How to reinvigorate a stagnant fig plant

Sometimes when we purchase a new fig plant, it's hard to know how long it's been stuck in that same pot. The tale tell sign would be if it doesn't push out any new growth for months and it reminds you of Charlie Browns Christmas tree.

This was the case with my Hardy Hartford from Sky Nursery. It did little to no growth since I purchased it. Watch the video to see the process.

Can you root Green Fig Cuttings? Last Update - 7 weeks Later

Green Fig Cutting update: Final update.

So the green cutting did not make it. It rotted. I was very careful about the amount of moisture I added to the mix so it wasn't from excessive moisture. At the end of this experiment, I can say that the chances of rooting a green cutting are very slim.

Unless you have a very rare variety I wouldn't bother wasting resources in trying to root them.

However, I'm sure with perfect conditions , it may be possible. However, I have yet to discover the perfect recipe. I think that if the there was a bit of lignified woodnear the bottom, it would make it possible to root a semi green cutting.  I have been able to root cuttings with a green top and brown bottom.

My final thoughts on the Lasagna Method of rooting figs.

So here's a few concluding thoughts on using the Lasagna Method for rooting fig cuttings.

I've probably up potted about 100 or more cuttings using this method and I think it has its pros and cons.

Previous post:
Lasagna 1
Lasagna 2

Top 3 Pros:
1. Low chances of mold - I've discovered not a single cutting with mold using this method
2. Dense area for rooting lots of cuttings - I've packed in 20 cuttings to one shoe box
3. Maximize more plants for the amount cuttings received - Since I cut them to just a few nodes per cutting I'm getting more plants from one long cutting. However as of late I've been suffering from fig fatigue and I'm a bit burnt out on the constant up pot of new cuttings.

Top 3 Cons:
1. Lots of roots and no leaves - One thing I've discovered is that some cuttings do no leaf out. They may grow a ton of roots with no leaves, I wonder if it's because the entire cutting is under the root medium or if there isn't enough top nodes to leaf from.
2. Tangled roots - Not all cuttings will root at the same time so some cuttings will need to be up potted sooner than others. Individually pulling out cuttings that get too tangled is a bit of a hassle and can damage the roots.
3. Slower growth - Because the cutting is shorter, I've noticed that the new stems tend to be skinnier and has less vigor than a full size cutting

So to use this method successfully there are certain parameters to consider:

 

1. Length of cuttings need to be 3 modes or more
2. There has to be enough nodes so some can grow into rooting nodes and others can grow into leafing nodes
3. Watering a hole-less tray is a delicate matter and time consuming. I used a turkey baster to hit the growing roots
4. Duration - After 2 months if there are no roots check the tray. You may have bad cuttings or something is wrong
5. Up Potting - As soon as you see feeder roots it's time to up pot. Some leaf nodes will sometimes grow into the soil medium instead  of up to the light and if you wait  too long it will be more difficult to transition the new cutting to a 1 gallon

 
Will I continue to use this method? Yes but probably only for thicker cuttings with many nodes.  So lately I've been using the bag method and it's been working out much better for me.

What!? You can't graft that! Update 4/6/16 Part 5

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Part 4

4-6-16

Time to Up Pot my Fiorone di Ruvo that was grafted onto a Gillette fig cutting, Gillettes root like weeds! So they are a perfect root stock for this type of Fig propagation.

Fiorone di Ruvo/Gillette cutting.

Bourjassote Grise/Gillette Cutting.

Update: 4/15/16

Update: 4/27/16

What!? You can't graft that! Update 3/25/16 Part 4

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

3/25/16

The Fiorone di Ruvo graft that I used on a Gillette cutting has started to root nicely. Gillette's root like weeds. It doesn't mean that the graft has taken but it does mean that the chances of success are higher.  The successfully rooted cutting now has a means to provide energy into the Fiorone di Ruvo graft.

Stay tuned...

What!? You got 20 fig plants from one shoe box?! Yes I did =)

Yesterday, I decided to unleash the fig cuttings I got from San Jose and I was amazed at how many plants made it from one regular size shoe box.  They've been in there since the beginning of November. I probably should have up potted them at 2.5 months rather than 4 but this variety took much longer to root than others. I still have some of the same cuttings using the cup method that has not shown any growth.

In all, I up potted to cups 20 plants. I left 5 or 6 in the shoe box that have yet to form new leaves. Most of the cuttings were about 4 inches long.  I was impressed with the amount of successful cuttings from just 1 square foot of growing space.

