Hi, I am new to the forum and new to rooting fig cuttings.  I have been reading posts on this site for several months now.  There is a wealth of information on this site.  I am in zone 6a just east of Kansas City, MO and have been growing a few fig varieties in ground with fairly good success.  I have decided to test different figs in ground and have ordered over 20 fig varieties.  I also purchased fig cuttings from sellers on the trusted Ebay seller list.  I have researched rooting methods on this site and watched YouTube videos of various rooting methods.  I am currently rooting cuttings in long strand sphagnum peat in Sterilite plastic containers.  All of the videos I see show rooted cuttings with multiple roots along the length of the cutting.  My current cuttings that are rooting only have one or two roots near the very bottom of the cutting that are currently 2 to 3 inches long.  Should I wait for more roots before I place them in cups or should I pot them up now?  Also, with the roots at the bottom of the cutting, how deep should the cutting be placed when potting up? 

Thanks,
Brad 

Welcome to the forum Brad. I usually skip the spagnum moss and insert them directly in a moisture control potting mix.
The potting mix has enough nutrition to keep them going for a long time, while perlite or spagnum moss does not, the only thing to watch in potting mix is your watering.
These days, I root everything in an SIP near a sunny window. Initially size of pot is not important.
Here's an example:

Welcome!  There are a few of us E of KC.  I would pot up now but you're going to have to be careful.  LFSM will stick to the roots.  If you pick the cuttings up and the moss sticks to other moss fibers you could tear the roots.  Lift everything out, supporting any moss that comes with the cutting.  Place it in warm water.  Let as much of the sphagnum drift away as possible.  From the moss that's still stuck to the roots cut as much moss away as you can without getting near the root hairs.

If you pot up the moss with the cutting the moss will hold water on the roots and the roots will drown, killing your cutting.

Use a quick draining mix, get it wet then squeeze out as much water as possible  Fluff that up and pot the cutting in it.  When the top inch or so is dry, water gently so you don't collapse the soil airspaces.

Sas and rcantor, thank you.  It is a pleasure to be here. 

Sas, with my next batch of cuttings I will try to place some directly into the potting mix. I want to try different methods to determine what will work best.  

Rcantor I got started planting figs when I went to Powell Gardens and saw that they were able to grow figs in the area.  My first fig plant was purchased from a garden center in Lees Summit.   The owner brought cuttings over from Sicily, if I remember correctly. The owner of the garden center told me how to take care of them so they would fruit in this zone. That fig fruited the year after I planted it and is still going strong. I then planted the fig varieties that survived and fruited at Powell Gardens.  Now that I know that I can get them to grow in the area, I want to see if others will survive and fruit in the area. 

I will pot up the cuttings that are rooting this weekend and will be careful not to damage the roots.  Right now there are only a few roots so hopefully they won't be difficult to separate from the sphagnum.  If it does stick to the roots, I will use the method you described.  For potting, I plan on using a mixture of 50% Pro-mix BX and 50% coarse perlite.  I could not find pine bark fines in the area so I decided to supplement the mix with the perlite. 

How deep should I plant the cuttings?

Thanks,
Brad

Hey Sas, 

Where do you get you self watering pots?

Thanks

Hi Dom,
There might be other models out there, the idea is that they are great to control the moisture in the soil. I get the small ones from walmart. They are under $2 each. Never add water from top.

TorontoJoe, thank you.  I plan on using clear plastic cups with drain holes on the sides and bottom.  I looked tonight and actually saw more roots forming and the long root is turning slightly brown.  I will probably pot them up this weekend.  I will be receiving other cutting in the mail and will place some directly in the potting mix and some in sphagnum to compare rooting success.  How deep do you place the cuttings when planting directly in the potting mix?

Thanks,

Brad

Hey Brad - Something that I wrote once in a previous post... "Fig growing we do as a community...but growing figs is a (very) personal challenge". 

You're in good shape. remember that nobody bats 1000 with fig cuttings and everyone will have success that varies because of cutting type/source, exact location, time of year, water, green wood, hard wood, etc, etc, etc.... and methods vary for every stage for every person....Just as soon as you have a batch root perfectly you'll repeat the process only to have a total loss...Not to discourage you one bit...This is (I hope) part of the allure. It's not easy...If you wanted easy you could go out and get yourself a pear tree - not that there's anything wrong with that (Maybe but I don't want to start a quarrel with pear enthusiasts)

Enjoy the ride...and the figs...

