I love to root with Sphagnum Moss, but the only thing I don't like about it is the roots on the cuttings get tangled up in the moss. The JH Adriatic cutting on the left is the way it came out of the shoe box and the JH A cutting on the right, it took me at least 15 minutes to untangle the Moss from the roots and I tore some roots off.

Oh Yea, I will still use the  Moss though and put up with the tangling : )

Nice, thick cuttings...and good looking roots. Congrats. If you do an in-ground trial, please let us know how they do down here. 

I leave the moss on it. Not going to hurt anything.
When you fill with soil gently tap the sides of the pot to help settle the soil in between the roots and moss.
Never try to pack the soil in from the inside, you could damage the roots.

I do the filling in stages. Fill a bit and pack it in and place the cuttings on top and gently fill and tap and fill again and tap.

You can tap with a spoon or flick it with your finger.

Good luck

I tend (if possible) to move into cups once the roots are 1 inch or less for the reason you mention.

I'm with Rewton on this.....if you catch it when they are nice and thick and an inch long you don't have that problem.  

i don't use s. moss, using paper towel. but i move 'em out as soon as there is 1/4" root. i feel that longer the root, more chance of them breaking or sticking to the paper towel.

Last year I used the Rootriot cubes for some and others I rooted in my normal growing mix (adjusted the %s a bit) in the U-Line bags Jon has discussed.  This year I'll use mostly the latter.  I like a homogenous mix in the container.  Plus, to move them into the containers, I only need to cut the bottom of the bag, fill around it with growing mix, then pull the bag up and out.  There are very few broken/torn roots.

The cubes worked great for rooting, but I lost a lot of cuttings after potting up.  It seemed like the material in the cubes held more water than the rest of the container.

Will not let the roots get so long the next time! Thanks everyone : )

Frank,  switched from the moss method because roots were getting tangled.  Use the baggie and paper towel method now and it works great.

Is S.M bad for planting the rooted cuttings with the roots tangled to SM? I would think Moss is plant matter and would provide moisture while slowly deteriorating as the plant grows. Am I wrong?
I started my new batch of cuttings in SM
 @Frank I would plant those beauties in a gallon nursery pots and use Miracle-Grow potting soil to give them an excellent start.

I'm using coconut coir this year and I love it. It seems to have the antifungal properties of the moss (knock on wood) but the material falls away from the roots no matter how long they are, no damage.

[QUOTE=svanessa]I'm using coconut coir this year and I love it. It seems to have the antifungal properties of the moss (knock on wood) but the material falls away from the roots no matter how long they are, no damage.[/QUOTE]


Sue...Thanks for the Info, I might try some, if I can find it down here! ; )

Frank,
Lowes had Burpee Organic Seed Starting mix last year, which is coir based. I used it in seed plug trays for rooting fig cuttings last year and it worked quite well. I'm sold on coir for starting fig cuttings. They also had the Burpee Coir Bricks for seed starting. They are made of coir fines without the added Perlite of the Seed starting mix. Sphagnum moss is my go to for small volume and large cuttings and the Seedling plug trays (with coir) are used for the larger volume of cuttings.

[QUOTE=ascpete]Frank,
Lowes had Burpee Organic Seed Starting mix last year, which is coir based. I used it in seed plug trays for rooting fig cuttings last year and it worked quite well. I'm sold on coir for starting fig cuttings. They also had the Burpee Coir Bricks for seed starting. They are made of coir fines without the added Perlite of the Seed starting mix. Sphagnum moss is my go to for small volume and large cuttings and the Seedling plug trays (with coir) are used for the larger volume of cuttings.[/QUOTE]


Thanks a lot Pete! : )

I bought some coir from Wayfair.com early in Jan.  They had a special, $15 for the 5kg brick plus free shipping if ordering over $49.  I bought 5 bricks and wish I would have bought more because it's $24 now.  I guess just wait for another sale.

Frank,

There are a few sellers on Amazon if you can't find it at your local nursery. That's where I found mine. 650gms is a little over 1 1/2 lbs if you want to give it a try without investing a lot.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B004W8BMS0/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

and other sizes:

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Acoconut%20coir

Sue

Thanks everyone for the help, I have so much to learn but, with members like ya'll, It will be easy! : )

Thanks