Plant the whole thing (twig) horizontally in your prefered
potting medium. The single bud should be pointing UP and
and the twig just deep enough for the bud or
new-shoot (if any) to "see" air.

A vented dome
(e.g., an inverted clear cup with some holes)
should also help keep some moisture till established.

Tom,

Your instinct was correct don't do a thing until further root development.......well, almost. Keep your node cutting and peat pot inside of baggie and keep the baggie inside of another closed clear plastic container......trust me on this. Allow the container to receive some light sunlight near an open window (grow light OK if you have one) but make sure to not let the sun heat up the container. Open your baggie DAILY to help equalize both temperature & humidity levels and to provide more air (oxygen). Your were wise in choosing a rooting mix containing nutrients.

Good luck.

Dan

Thanks George & Dan
I will follow both of your suggestions. Im
fairly new to propagating figs and I really appreciate
advice from you veteran fig lovers.I have 2 Petite
Negra about 2 1/2 years old in containers that produced about 8 figs each last year and am looking forward to this
year for more.Untill then I will eat a lot of Fig Newtons
from Wal Mart(better than no figs). I am trying to find
out what color(green or dark)that is less desirable to
birds,squirrel and deer and if anybody on this forum
has had experience with this please let me know.Excuse
me from getting off topic!
Tom Danvile VA

Sorry but George and I are talking about two different things. I am giving you good advice that is very specific to your question and to your particular situation.

Re-read your post and what I have answered.....pay attention to the details of what I have written. There is no need for you to use a rooting cup in what you are doing nor is there a need to cover it with an inverted, vented cup. Your cutting is already planted in its potting mix inside of the peat pot. Follow my advice and you will have a good chance of a rooting success. FYI.....I have been working on single node rooting for quite a while and am closing in on a very reliable method.

I can speak only about the birds.....those in my yard have a much harder time telling when a green fig is ripe as compared to a dark fig. Some of the Adriatic (green) types give very little external information when their figs are ripe.

Dan

I think more people should save cuttings which are short, I think they'd be surprised. I received 3 Marseilles VS Black cuttings from a fellow figlover last year, and got in a position where I had one long cutting - I ended up chopping that one into 3 separate cuttings (1-node, 2-node, 3-node), and cut another one in two. the ones with the least nodes rooted first.

I also followed Dan's advice on stubborn cuttings and just revived two stubborn Hardy Chicago cuttings. I think only one of the two will actually make it, but ... the method was good, and seems to have done its job.

Dan,
Following your instructions on single node.Also
followed your instructions EXACTLY on 15 cuttings with 90% showing initials or roots.Thanks again for sharing!,now if the Saints win I will be a happy person indeed.
Tom Danville VA

Jason,

What you referenced is a new technique that I developed for jump starting a stubborn cutting and it has worked for me on several occasions. I have not seen it written or posted anywhere. Good to hear that you were able to jump start and possibly save one of your cuttings.

Dan

OK guys, I've started a new batch of cuttings last week and I ended up with a one node wonder. After being in a baggie for 10 days it's showing an initial. With my luck again where is it at. It's right above the bud again. Now to see if I can coax some out the other side. The fun begins again.

I can smell spring,
"gene"

Gene,

We have another freeze coming our way this weekend. When my Purple Martins return to their bird houses, I will know that spring has arrived. And when my pecan trees leaf out, we can expect no more frost. But like you.....I smell spring in the air and the birds do too.

Dan

Gene,

oops.........forgot to give you some friendly advice on your single node cutting. Plant it ASAP as George advised in the first part of his earlier post. Then exactly follow the directions that I gave to Tom using your new UPM/perlite rooting mix in the peat pot. FYI...I bought a bunch of peat pots (real cheap) at Walmart for use in rooting.

Dan

Dan,

I saved a copy of your 'saving a stubborn cutting' thread. I referenced it when dealing with my stubborn HC cuttings. For several weeks, they did nothing. I checked yesterday, and initials are now 2mm long, two on the first, one on the second. I reckon when I get home, I'll be cupping them up.

One detriment was, I cut too deep around one cutting and the bark rotted a bit. Luckily, this was about mid-node, and everything below that point was unnecessary, so I trimmed it off.

Thanks for the tips!

