Treepot-Pop: bag removal + watering timing

TheInvertedFlower

TheInvertedFlower

Well-known member
Question to those using the Treepot-Pop method

When do you remove the bags on your cuttings -gradually, or as soon as you see roots poking out the bottom?

Also, once they’re rooted (say around week 6–8), how often are you watering to get it back to original weight ?
Still dialing in my process and would love to hear what’s actually working for others.
 
I water with fertilizer and other nutrients at 6 weeks or so. I pull the bag back, use a turkey baster, probably 2 fills per 4x9 which I think is around 3 ounces. I close the bag back with the file band and back to the grow room, is been 2 weeks and there has not yet been another need for water them. I leave the bags on as long as possible. Less water loss and less chances to overwater and rot it out. Less places for fungus gnats to lay their devil spawn.
 
Figjake said:
I water with fertilizer and other nutrients at 6 weeks or so. I pull the bag back, use a turkey baster, probably 2 fills per 4x9 which I think is around 3 ounces. I close the bag back with the file band and back to the grow room, is been 2 weeks and there has not yet been another need for water them. I leave the bags on as long as possible. Less water loss and less chances to overwater and rot it out. Less places for fungus gnats to lay their devil spawn.
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Same here, I leave the bags on and once they are leafing out and I feel that they need water, I actually put the water in the bottom of the bag and rubber band the top around the top of tree pot leaving most of the top open. Personally I check mine by the weight, and when I add water in the bottom of the bag I would say 1/2 -3/4 in at a time, you can always give them more water but you can't take it out!
 

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figpumper said:
Same here, I leave the bags on and once they are leafing out and I feel that they need water, I actually put the water in the bottom of the bag and rubber band the top around the top of tree pot leaving most of the top open. Personally I check mine by the weight, and when I add water in the bottom of the bag I would say 1/2 -3/4 in at a time, you can always give them more water but you can't take it out!
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I like this idea. I don’t know why I didn’t think about just putting the water in the bottom of the bag. Do you get good absorption with it being in the bag bottom like that?
 
vjmax said:
Question to those using the Treepot-Pop method

When do you remove the bags on your cuttings -gradually, or as soon as you see roots poking out the bottom?

Also, once they’re rooted (say around week 6–8), how often are you watering to get it back to original weight ?
Still dialing in my process and would love to hear what’s actually working for others.
Click to expand...
I wait until I see roots on top of the rooting medium. That’s a good sign that roots have started to colonize. At that point I will cut the rubber band that’s around the cutting that holds the bag shut and loosely open up the baggie around the cutting so air can get in there but not fully open it. Gradually as weeks go on I will open the top more and more until it is completely open but the tree pot is still in the bag. I water by weight. 60% by weight dry Promix hp to 40% by weight of hydration. Each tree pot I fill to one pound of that prepared rooting medium. So when they start to loose weight due to transpiration I will wait until it goes from 1 pound to .8 pounds and then I will water it up to 1.1 pounds when it goes back down and it hits 1 pounds I will water it back to 1.1 pounds. After I do that a couple times I will wait for it to go down to 1 pound and then water it again to 1.25 pounds repeat a few times then 1.5 pounds repeat a few times and 1.75 pounds repeat a few times and then 2 pounds. By the time you are watering up the 1 pound pot to 2 pounds your roots are good and can withstand the higher water amounts without causing root rot. Always waiting for the pot to dry out back down to 1 pound before watering again and always watering around the sides of the pot never in the center. This slowly acclimated the roots to higher and higher moisture levels and decreased your chances of over watering.
 
Italian4u said:
I wait until I see roots on top of the rooting medium. That’s a good sign that roots have started to colonize. At that point I will cut the rubber band that’s around the cutting that holds the bag shut and loosely open up the baggie around the cutting so air can get in there but not fully open it. Gradually as weeks go on I will open the top more and more until it is completely open but the tree pot is still in the bag. I water by weight. 60% by weight dry Promix hp to 40% by weight of hydration. Each tree pot I fill to one pound of that prepared rooting medium. So when they start to loose weight due to transpiration I will wait until it goes from 1 pound to .8 pounds and then I will water it up to 1.1 pounds when it goes back down and it hits 1 pounds I will water it back to 1.1 pounds. After I do that a couple times I will wait for it to go down to 1 pound and then water it again to 1.25 pounds repeat a few times then 1.5 pounds repeat a few times and 1.75 pounds repeat a few times and then 2 pounds. By the time you are watering up the 1 pound pot to 2 pounds your roots are good and can withstand the higher water amounts without causing root rot. Always waiting for the pot to dry out back down to 1 pound before watering again and always watering around the sides of the pot never in the center. This slowly acclimated the roots to higher and higher moisture levels and decreased your chances of over watering.
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@Italian4u Love this - you’ve got Treepot-Pop dialed in like a precision instrument 😄

The weight-based watering ladder is very interesting, and the tip about waiting for roots to colonize the top before opening the bag is gold. Thank you for sharing!

Appreciate you taking the time to lay it out - definitely bookmarking this one.
 