They probably would've developed more growth had I started the diluted fertilizing sooner.

Lasagna Method: Up Potted to cups 3/21/16

With the Lasagna Method of rooting figs the main question I had when I came up with this method was...

"When to up pot?"

Well I think I've learned a couple more things along the way besides when to up pot.

1. I've been waiting too long to water the trays. 
I use a turkey baster. Now, I start watering the new cuttings when the roots grow dense and form feeders. The turkey baster allows for spot watering.  Try to water the rooted end and avoid wetting the leaves, which may cause mold. And since the trays do not have drainage holes, you do not want to drown your cuttings.

2. I was waiting too long to up pot / transfer the new cuttings into their own cups.
As soon as you see leaves forming and a strong roots, up pot them. I waited 3 months on certain cuttings and the roots became too entangled and dried.

Here in this up potting video, you can see the roots have formed into feeders roots but I did 2 things wrong, not enough fertilized watering and 2, I waited too long to up pot them, which made it real difficult to untangle the roots from one another.

3. I needed to fertilize them as soon as the feeder roots form.
My buddy Vinny asked whether or not I fed my new cuttings, I said no. But he did and his growth looked so lush and healthy. It was also 2x the size of my cuttings even though we rooted cuttings around the same time. Now this got my attention. So he pointed me to Dyna-Gro liquid fertlizer  which I've been using for the last couple of weeks and the plants love it! The leaves and stems look greener and stronger.

 

I've also added a bit of Silica Blast to my weekly feedings. Silica blast should strengthen the stems and make the plants heartier to frost and heat.

 

http://www.planetnatural.com/product/silica-blast/

4. Do not bury them too deep, you want the top layer to just cover the cuttings. 
I noticed that in one tray, the new leaves were not strong enough to break through the top layer because it was too thick. The developing leaves were white from not being able break the surface to photosynthesis the light.

5. I was cutting them too short.
I was getting phenomenal roots but some cuttings were lacking the leaves. Moving forward nothing less than 3 nodes should be cut.

The tray on the left would be the best time to up pot cuttings to their own cup

Today I decided to dig up one of the Black Madeira cuttings in a tray that I started about a month ago. The roots looked amazing. It has not developed it's feeder roots yet but it was so much easier to transfer to another pot at this stage.

Inspired, I went through my other trays and up potted a handful of other varieties that were about the same stage in the rooting process.

Video taken on 3/22/16

My wife wasn't too happy about me spending so much time with the figs on a weekday.

Wuhan x7
Salce x2
Ginos x3
Dr Monticellos x2
Petrovacu x5
3 Lobe Unknown x2
Black Madeira x2
Vista x2
Desert King x10
Brandon Unknown x10

These were the Wuhans up potted into cups

Desert King Cutting Up Potted

Up Potting Lasagna Method Fig cuttings

After about 3 months or so, it's time to up pot some of my first Lasagna method cuttings.  From this one container of about 12 cuttings all but one did not root and leaf out.  That's a 91% success rate!

The ones in the video are from some Black Small figs I collected in California.

Close up photos of the root development. Some look better than others. The overall success rate is really high compared to other methods.

These are from my Genevese Nero. Untangling them can be a delicate matter but it's not too hard with gentle hands. I pulled out 6 that had nice root development and 6 more that were just ok. There were 2 cuttings that didnt make it from this shoe box. Which is not a bad ratio.
The nice thing is I found no mold what so ever.

New method for rooting cuttings - The Tunnel Method

I noticed that my Oreo cookie method was still retaining a bit more water than I would like. The soil layer would rot the cutting where it made contact on some of the cuttings.

So I thought about it and came up with doing a tunneling method instead. In this method, you would have the cutting in the center, then a layer of perlite, then a layer of soil on the outer ring. This way would ensure that only the perlite would make contact with the wood cutting. It would create an airy moist layer for the cutting to root through. As the roots sprout it will eventually reach the soil layer to feed from.

I took a 20 oz cup pre drilled with holes and used a pvc pipe to create the cavity for the perlite and cutting. 

With the pipe in place I moistened the soil so that it would not crumble into the hole I made once the pipe was removed.

Add the cutting to the center of the hole. Be sure that there's a gap between the cutting and the soil. User perlite to fill in between the gap until it reaches the top.

