10/31/09 at 07:55 AM

Gene Congrats on your experiment you are having allot better luck than I did with the baggie method I think next time I will use papertowel instead of the newspaper . Lovely roots on that cutting by the way and I too will be buying one of those moisture meters this weekend.

figarita

Registered: 05/02/09
Posts: 37

10/31/09 at 08:29 AM

Home Depot has a meter which measure moist , light and pH under $8

Fatnsassytexan
Registered: 03/14/09
Posts: 135

10/31/09 at 08:31 AM

Hi gene, looks like they are off to a great start! You'll do fine, I'm sure.Thanks for posting.

Registered: 12/23/08
Posts: 810

10/31/09 at 08:47 AM

Hey Tim,

Not long ago Nelson said his Dad wanted to maybe buy a Hobby Farm, then he said his Dad would like to come to Texas to see some real Cowboys (surely he wasn't talking about the Dallas Cowboys)

Anyhow, if Nelson keeps rooting the cuttings and buying plants

He might have to come to Texas and buy the "Kings Ranch" that way he would be killin two birds with one stone!

Registered: 07/27/09
Posts: 306

10/31/09 at 10:22 AM

Cecil thats not a bad Idea all I need now is the Money, I keep saying im going to win the Lotto but I always forget to play.

Registered: 12/23/08
Posts: 810

10/31/09 at 10:41 AM

I really hate to tell ya this Nelson, but winning the World Lottery if they have such a thing MIGHT, key word Might make a small down payment on the Kings Ranch.....Really.

Registered: 07/27/09
Posts: 306

10/31/09 at 10:45 AM

#10

Cecil this what you were refering too http://www.king-ranch.com/ ? Sorry Gene for hijacking your thread, the picture you have with the meter in a cup is that the cutting in soil already ?

Registered: 12/23/08
Posts: 810

10/31/09 at 11:02 AM

#11

Yes Sir, that would be it, they use to have one in Cuba too, but Fidel took it,

Fatnsassytexan
Registered: 03/14/09
Posts: 135

10/31/09 at 12:58 PM

#12

Cecil, who's got time to watch the Dallas Cowboys when you are busy trying to grow figs?Hahaha!

Nelson, come on down, there are lots of cheaper spreads. What you think? That condo and office are soon gonna be real crowded. Real quick!

genecolin
Registered: 07/29/09
Posts: 155

10/31/09 at 01:39 PM

#13

Here are a couple of other related pictures.

This one shows the temp and humidity in my mini greenhouse that is sitting on a file cabinet in my computer/junk room. If you look closely you'll see 74 on the left, that's the temp, and 75 on the right, that is the humidity.

Here are some of the ones I've potted up alreadyl

Cecil sounds like you and I are spot on. How did you ever end up in Texas, Ha. I guess it just goes to show that although people are all different yet in many ways we are so close.

Figarite I wish they would have had one of those meter you spoke of at the store I went to because I sure would have bought that one. I could use the PH meter. I may have to buy a separate unit.

Nelson I am not good at guessing so I bought the meter. It maybe isn't that critical but I know if it works using a method one time then it should work again. Then if I run into a problem I can look elsewhere besides moisture. The one thing I did notice is that the moisture I started with is almost the same as it is now. It only came down a little. I have a piece of newspaper laying in the bottom of the greenhouse that I pored a little water on, just enough to make it totally damp but not be able to wring any water out of it. It acts as a moderating device. It can absorb or release water to maintain a rather constant level in the greenhouse.

My friend Joe, don't give up keep at it and you'll get it going. I think I'm having beginners luck.

I do also have to acknowledge a good friend not far from me that took the time to talk to me at length about using this method which has been very successful. My hat's off to ya.

I hope we can all learn a little something from this. Thanks all for the replies and good words, we are all in this together.

genecolin
Registered: 07/29/09
Posts: 155

10/31/09 at 01:45 PM

#14

Tim looks like I left you out of my reply, my apologies. Yes I'm off to a great start and so happy for it. I just hope my luck continues. The next batch may be more of of a test.

Registered: 07/27/09
Posts: 306

11/02/09 at 05:57 AM

#15

Gene I bought a moisture meter like yours this weekend that little gadged works wonders. Gene something I forgot to ask you earlier you put the cuttings in the papertowel and in the fridge for one week then into your little greenhouse right how long after you put into your greenhouse did you have those nice roots? I tried this with newspaper instead of papertowel and after 3 weeks I barely had any initials. The other cuttings that I put into potting soil from day one had root initials after one week and started to root in the second week.

genecolin
Registered: 07/29/09
Posts: 155

11/02/09 at 06:53 AM

#16

nelson, my whole experiment started around October 5th, which is roughly four weeks. I'll check my records when I get home to see exactly how much time it took to see my first initials grow. It seemed like forever, but like they say "a watched pot will never boil". I'll let you know.

