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.

Lasagna Fig Rooting update: 3/11/16

Just a quick update on fig cuttings at 1 month and 2 months using the Lasagna rooting method.

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.