Mist and place into your humidity bin. Don't forget to mark the variety and date. 

8/24/15 Gene's Vashon Cutting.

Update 10/08/15

The cutting eventually died. Probably my own fault from over watering. Cross this off your list of rooting methods. 

{This Experiment failed}

If you love figs as much as I do don't forget to join my fig addiction group
Fig Addiction

New Fig Air Layers

7/26/15

It maybe a little late but I air layered a bunch of my figs today. I cut one end of a sandwich bag and slipped the entire thing over the branch that I want the air layering on. Next I scraped the area of the branch instead of girdling it. Then I use rooting hormone powder before filling the bag with dirt.

Video on how I propagate my fig cuttings

This is how my fig rooting setup looks like. I use Humidity bins from Ikea and my "oreo cookie" substrate method in cups to get the most success.

More detail on it HERE


If you love figs as much as I do don't forget to join my fig addiction group
Fig Addiction

Seattle Desert King fig rooting update

Update on my desert king cuttings. I got a bit lazy and bagged these up in bunches in a one gallon pot.

The results are still pretty good. Check out those air roots.

These are 2 weeks old.

Successfully rooted Alma Cuttings

I received these Alma cuttings on 6/8/15.

Today is 7/01/15. I used my method of rooting new cuttings and in about 3 and a half weeks they are rooted and growing very well with no humidity shock, rot, or fungus gnat attack. I got 100% success with these. 10/10 have rooted and fully leafed out. I'll keep them on the window sill for another week before I up pot them to 1 gallon.

In the mean time the plan is to get the roots a bit more established then feed them with a bit of fish emulsion fertilizer diluted in water by this weekend. The fish emulsion has low nitrogen levels that will help them put on stronger vegetative growth.

How I root fig cuttings with 80% success

This is a diagram of how I root my fig cuttings. So far this year I've had 80% success or more with this method.

Step by step:

 Week 1

1. Once you receive your cuttings wash and scrub them lightly with a bit of anti bacterial soap to kill off any mold spores (I'm not a fan of thin tip cuttings. I find that they do not have enough "meat" to sustain new root growth and will dry faster. Try to get get finger size cuttings from brown wood)
2. If they are too long cut them down to about 6 inches right above a node. Cutting it above the node helps to reduce amount of bare twig that sticks out when the new branches develop. It's more of an aesthetic thing.
3. Root in clear cups so you can see the roots form
4. Use the diagram above for soil requirements
5. Water it with dechlorinated water (I have watered straight from the tap as well and have not seen much difference) Let it drain completely before placing them into the humidity bin, too much water will cause root rot. If the cup is still dripping when you pick it up it's not completely drained. You can use a spray bottle as well on the soil medium. Spray until it is moist not wet. Try to avoid over drenching your cups.
6. Once drained, place the cuttings in a bin or plastic bag to keep in the humidity. Do not water again until they form leaves and the soil dries out

Week 2

7. Once the root and leaves form open the bin slightly to allow for air circulation and hardening off. Do this for about 2 weeks. ( I stick a little PC fan in the bin to help keep the airflow)

Week 4

8. After a couple of weeks the leaves will appear stronger and more vigorous.  The slightly open bin should have acclimated it to a less humid environment.  You may see some dried or moldy leaves. These will fall off and new ones will take it's place so do not fret.
9. Take them out and place a bag loosely over it and place by a light source. It could be a window or greenhouse. Do not place the new tender plant in full sun... yet
10. Remove the bag once the leaves have hardened, this should take about 1 week
12. Keep the plants in their cup and water only when the cup dries up. You can usually tell by how light the cup feels or use a moisture meter to see if they need to be watered. The leaves are also a good indicator.

Week 5

12. Let the new plant develop some strong roots for another couple of weeks before up potting them to a 1 gallon pot.
13. Once they are in the 1 gallon I take them outside to a shaded area that only gets morning sun for a couple of hours. There they will sit for 1 -2 weeks to acclimate to the elements. If you put them in direct sunlight right away the leaves will burn and they may not recover.

Check out those crazy roots

Because not all cuttings root at the same time. One you can see leaves and the root structure take out the individual cup and loosely place a bag over the leaves for a few days until they harden off.

Feel free to let me know how you propagate your figs.

If you love figs as much as I do don't forget to join my fig addiction group
Fig Addiction

I've since created the LASAGNA METHOD which works even better.