One really interesting method I found only today....Nothing I've ever tried and contrary to much fig-wisdom.... I like this and I think I may try it. Ben seems to have many-a-fig

Hey, and welcome!! Check out SCfigfanatic he's got a three and four cup system that work amazing. I used to start with moss myself but I use the 3 cup method from here on out.

Welcome Brad to the F4F forum. Keep searching the forum for different ideas for rooting cuttings, there is no magic bullet, otherwise there would only be just one method. I've tried many and what works best for me, in south Florida, would not work for others because of our warm temperatures and high humidity. I root every cutting outside, even in cooler months of Dec.-Feb. Good luck and good growing.

Thank you for the warm welcome.  I didn't even realize that figs grew in this zone until a few years ago.  Once I tasted my first fresh fig, I was hooked.  I am just learning how to root figs from cuttings and have no previous experience except what I have read here and seen on videos.  I will try the different methods suggested and hopefully find one that works best for me in this area.  I am excited about testing different varieties and seeing which ones will survive and fruit as well as the differences in taste.  I don't expect it to be easy and have anticipated some losses along the way due to my inexperience and the not so hospitable climate.  That is where the fun comes in.  I love a good challenge and fresh figs so it is definitely worth it.

Thanks,

Brad

re the above video,
looks like there was about 50% sucsess rate,
but we didnt get to see any roots.

That's a good point. I know Ben only from Youtube. I might drop him a line to see what his success rates are...

I've done the method with burying small (1 node) cuttings. Roots and leaves come wonderfully. If I think I will snag a picture of some of the ones I'm working on.

I contacted Ben from the above video. We had a good email exchange. Seems the success might not be quite as high as using cups but if on considers A) that he's down to 1 and 2 node cuttings and B) the space on saves... I think I need to try this...Here's the email exchange we had:

I'm still not sure I understand how to pot these up...Bury the whole thing? Like leaving the shoot sticking out?

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From: Joe

Hi Ben,

Greetings from Toronto.

I've enjoyed a number of your fig videos. I came across the one where you demonstrate the lasagna tray rooting method.

I've never had the nerve to trim cuttings down to one or two nodes but as a space saver this is intriguing. I'm rooting many cuttings now and space is becoming an issue.

I few questions if you would indulge me:

What would you say is your overall success rate with this method?

With a single node cutting - how would you pot it up? Given I assume it would have both roots and shoots coming out of the same node....Right?

Might there be benefit to leaving them longer and snipping them between the nodes after they've rooted or leafed out?

Have you posted pictures of what the roots looked like after a batch done like this?

Thanks for the great videos.

Joe

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Hi Joe,

Here's a link to how the roots look using this method.

http://seattlegardenfruit.blogspot.com/search/label/fig%20propagation

I found it best to cut the cutting down to about 4 inches or so with enough nodes to support roots and leaves. I would simply bury the whole cutting when I up pot. When the moisture is ideal I found this to be one of the better methods to beat the mold since the entire cuttings is buried the mold has less of a chance to grow on it.

However if you use too much water it is still susceptible to rot. But if you use the same medium I did with lots of air pockets from the bark and perlite the excess moisture should drain to the bottom and not affect the cutting.

I would up pot once I saw feeder roots form.

Let me know if that helps.

Ben

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Thanks Ben. That's great. Would you say more than 75% make it?

If it's ok with you I'd like to share this response with some other fig growers.

Thanks for this
Joe

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On Feb 10, 2017, at 17:55, Ben wrote:

Great question, I would say that's a safe number although there are too many variables to consider and I would say 60-75%

I think I pulled 20 successful plants out of one regular size shoe box before. I've also had whole trays fail because it was a difficult variety and over watering.

Ben

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Thanks Ben. I really appreciate the info. I'm going to try this.

Cheers
JOE

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Best of luck, just keep in mind that as long as its humid in the tray and the water isn't making direct contact to the cutting i think you'll be in great shape.

I potted 6 fig cuttings yesterday.  Placed them in an aquarium with a glass top and used old aquarium lights for overhead lighting.  This morning the humidity was 99% and temp had dropped from 75 F to 66 F.  The humidity seems high and the temp dropped after I turned off the light last night.  What is the optimal relative humidity and temp for the potted fig cuttings?  Should I supplement heat with a seedling heat mat?  I do not think I want the temps to drop into the 60s when I turn the lights off. 

Thanks,

Brad