Winter Rooting Methods

Question about cuttings that are growing. I have a cutting growing branches from three nodes. Two are 6 inches. One is 8 inches. Do you need to get rid of one - or two? The few trees I have bought were a single leader. Or a forked plant with two branches. But mostly singles. My question is do I need to remove any and when?
 
betdempster said:
Question about cuttings that are growing. I have a cutting growing branches from three nodes. Two are 6 inches. One is 8 inches. Do you need to get rid of one - or two? The few trees I have bought were a single leader. Or a forked plant with two branches. But mostly singles. My question is do I need to remove any and when?
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You don’t need to remove any if you don’t want to. As to when I’m not sure, I know you don’t want to do it too early.
 
betdempster said:
Megosztom, mert izgatott vagyok! 4 korábbi Smith-dugványomat nem sikerült gyökereztetnem 3 forrásból, és az 5. és 6. dugványnál tartok... de ma belekukkantottam a sötét dugványdobozomba, és ott volt egy apró zöld rügy! Tudom, hogy ez még nem jelent sikert, és bármi megtörténhet, de ez az első alkalom, hogy tényleg van rügyem!
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Hello! Here in Hungary I have been trying to root Smith fig cuttings. Compared to other fig cuttings I have rooted, the Smith has been the most difficult. But finally I have succes. The Galicia Negra has also been difficult. I hope that you will have great succes with your rootings.
 
Tamás said:
Hello! Here in Hungary I have been trying to root Smith fig cuttings. Compared to other fig cuttings I have rooted, the Smith has been the most difficult. But finally I have succes. The Galicia Negra has also been difficult. I hope that you will have great succes with your rootings.
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I’m trying GN again. I will pretend it is Brown Turkey and maybe it’ll grow roots. 🤣
 
I am rooting my cuttings in clear solo cups that are in bags. Since they are in bags, do I not need to water them until I up pot them. When will I have to water them and fertilize?
 
betdempster said:
Maybe if they look good and I'm on a good fertilizer schedule I can evaluate in the spring
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I would just leave it on there you might take it of next season for a cutting if it's big enough. I would leave it and try to train the tree in a 3 or 4 cup, but it's your tree.
 
I hadn't thought of a 3 or 4 cup form out of the cutting stub. Every thing I have seen was either in a fork of two or a single leader except for my alma bush that it a massive mess of suckers that I have to fix

Speaking of suckers is there any way to stop suckering?
 
betdempster said:
I hadn't thought of a 3 or 4 cup form out of the cutting stub. Every thing I have seen was either in a fork of two or a single leader except for my alma bush that it a massive mess of suckers that I have to fix

Speaking of suckers is there any way to stop suckering?
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I have never really had suckers on my trees so idk how to prevent them, maybe cut them back for cuttings?
 
Best cure for suckers I’ve heard/found is just pulling them up and putting them in another pot if enough roots came with them. Only one of my pots put up a sucker and it was only one so mostly just hearsay.
 
Jigfig said:
Best cure for suckers I’ve heard/found is just pulling them up and putting them in another pot if enough roots came with them. Only one of my pots put up a sucker and it was only one so mostly just hearsay.
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I did this when I was putting pots in the garage and doing some pruning. Got me 5 new plants that are chillin in the grow room now. There were several
suckers that came up with no roots because they just wouldn’t budge unfortunately.
 
Opiem10 said:
This is my new favorite method to root my cuttings, courtesy of Mike Kincaid. Everything is set up in my attached, unheated garage beginning at the end of February. Even though the temperature in my garage may be 40 degrees F, the cuttings root really well with the bottom heat from a seedling mat.


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So you just use bark as your medium - any brand? Do you wash your cuttings prior with soap/bleach? I noticed he didn't use parafilm/wax on the tips. I'm assuming you don't either? He also started on March 20th in zone 8, so I'm assuming his regular temps are in the 50s at that point. Do you set your heat mat at 50 degrees to work with your garage temp?
 
Ghostfig said:
So you just use bark as your medium - any brand? Do you wash your cuttings prior with soap/bleach? I noticed he didn't use parafilm/wax on the tips. I'm assuming you don't either? He also started on March 20th in zone 8, so I'm assuming his regular temps are in the 50s at that point. Do you set your heat mat at 50 degrees to work with your garage temp?
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Ghostfig,
For my garage rooting media, I use fine pine bark mulch, fine cedar mulch, or fine Cyprus mulch which I buy in 2 cu ft bags at my local Agway store.

I do wash my cuttings with antibacterial dish soap, make two slits with a razor blade, and apply a diluted coat of Clonex gel over those slits, the buried nodes, and the bottom of the cutting. Both Clonex and Dip N Grow have given me similar results. I do not seal the top of the cuttings.

As for the heat mat, I use an inexpensive 10 x 20 seedling mat (17 watts) WITH NO THERMOSTAT. With a layer of mulch on the bottom and with water added too, the heat mat keeps the very bottom of the rooting media only barely warmed.

I was shocked that I could successfully root cuttings in such cold conditions, but it did work.
 
When I rooted cuttings last spring, the cups were not in bags. This time I put them in bags. I don't know when I should take them out of the bags. They have good roots but not much if any top growth. At 6 weeks they seem like they need water, so I took them out of the bags and watered them. I gave them a lot of water. I know this could be a mistake but they seem to be needing water. The cups felt light weight. One of the cuttings that put out top growth, had it's new leaves shrivel up and die. I figured that it may be a risk of over watering but atleast they won't die from under watering. I guess I will learn from this experience. When do you remove them from the bags? When do you water them?

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ETXfigs said:
When I rooted cuttings last spring, the cups were not in bags. This time I put them in bags. I don't know when I should take them out of the bags. They have good roots but not much if any top growth. At 6 weeks they seem like they need water, so I took them out of the bags and watered them. I gave them a lot of water. I know this could be a mistake but they seem to be needing water. The cups felt light weight. One of the cuttings that put out top growth, had it's new leaves shrivel up and die. I figured that it may be a risk of over watering but atleast they won't die from under watering. I guess I will learn from this experience. When do you remove them from the bags? When do you water them?

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Use a turkey baster, water the sides of it, maybe one baster full, close it back up.
 
ETXfigs said:
Funny that you mentioned turkey baster. I took the one my wife got for Thanksgiving to use on my cuttings. I figured she won't notice it missing until Thanksgiving next year. 😆
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I bought one specifically for this since I leave it in the watering can with fertilizer and whatever concoction I’ve got together to water with. The oxo one has lasted almost a year!
 
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