Starting Cuttings Outdoors In Late Fall

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Charlie

Registered:1404043833
Posts: 1,214

Posted 1447296767 · Edited	Reply with quote #1

This is perhaps the most lazy way to start cuttings but I will try my best to make it even more lazy this year. These plants were started by burying a few Unk Lake Spur cuttings, late fall when it was cold and it would stay cold until spring. Many of you got cuttings from this same batch. They were cut in early fall from a growing tree. These particular cuttings that were leftovers were ends dipped in wax and stayed in the fridge in a ziplock bag until I think sometime in November. There was a small pile of composted wood chips/leaf mold at the end of the blackberry bed where all my fig plants ended up this year. I buried the cuttings 4-6 inches deep and just forgot about them until spring. Slow start since there was not much for them to feed on. Some composted rabbit and sheep manure was piled around the shoots when they were about 6 inches or so tall. They responded well to the manure compost. Air layers made at ground level by cutting and fitting gallon pots to several of the plants where they would fit. A few were not able to have pots fitted. The whole assembly was surrounded by a half 55 gallon plastic barrel, secured with zip ties and all filled in around the pots with the wood chips/leaf mold compost. This was watered along with the rest of the figs this time of year, about every three days. They seemed to like this and grew a couple more feet or so. Time to remove the air layers. The barrel ring was removed. The plants were cut off below the pots and re-potted in their own larger containers. Nice roots on all of them. All these are spoken for. Two that had no layering pots were left in the place to over-winter. Barrel was re-installed and quite a bit of mix filled in. This area is very saturated in the winter and spring. I hope they survive and plan to expand the rooting area later on with a nice looking border for a permanent raised bed. That's about it. These cuttings out-grew every other rooted cutting I have that was started in the fall of 2014. Planning on doing a lot more of this type this fall. Mostly of HC. It's probably the best choice to focus on for my area and one of my favorite figs. __________________ Zone 7A ~ Fort Smith area Arkansas

Joe_Athens1945

Registered:1396815560
Posts: 365

Posted 1447297613	Reply with quote #2

Nice work! Very impressive growth and photo record. Joe __________________ Athens, GA USA Zone 7b My young trees in the ground and in pots: Brown Turkey, White Triana JM, Magnolia, Strawberry Verte, Violette de Bordeaux, Panache, UK Brooklyn Dark JP, Ronde de Bordeaux. Wish list: St Rita

Smyfigs

Registered:1443660141
Posts: 1,658

Posted 1447304625 · Edited	Reply with quote #3

Oh ny gosh!! Amazing how nicely they grew!! Yes, the cuttings like that manure for sure! Very nice, Charlie. Love all your pictures & documentation. __________________ Meg-Hardiness Zone 10a Looking for... Socorro Blk Wuhan Jolly Tiger Lamperia Preta Herschtetten St. Jean Black Ischia "The best way to show my gratitude is to accept everything, even my problems, with joy." ~ Mother Teresa "Do not pass by a man in need for you may be the hand of God to him." ~Proverbs 3:27~ "He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted." ~Job 5:4

SarinaP

Registered:1446747779
Posts: 93

Posted 1447335624	Reply with quote #4

How cool! I'm going to bury a couple in the yard and see how they do now--that would be such a nice surprise in the spring! __________________ Growing in Zone 7a: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_uY4GZ90-gNAdZFS0enckqojLQT2-8cp2pcsRp-Bdqg/edit?usp=sharing Wishlist: leaning toward French cultivars!

figpig_66

Registered:1416870358
Posts: 2,678

Posted 1447342198	Reply with quote #5

When you planted the cuttings 6 inchs deep. Was it long ways or straight down ? Did it get alot of rain hitting them during the fall and winter. __________________ RICHIE BONI HICKORY LOUISIANA ZONE 8B WARM HUMID WINRERS ARE VERY MILD LOW 20'S BUT WARMS RIGHT UP DURING THE DAY. SUMMER IS EXTREMELY HOT & HUMID 100 degrees 100% humidity fig tree grow like crazy but some split from rain & humidity Wish list. Col de dame blanc Col de rimada Lsu numbered figs

Mario_1

Registered:1398299123
Posts: 407

Posted 1447343335	Reply with quote #6

what zone are you in? __________________ Wallingford CT, USA zone 6a would be happy to meet and get together with other members near me Wish list; Any fig from any specific place anywhere in Italy

Charlie

Registered:1404043833
Posts: 1,214

Posted 1447373989	Reply with quote #7

Quote: Originally Posted by figpig_66 When you planted the cuttings 6 inchs deep. Was it long ways or straight down ? Did it get alot of rain hitting them during the fall and winter. Horizontal Richie. Excessive amount of rain in my opinion. We had flooding in the spring. These being in the pile of chips and where they were located in the pile had them 5 or six inches above ground level so they were out of the saturated ground. @Mario_1 Right along the line of 7A & B. __________________ Zone 7A ~ Fort Smith area Arkansas

jdsfrance

Registered:1376988473
Posts: 2,591

Posted 1447416842	Reply with quote #8

Hi Charlie, If you try with longer cuttings you'll even get more growth. I made some T-shaped and buried the head of the T. That little tree is now 8 months old from cutting and looks like a little tree as the current trunk was already a stem on the mother tree... You should try the same with Black madeira ... Just get a dog to watch the area ... LOL __________________ ------------------------ Climate from -25°C to + 35°C Only cold hardy figtrees can make it here

