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fignatic

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Posted Reply with quote  #1 
Does anybody have a plan to keep their cuttings rooting that are in a cloner when there is a power loss?  Last night N.J. was hit with a storm that knocked out the power and I almost went out in it to start up the generator just for the figs at 2am but my wife said the neighbors would think I was crazy if they spotted me.  Funny how the fig cuttings  seemed to be the first thing that I wanted to save in a natural disaster.lol     
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joe paradiso 6B New Jersey
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Posted Reply with quote  #2 
Your neighbors would be right!!
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Louneo

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Posted Reply with quote  #3 
I applaud you for thinking of the figs first.  Ive woken up in a cold sweat wondering if I put the heater on in the garage for the figs and the worms!  I wonder if you could get away with putting a mix in a spray bottle and just giving them a good spray every 30 mins to an hour.  The cloning bin has to stay humid enough to get you through a little bit without worry.  I am just starting out with a cloner so havent had to have this issue yet but thank you for giving me one more thing fig / plant related to lose sleep over haha
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Bluemalibu

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Posted Reply with quote  #4 


   The quieter/cheaper route would probably be to just a have a deep cycle battery on a trickle charger nearby.  Just alligator clip a small A/C converter to it and plug in your timer to that...  readjust your timing to run like 20 seconds every 20 minutes.  The cuttings would be safe and it would be able to run a long time at that rate.
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tennesseefig

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Posted Reply with quote  #5 
Do you have a driveway for you car?  If so you could buy a cheap inverter, run an extension cord and power a few things.  If you bought a 1,000 watt inverter you could run your fridge and your cloner ;)
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thepodpiper

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Posted Reply with quote  #6 
Just fill the cloner with water until the bottoms are touching the water. As soon as the power comes back on take the water back out.
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GreenFin

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Posted Reply with quote  #7 
I don't think a backup is needed.  The root section won't get overly dry in the cloner since it's so humid in the root area, and a humidity dome on top would take care of the top sections (or maybe plastic sacks or cups if you don't have a humidity dome).

The break might even be beneficial in some situations.  When I did my first round of cuttings in the cloner and ended up with a lot of rotting, I turned my cloner off for a few days.  Every day the cloner was off the cuttings looked better.  By day 3 or 4 the bottoms were no longer slimy, the softness had mostly hardened up, and some of the rotting ends (now much drier) actually started pushing out roots.  I think drying them out for 3 days in the cloner and then cutting off any remaining rot (and potting up in cups) allowed me to save about 3/4 of what would have otherwise been a total loss.
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jdsfrance

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Posted Reply with quote  #8 
Hi,
As long as they don't freeze ( heating system loss ), you could leave them for at least a day without cares (no light, no misting).
You can relax :)
You could use a battery powered ups that some use for computers (unplug your apple ... ho no, you could no longer read the forum :( )... if really the situation was to/would cause heavy stress to you.
Being prepared for what could happen, is the key (don't drive your car in the middle of the night to fix the situation) ! Good luck !
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kingoceanos

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Posted Reply with quote  #9 
Just go to Academy or any other store that carries fishing supplies and pick up a bait bucket aerator. They have several to choose from that can use regular D batteries on up to car batteries. Just drop the air stone in and turn it on. I've used them to save my fish in my Marine Aquarium when a hurricane had us out of power for several days.
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fignatic

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Posted Reply with quote  #10 
Thanks for all the good ideas. The power restored the following day and all is good in figland and my neighbors didn't have to listen to my generator running overnight but now I'll be sure to keep my UPS charged up for future emergencies.
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joe paradiso 6B New Jersey
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