Registered: 07/27/09
Posts: 306

11/02/09 at 07:00 AM

#17

Thanks Gene, your cuttings seem to be doing really well congrats.

Oxankle
Registered: 04/01/08
Posts: 29

11/02/09 at 02:26 PM

#18

Really nice pictures. Might invest in one of the meters myself. Already have one of the PH meters. Good idea for Xmas presents, too.

As for the King Ranch; I was once in their business office ;in Kingsville, Tx and saw a world map with pins sticking in it wherever King Ranch properties existed. Many of them. I seem to recall that the "station" in Australia was larger than the home ranch in Texas, but of course probably mostly desert.

Ox

genecolin
Registered: 07/29/09
Posts: 155

11/02/09 at 02:41 PM

#19

Thanks Ox, I might think of getting a PH meter myself, mostly out of curiosity, but it never hurts to know the facts.

I wonder if the King ranch could use a few fig trees. Sounds like they have enough space to plant them. Ha,ha.

genecolin
Registered: 07/29/09
Posts: 155

11/02/09 at 03:02 PM

#20

Nelson, I checked my records and here goes.

10/1/09 - received cuttings and put them directly in fridge until later.
10/5/09 - cleaned them with dawn and bleach, them put back in fridge.
10/14/09 - noticed some ice on paper towel so I decided to try to root. I wrapped them, 3 or 4 together in a moist paper towel and put them in a baggie in my mini greenhouse.
10/17/09 - I saw first evidence of swelling initials.
10/29/09 - First initials growing to 1/4 inch.
10/30/09 - Next set of initials grew and then a bunch more followed
11/1/09 - Saw first roots in the cup of a cutting I put in cup on 10/17/09. I put this one in a cup a little prematurely. I got a little anxious. Potted a couple more today with growing initials. As of today I have 10 of the 17 in potting soil in cups. Only 2 are showing roots. By tomorrow I will probably have at least 2 more to put in cups.

Registered: 07/27/09
Posts: 306

11/02/09 at 04:28 PM

#21

Thanks Gene those are good results, In the future I will try the papertowel method and just leave it and see what happens. The 5 cuttings I started on the last week of september 2 had visible roots within 2 weeks the third cutting rooted in the third week the forth one I just noticed one root on Nov. 1st and the 5th cutting has been around 5-6 weeks and just started to show some root initials crazy how sometimes they take off so rapidly and others cuttings from the same batch take so long.

genecolin
Registered: 07/29/09
Posts: 155

11/03/09 at 03:41 AM

#22

I have # 17, the first one I put in the cup starting to wrap roots around the inside of the cup and # 8 which hasn't done much of anything yet. A little swelling of the top bud and a few little bumps at the bottom. It has been like that since day five with no changes.
I'm sure glad some are moving along quickly, not that I'm impatient, but at least I see changes every day.

genecolin
Registered: 07/29/09
Posts: 155

11/04/09 at 04:59 PM

#23

Things are still growing and none of them look like they want to give up yet. Here are a couple of pictures showing some progress. Check out the question on the last picture.

#17 roots all over the place.

The other end of # 17.

I've a question about this one, # 14, Should I take the lower sprout out before it gets any bigger.

Dieseler

Registered: 07/10/08
Posts: 1,368

11/04/09 at 05:54 PM

#24

Others may have different opinion and thats what we need for we all do not do things the same.
In past when this has happened i left them alone , santa cruz dark comes to mind last season that i rooted.Here is thread with pictures.
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3416547&highlight=santa+cruz+dark

Jstall

Registered: 08/09/09
Posts: 60

11/04/09 at 06:02 PM

#25

Gene, you have it down! You are doing all the good. How often are you watering the ones that are rooted and leafed out?

genecolin
Registered: 07/29/09
Posts: 155

11/05/09 at 01:44 AM

#26

Martin thanks for the interesting link. Looks like you did great with those and I hope you get your reward. Since I have a bunch of these I think I'm going to leave some of them with more than one shoot and some I will allow only the strongest shoot to stay after I start seeing roots.

Jstall, when I first started I put just enough water in the rooting mix to sightly form a ball and stay together. On my moisture scale it read around 5 or 6. I haven't added any water yet and my meter is still reading 4 in most of the cups. My reasoning for not adding water is that I see a very little amount of condensation on the inside of a few of the cups, and I do mean a very little and not in all cups. This I'm considering as excess water so I'm adding nothing as long as the meter read at least 3. I think at below 3 I will put a drop or two and see what happens. As I mentioned before, I put a piece of news paper in the bottom of the greenhouse and have added a little water to it. That piece of paper is to help hold the humidity constant. If the air get too dry moisture leaves the paper and if the air get to wet the paper absorbs the excess. I do not have any condensation on the wall of the greenhouse. This seems to be working. I do open the cover for a couple of hours a day on most days. With the cover on the relative humidity stays around 75 percent which only means that the air is not completely saturated with moisture and that it can still hold some more before it starts showing up on all surfaces. That would be bad.