I should add - the cuttings did nothing for several weeks on their own. All other cuttings had done something previously. These showed no indication they would do anything at all. They popped initials within 6-7 days of taking a razor just under the node.

May have to send you a bottle of my Purple Stuff that keeps mold at bay for such special instances. Thanks for the feedback.

Dan

finally got home, this is the last feedback i can provide.

started with five cuttings. all placed into baggie on Dec 8, all but two showed rootlets and were transferred on Dec 28. two stubborn cuttings sat iactive for weeks. Jan 17, i broke down, pulled the cuttings out and performed the slices, milk flowed freely after the cuts. Jan 26, root initials showed, one and two initials, respectively. they grew 0.5mm - 1mm per day. 27th, there were one and three initials, respectively. before potting today, there were two and five initials, respectively. the cutting with two initials grew longer faster, while the one with 5 initials (~1-2mm each) were shorter and fatter. i tried taking pics showing the lines from the razor cut clearly, and the initials intermingled, but i couldn't get a clear shot with my blackberry and wife's camera was dead. cupped them up with 50/50 perlite/3B.

we will see what happens.

Dan et el
Question on 'saving a stubborn cutting' technique.
If cutting under s node works on a stubborn cutting to expedite roots, why not use it on 'not known to be stubborn' cuttings to ensure/expedite rooting and not wait for potential problems that come with delay in rooting such as mold/rot etc?

Ottawan,

The technique does not expedite roots. It does, however, seem to "stimulate" roots to emerge when they are stubborn or late in forming. It can be used to save a cutting that simply won't form roots. I'm guessing that the cuts cause some kind of bio-chemical signal to form that triggers the rooting response. Making unnecessary cuts on your cuttings adds entry points on your cutting which can allow entry of mold vectors before that cut forms a callous.

I like the idea of being able to direct the energy flow within a cutting and use it to my advantage. I will be conducting experiments with this technique this rooting season.

To give you ONE example of a possible advantage to this technique: I intend to leave extra wood BELOW the bottom node of some cuttings. That extra wood will contain extra energy for root formation......but that node often needs to be stimulated to take advantage of that extra energy. THINK about this......hint hint hint.......in applying this technique in single node rooting.

This is just ONE of the many NEW techniques that I am developing. I'll not get into the details of some of the other neat stuff that I am working on. Like I stated before, I am closing in on a reliable singe node rooting method. That is a very challenging endeavor. One must fully understand and be able to control the rooting variables to attain a high success rate. I have a history of challenging conventional wisdom and know how to apply science to make good things happen....more later.

DAN

I have done some succesful single node fig rootings before.
I only reserve that to "precious" figs. Even if succesful,
the outcome new shoot tends to be rather "flimpsy" (aka
thin), I guess from lack of energy from the short twig,
and it may require an extra year to get established
(relative to the rooted standard from a 6-8" twig).

There are a couple of BIG secrets to the reliable rooting of single node cuttings that I will not reveal at this time. One hint to increasing the energy reserves of a single node cutting is given above.

Dan

Soooooo, what is the secret?
If it is a TRUE secret, why even/ever mention it up?
Please open-up.....

George I think he's referring to the statement in the above post in answering Ottwan,

"To give you ONE example of a possible advantage to this technique: I intend to leave extra wood BELOW the bottom node of some cuttings. That extra wood will contain extra energy for root formation......but that node often needs to be stimulated to take advantage of that extra energy. THINK about this......hint hint hint.......in applying this technique in single node rooting. "

I guess one node but as much wood as possible.
"gene"

Dan
Just imagine how many single node cuttings will not make it until you reveal the 'Secret'. No one will know if they could have converted it to a tree.

What I have already revealed in this thread and other postings is good useful information that WILL increase one's rooting success rate. There is no FUN in revealing all secrets now and besides some of my work may well be patentable.

I have already given out a lot of good, detailed information that can make one a better fig rooter....try some of those techniques that I wrote about and you can verify them for yourself. I mention some of the other things that I am working on so forum members know someone is trying to solve some of the common problems encountered in rooting and someone is striving to improve existing methods. I am making good steady progress in those areas.....more later.

Dan

Patentable devices/methods need to be VERY unique, subject
to expensive P.lawer research/fees and to which specific counrty
applied for.

All my best and good luck wishings to you.

Forgot to mention that any (income) $$$ depend very
very MUCH on how the product sells to anybody after that.