Charlie

Registered:1404043833
Posts: 1,214

Posted 1447418910	Reply with quote #9

Quote: Originally Posted by jdsfrance Hi Charlie, If you try with longer cuttings you'll even get more growth. I made some T-shaped and buried the head of the T. That little tree is now 8 months old from cutting and looks like a little tree as the current trunk was already a stem on the mother tree... You should try the same with Black madeira ... Just get a dog to watch the area ... LOL I will try some longer ones this year. Lot's of prunings about to take place around here and I did get one BM cutting in the mail yesterday. Now just to decide do I put it in sand now indoors or bury in hopes it will sprout in Spring? Decisions killing me lol. __________________ Zone 7A ~ Fort Smith area Arkansas

rmulhero

Registered:1429223986
Posts: 263

Posted 1447427079	Reply with quote #10

Great job, all your experiments are really impressive! With all your success I think its time to open a fig nursery :) __________________ Becky, zone 5 Growing: Hardy Chicago, VdB, Dessert King, Celeste, Green Ischia, Marseilles VS, Kathleen's Black, Red Sicilian, Adriatic JH, Violetta bayerfeinge, New Brunswick, Magnolia and Italian Honey. Wishlist: Sicilian Black JR, Petite Negra, Sweet George, Lattarula, Sals Corleone (Gene), Vasilika sika, Galicia negra, Dalmatie and any cold hardy fig.

Charlie

Registered:1404043833
Posts: 1,214

Posted 1447463486	Reply with quote #11

Quote: Originally Posted by rmulhero Great job, all your experiments are really impressive! With all your success I think its time to open a fig nursery :) Thanks Becky. :) Being awarded the Friend of the Master Gardeners and get to take the 40 hour program over five weekends for free, starting in Feb 2016. They're giving me this for assisting with the fig trial and I'm fairly excited. Sometime after that next year I hope to find time to make it to the class that will allow me to get a nurserymans license. So it is coming, one day and one step at a time. __________________ Zone 7A ~ Fort Smith area Arkansas

Charlie

Registered:1404043833
Posts: 1,214

Posted 1451088111	Reply with quote #12

Got a letter from the guy at the extension office. They needed 20 people to do this Spring Master Gardeners coarse and did not get them. So now I have to wait until I don't know when for the next available coarse. Oh well. Starting this outdoor thing, not quite late Fall any more but feels like early Fall. Weird weather. Anyway, here we go. Got 250 gallon size Root Pouch grow bags and putting one cutting in each, filling with composted wood chips/leaves, setting on patio and covering, filling in gaps with more compost and will top with probably a foot of leaves and uncover in Spring. One wheel barrow of compost fills about 30 bags. The compost pile is going on two years old and is broken down pretty good, full of bugs, mushroom mycelium, worm castings and undoubtedly a lot of beneficial microorganisms. Full of bermuda grass roots too so I have to sift it through a 1/2 inch hardware cloth to sort out those and get the good stuff. Wishing I had not given away my electric worm harvester! These are all Hardy Chicago. Will probably do 150 of them and mix the remaining 100 bags with other varieties. There will also be other piles with horizontal buried cuttings like last year. __________________ Zone 7A ~ Fort Smith area Arkansas

joann1536

Registered:1409975734
Posts: 274

Posted 1451115323	Reply with quote #13

The growth on that buried cutting is remarkable! I have cuttings I started last fall that I thought did pretty well, but they sure don't look like that. Nice job, Charlie! __________________ USDA Zone 9b Wish list: Abruzzi, Pasquale, Tagliacozzo, Zingarella, Godfather. Any unk Italian, especially from Abruzzo.

Charlie

Registered:1404043833
Posts: 1,214

Posted 1457304475	Reply with quote #14

Update on outdoor rooting. So it was a really mild Winter. Not even a speck of snow or ice here but a few nights in the upper teens. The cuttings stayed buried under leaves all Winter and uncovered yesterday. Ended up with 100 Hardy Chicago, 50 Unk Jim Dandy and 36 Madeline's Green Greek. They seem to have done very well. All are still fresh looking and some green buds. A few more weeks will really tell. Also yesterday, many more other cuttings I received over Winter trades were set into grow bags with sifted compost on the front porch. Ten more were added this morning so there's 68 in bags and one terra cotta pot. This used up exactly all the sifted compost I worked on for weeks as time and weather allowed and kept in five gallon pails in the garage. __________________ Zone 7A ~ Fort Smith area Arkansas

tennesseefig

Registered:1447835812
Posts: 218

Posted 1457368815	Reply with quote #15

Great post! I should have set some cuttings out this past fall. __________________ Micah 4:4But each one shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, with no one to make them afraid, for the mouth of יְהוָה of hosts has spoken. Zone 7a, wanting: JH Adriatic, Smith, Strawberry Verte, VdB, RdB

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