Hello,

I am new to forum. Im having problems finding any fig trees locally or anyone here with them. I am looking for Ronde De Bourdeax cuttings or anything similar with berry flavor early ripening some cold hardy. Im located in metro Louisville the micro climate here is warmer than most of state. Zone 6b, 7 some of the time.

I have only 1 fig variety. Brown turkey thats 3 years old. I have several rooted cuttings in the ground i took last year and ability to make more cuts. Also 1 really large overwintered ground layer still attached to mother. I know its not great variety but anything you could do to help is much appreciated. Im willing to drive a few hours also.

Eric,

I'm guessing with your zone being 6b or 7 you are talking about Louisville Ky. If that is so, I am air layering a couple RbBs that should be ready in about a month if I did it right, and I am about an hour from you. I may have a few extra cold hardy varieties in 1 gal. if you are looking for more than 1 tree.

Got a bit carried away with cuttings and eBay trees last fall and winter and now have about 100 trees of about 60 different varieties. Never expected so many of the cuttings to take and flourish since it was my first time rooting. But it's a good problem to have!

PM me if that is your location as it would be easy to get you some trees.

Hi, wow i didnt think ide get a response from someone that close so quickly. Ill pm. If anyone else is nearby let me know.

@richardk I used the direct potting method for rooting after reading a lot of posts about people's methods.

1. Used Promix BX soil in 24oz clear cups with lot of holes in the cup made with a small soldering iron.
2. Soil was dampened with water/Homex just until it held together when squeezed in your hand.
3. Cuttings were scrubbed with anti-bacterial soap even if they looked clean.
4. Dried then labeled with a white paint pen.
5. Never doing more then one type of cutting at once to ensure no mix-ups up to this point.
6. Wrapped the cutting in parafilm leaving lower 3 to 4 inches unwrapped depending on the length of the cutting.
7. Used small pruners to cut the cutting about 1/4 inch below the lowest node. If the cutting was already close to the lowest node, I just shaved a little bit off.
8. Scrapped two sides of the bottom of the cutting until I could see green. About 1 to 2 inches from the bottom of the cutting all the way to the bottom of the cutting.
9. Stuck the cutting into the soil, covering at least 2 nodes. Into trays in the fig nursery to do their thing.
10. Also put the clear cups in styrofoam cups to shield the roots from light once they developed.

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/belated-intro-8373834?pid=1294452915

I didn't use heat even though I keep my house about 68 in the winter. But I think heat mats might have sped up the process. I just wasn't into investing in them. A little more time was fine with me.

I did get a moisture meter and didn't water the cuttings until it registered in (or very close to) the dry zone. Most people say over-watering is the biggest killer of cuttings.

When I did water, it was with plain water until leaves developed, then I used dilute (about half strength) MG liquid fertilizer in the water.

There are a lot of different variations of this method and other methods that work based on all I've read on the forums. Good luck with rooting this winter!