Here is a not so good picture of the greenhouse. Some of the cuttings are still wrapped in paper towel and standing in the cups. This way the sprouting leaves don't have to touch the damp towel and perhaps rot, but at the same time the lower end where I'm hoping to get roots are still wrapping the the moisture.

Here is one of the few cups with a little moisture on its walls. I hope it doesn't cause a problem like root rot. I just notice when previewing this post that a small root is visible a little to the right of the bottom air hole.

I hope this is helpful in some way.

Jstall

Registered: 08/09/09
Posts: 60

11/05/09 at 03:48 AM

#27

Gene, excellent instructions, very clear. Do you have any that are leafed out heaver than the ones pictured? At what stage do you start watering more.
J.A.

genecolin
Registered: 07/29/09
Posts: 155

11/05/09 at 06:01 AM

#28

Jstall, # 14 and # 17 that are pictured a few post before this one are my most prolific growers as of now. It's funny how some put on leaves and no roots and others started with the roots and no leaves. The mystery of figs. Also remember it's only been 3 weeks since I took them out of the fridge.

As far as adding water, I don't plan to unless the moisture in the cup drops to a reading of 2 on my meter and then it will only be a few drops at the time. The roots seen in the pictures are not yet able to absorb water. They need to branch out with feeder roots before they can take up water. When my roots start branching out and I have a nice root ball and leaves are looking healthy, I'll pot them directly into 1 gallon pots with some MG potting soil without moisture crystals or fertilizer. At that point I will start to water but only sparingly to keep the moisture on my meter about 4 - 6.

Remember they are in a sealed environment in the greenhouse and moisture should remain nearly constant. Moisture does travel out of the cup when I open it for a while and the reading on my meter drops, but after being closed again, the moisture level returns back to where it was. Any lost moisture is replace with moisture from the newspaper in the bottom of the greenhouse. Its quite remarkable how it works. I was a little skeptical when it was explained to me, but let me tell you, it does work.

Now if I can get some mature trees out of this, it will be great. If not, well then back to the drawing board.

Registered: 12/23/08
Posts: 810

11/05/09 at 06:29 AM

#29

Hi Gene,

Looks like you are really doing great on your rooting project!

You have had some really good instructions, it is just a shame your instructor has painted himself in a corner so to speak!

Good luck to Ya.

genecolin
Registered: 07/29/09
Posts: 155

11/05/09 at 07:10 AM

#30

Thanks Cecil, I just hope I don't run into a disaster on the way. At least not on my first big try. I'll be happy when I can up pot my first one.

"gene"

Registered: 12/23/08
Posts: 810

11/05/09 at 07:15 AM

#31

You will be fine!

I have in the past made a big mistake potting the young plants too soon, just let them stay in the containers they are in for a while yet, you might have to cut the sides of the container to get them out because of the shape of the bottle.

genecolin
Registered: 07/29/09
Posts: 155

11/05/09 at 07:19 AM

#32

I'm with you in cutting them out of the cups. For my next attempt I will be using drinking cut to eliminate that problem. I would hate to damage anything taking them out.

Registered: 12/23/08
Posts: 810

11/05/09 at 07:24 AM

#33

I agree,

The less you disturb the tender little roots the better.

BTW, is that drain holes up the side of the bottle? and if so why?

genecolin
Registered: 07/29/09
Posts: 155

11/05/09 at 08:14 AM

#34

Cecil, actually they are not drain holes but rather air holes. These allow air into the root area and at the same time allow excess moisture to escape. This should help prevent root rot from excess moisture and also by allowing fresh air in should prevent mold from growing in the cups. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

Registered: 12/23/08
Posts: 810

11/05/09 at 08:26 AM

#35

HAHA, OK

I say if it works, don't fix it! Looks like it works to me!

Thanks

Fatnsassytexan
Registered: 03/14/09
Posts: 135

11/05/09 at 11:00 AM

#36

Lookin Great, Gene. I like the idea of the additional air holes on the side---makes a lot of sense. Tim

Registered: 07/27/09
Posts: 306

11/06/09 at 05:48 AM

#37

Gene looking good I too make holes on the sides of the cups not too many but a few and seems to work well. One of the cuttings I moved early cause i got desperate has not grown one bit in 3 weeks best thing is to just leave them in the cups until you see good root mass. Oh I forgot to mention I just used Cactus soil on one of my new cuttings for the first time seems to work really well it rooted before any other cuttings in regular potting mix and the roots seem to be thicker for some reason.

genecolin
Registered: 07/29/09
Posts: 155

11/15/09 at 04:42 PM