Dennis I would take them and plant them Vertically in a large pot. Allowing the roots to set and sending up healthy new growth. I have a few trees from this method and they are stronger and healthier than my other horizontal cuttings. I am going to do a test this fall I am planting long cuttings vertically in my yard and then mulching the area heavily with leaves. In theory if I have a 15 node cutting I am hoping for 15 healthy trees.

What makes you think you need suggestions? You da man. You got it goin ON! ;o)

Good job, Dennis.

Al

Neweastnewbie, horizontal or vertical? I'm thinking of planting one hortizontal. If I go vertical, I'm going to have to get a lot of 2 liter soda bottle and repot them in there or some tall

THANKS AL! That means a lot!

Dennis

Hi Dennis,
i saw your pictures and smiled !
That batch of sticks was evidently a good one as most know scion can vary. This season i cut some fresh just as they were coming out of dormancy (my favorite cause there ready to burst) off hc and sals and sent out to a person and they striked excellent for him.
Anyhoot if mine i would do different things with them since there are so many, plant sideways, straight up after trimming above roots ,cut some in half, bury some complete with a leaf or 2 out as you have some like this and plant some even with roots above soil just to observe what they do eventually. The roots that are above soil will eventually die anyways if kept out of soil but plant probably live if it has good roots beneath soil. But the fun is you have so many that you can have fun with them and sure maybe a few will not make it by experimenting with em but many will im sure and you will have some to give away to friends.
Have fun whatever you do, i would experiment with em !!!
Martin

Don't thank Me - you're the one who infected us all with your enthusiasm. ;o) I can't speak for everyone, because I understand that we're all different, but whenever I'm around anyone who gets enthusiastic about the various aspects of the world of plants unfolding in front of their eyes, whether it's an unexpected rooting success like you've just had, or something as simple as learning something new that you feel will be helpful (and the list of things that could potentially inspire an enthusiastic response from others goes on and on), I can't help but feel a little excited about your success, too.

In the same line of thought - I had lunch with one of the Fig Forum regulars this weekend after attending to some judging duties at a distant plant show. I was very disappointed that my schedule didn't allow us more time to visit, because the person was extremely enthusiastic and very knowledgeable, which = fun to be around. Lunch was great fun, but too short!

I hope I never get immune to other people's enthusiasm, and the delight they get from being around plants ..... and I'm going to hope the same for anyone else that might be enjoying what you shared.

Al

Not to rain on a party,

The humidity is toooo high. The leaves look nice now but they will land up molding then the cutting can be compromised.

At this point, bury the whole cutting or wean of the more developed cuttings from the humidity before you have mold set in.

Agreed - you need to keep the tote lid ajar so there is at least minimal air movement and RH is less than 100%. Most fungal spores require varying periods of constant moisture to incubate, and they can still incubate at ultra-high humidity - even if no dew/condensate is readily apparent on the foliage or cuttings.

Al

Thanks Al and Jose. You know guys I was thinking of burying the entire cutting but I may have to rig something up and just experiment a little. I'm going to bury some horizontal and put some in home made super pots. I have some long planter boxes and may put some in their as well. I'll post some pics of my home made super pot. Thank you all for the comments...hey we all can learn from each other and create a win-win scenario. Cheers, Dennis

I horizontally root all the time using the long skinny pots. I do it all the time now and I have usually near 100% success now. The last pic shows what it looks like after a good season of rooting.

Sorry I was thinking horizontal and typed vertical.. It is nice to have enough cuttings to experiment with..I learned alot this year with a set of cuttings from a local tree and experimentation.. I did not get one cutting to survive but I learned alot...

Northeastnewbie, I thought you meant horizontal. I'm going to plant 6 of the cuttings like Jose's method. I have one long planter box and I think I can put 6 cuttings in.

Jose, what do you use for your soil? UPM? Do you add anything to it? Your 2 pictures look familiar.....hmmmm, they look like the Los Lunas trees I got from you off eBay. You should see them now. I'll post some picture tonight along with some other "jerry-rigged" containers I made. I'm going to play around with these cuttings. Man, this is FUN! thanks guys! Dennis

The soil in these pics is 100% UPM. I used 100% because they were outside and dry much faster. I also sprinkle in the vegtable Dynamite fertilizer. There are many forumlations but the 1-1-1 works fine for me and avail at my local HD.

Hi, It looks like you are doing it right. Your cuttings look like they could use some sun.

Figs are grown from hardwood cuttings. You must have taken your cuttings from dorment trees.

I do my hardwood cuttings the lazy way. I plant my cuttings where I want them to grow. I just dig up the ground, and then take a 3/4 inch pipe and drive it in the ground, take it out, and insert my cutting. Some are 12 inches long.

Check out the link that tells how hardwood cutting are used to propagrated figs.

Karyl

Here is a link that might be useful: Propagation of Figs

Thanks for your comments Karyl. I have things under control. If you look close close in the photos, you will see 2 meters, a therometer and and humidity meter. What you don't see is my garage therometer which was 86 degrees and 46% humidity. I'm not complaining about the cuttings. I'm just excited to see them grow so fast. Also, each cup has hundreds of holes all around to allow more air to the roots. They don't need sun. The sun will kill them. :) However, I do think it is time to give them more air and daylight.

So, tonight, I played around and repotted every cutting and placed them in the shade on my deck. Some I cut in half and some I laid horizontial in a long planter box like Jose did. More to come later. thank you everyone, Dennis

Hi Dennis,

You might want to keep a flamethrower handy as well because the way those cuttings are growing, they might try to take over the world and you might need it to help keep them in line! LOL! ;)

noss

How Bout Them Figs ;) Those look great I didn't root to many this year as compared to last but it is fun watching them develop and being able to give some to family and friends. Just went to my doctor this week and the 2 office staff I had given rooted cuttings to in Dec were going on about how big they are now and the fruit they have on them I gave doc 2 potted trees and his are also doing well and he even had a pic on his phone to show me. I now have 4 more office staff and nurses ask me for trees or cuttings, I might have started an epidemic lol
All The Best
Sal

Hi Dennis and all,
You are in a warmer zone than I am it looks like.
Here is how one of my fig hardwood cuttings I took around the 1st. of Feburary. I just planted them in the ground.
Karyl

Here is a link that might be useful: Fig proagation

How bout those FIGS!!!!!
I decided to take Jose's advise and Martin's advise and just play around with these cuttings. Below is what I started with. I had plenty of half gallon size containers and huge quart size containters and a few water bottles. So I "jerry-rigged" a couple of the clear containers and a few of the green containters. I poked holes all over some and tied them together with a few zip ties to make a tall container because some cutting were very tall and I wanted to keep their roots intact.
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I also found one green planter tray, one small gray planter tray so now it's time to repot these babies!
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Here they are potted up in half a gallon size containters and my special hand made containers. I have these on my garden wagon so I can roll them out of the sun because some parts of my deck gets sun.
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In these 2 trays I have a total of 14 cuttings laying hortizontal. Each has a bunch of roots already.
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I watered them and placed them outside where the temperature right now is 94 degrees. I may have to water them twice a day but anyway, they are ready for the world now. Next year I'm just going to air layer some of my trees and depending on if I am lucky to get some of Jon's cutting and UC Davis cuttings I may propogate some cutting too but not that much. I will probably give these away next year.
How bout those figs!!!!

cheers, Dennis

Hi Dennis,

What did you use to poke the holes in the containers?

Thanks,

Vivian

Hello Vivian, I tried using a drill, but it was too dangerous. I used a soildering iron. It works like a charm! You can find them in the tool department of Wal-Mart or the Craft department. Dennis

Thanks Dennis,

We have soldering irons, so I'll put one of them to good use. I asked because of the pattern that seems to be around each of the holes. You sure did do a neat job putting the holes in the cups.

Vivian

Ha Ha......those cuttings sure have gone wild!!!

Dennis, what you have pictured is what we fig rooters call "Porcupine Roots". That type of root system often develops in the air immediately above a rooting mix that the fig cutting finds OFFENSIVE.

On the other hand, whenever you place fig cuttings in a rooting mix that they REALLY LOVE.......like perlite/UPM......what you get are what we fig rooters call "Monster Roots".
..........just kidding. Thanks for posting those pictures.

I've seen these kinds of massive air roots before. Recently I planted a neglected Smith tree that was given to me. It came from the original source of this cultivar. It was just place in a container by the previous owner with only some potting soil put on top of the roots. I loped off the top half of the tree and planted it in the ground. I removed all of the leaves from the cut off portion, and chopped it into cuttings. All wood was old wood with VERY LITTLE pith in the center. When I rooted those cuttings, they literally exploded with roots all along the cutting length.....with more roots than I've ever seen any any fig twig. Maybe this happened because sap was flowing when the cuttings were taken or maybe it is because the wood was old wood with nearly no pith. I've rooted lots of Smith before and have not seen this. Time will tell if I ever find a pattern to this type of root formation.

Dan

......forgot to mention one other variable that might help induce those porcupine like roots. The Smith cuttings that I referenced above were so OLD that the only viable buds were on the tips. The center cuttings without any viable buds along their length produced much more of these type airy roots than the tip cuttings. The only cuttings that made it to trees were the TIP cuttings.......the others only produced heavy roots and no buds emerged so they all failed.

Bottom line from my observations......

If you must take cuttings from VERY OLD FIG WOOD. Take your cuttings only from tips and not from interior wood. That is because old interior wood has few, if any, viable buds. Tips will root and form new trees.....interior wood will likely only form roots...then die.

Dan