Figjake said:
I like this idea. I don’t know why I didn’t think about just putting the water in the bottom of the bag. Do you get good absorption with it being in the bag bottom like that?
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Yes it absorbs good, and also helps to get the roots searching downward toward the moisture, rather than them going toward the moisture collected in the top of th pot building a nice deeper root system. And if I do water anything from the top I water around the sides so that it goes down the pot
 
vjmax said:
@Italian4u Love this - you’ve got Treepot-Pop dialed in like a precision instrument 😄

The weight-based watering ladder is very interesting, and the tip about waiting for roots to colonize the top before opening the bag is gold. Thank you for sharing!

Appreciate you taking the time to lay it out - definitely bookmarking this one.
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Hey my grandpa always said “it does not matter what you do just make sure you are the best at what ever it is you do.” So when you root cuttings be sure you do it the best way possible. Things constantly change and if a better method comes up then I will transition to that but for me that has been the best way to gradually increase their water intake and allow the root growth to match the soil hydration levels. I’m sure you know that just because you root a cuttings it does not guarantee that it will survive waterings until it’s mature enough to be potted up into its forever home. Is it tideouse and time consuming? Yes it is. Does it work practically 100% of the time? Why yes it does. Just never water the center and you will be fine. I put out a few videos on YouTube with my rooting process of “Plug ‘N’ Play”.
 
Italian4u said:
Hey my grandpa always said “it does not matter what you do just make sure you are the best at what ever it is you do.” So when you root cuttings be sure you do it the best way possible. Things constantly change and if a better method comes up then I will transition to that but for me that has been the best way to gradually increase their water intake and allow the root growth to match the soil hydration levels. I’m sure you know that just because you root a cuttings it does not guarantee that it will survive waterings until it’s mature enough to be potted up into its forever home. Is it tideouse and time consuming? Yes it is. Does it work practically 100% of the time? Why yes it does. Just never water the center and you will be fine. I put out a few videos on YouTube with my rooting process of “Plug ‘N’ Play”.
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@Italian4u That quote says it all 👌

The gradual ramp makes total sense, even if it’s a bit tedious. Hard to argue with your results!

Appreciate you sharing the thinking behind it. I’ll check out the Plug ‘N’ Play vids.
 
@Italian4u
Interesting note about the roots growing out of the top. That’s about when I up pot my fig pops, too. I find it very surprising that roots can push through a double wrapped rubber band that is tightly tied, but they do!
 
BucksCountyFigs said:
@Italian4u
Interesting note about the roots growing out of the top. That’s about when I up pot my fig pops, too. I find it very surprising that roots can push through a double wrapped rubber band that is tightly tied, but they do!
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I’ve got several of these hybrid fig pops that’s the roots start growing out the top of the pot. There is lots of moisture there that condensates and drops back down, so it makes sense if some grow that way following the moisture.
 
BucksCountyFigs said:
@Italian4u
Interesting note about the roots growing out of the top. That’s about when I up pot my fig pops, too. I find it very surprising that roots can push through a double wrapped rubber band that is tightly tied, but they do!
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Mine do not push through the rubber band. You have mistaken my words lol. Once I see roots growing on top of the tree pop then that is the signal to me that the cutting has rooted well into the tree pot and it is rime to open up the bag on top and allow airflow. At that point it is no where near being able to be uppotted into its forever home. You have to gradually up the water per my description previously so the cutting can fully colonize the tree pot and get a well established root system before it is time to pot it up for the season into its forever home. If your roots are pushing through the rubber band wrapping you are leaving the bag closed for far too long. If you up pot it right away you will stress out the cutting and the possibility for it failing or being set back increases.
 
So I can report this morning that that ones that had started to leaf out that I did the first fertilization are pretty dry this morning. That was 2 weeks ago and the bag is wrapped around them tight like. So lots of transpiration through the leaves. I’d hope to wait til it got warmer in a few days to water them again, but some of them are showing signs of maybe drying out so today’s the day unfortunately. I’m not gonna tye the bags back because I have too many going but I am gonna push it back down. Judging by this, 10 days in this grow room is the max they need to go when they are still smaller. They all got quite a bit of roots now, so overwatering is gonna be harder at this point.
 
Italian4u said:
Mine do not push through the rubber band. You have mistaken my words lol. Once I see roots growing on top of the tree pop then that is the signal to me that the cutting has rooted well into the tree pot and it is rime to open up the bag on top and allow airflow. At that point it is no where near being able to be uppotted into its forever home. You have to gradually up the water per my description previously so the cutting can fully colonize the tree pot and get a well established root system before it is time to pot it up for the season into its forever home. If your roots are pushing through the rubber band wrapping you are leaving the bag closed for far too long. If you up pot it right away you will stress out the cutting and the possibility for it failing or being set back increases.
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Oops, I meant some of mine are doing that (not implying yours were). Yes, I am behind in up potting, but one advantage of this blizzard is that it is giving me plenty of time for figs!
 
BucksCountyFigs said:
Oops, I meant some of mine are doing that (not implying yours were). Yes, I am behind in up potting, but one advantage of this blizzard is that it is giving me plenty of time for figs!
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If you are doing the fig pop method no real need to uppot. All you need to do is poke 4 holes at the bottom of the bag and place the tube in a solo cup. Keep the top open and water them. Any excess water will drain out into the cup. Then you can uppot in spring.
 
BucksCountyFigs said:
Thanks for the tip, but my fig pops are way too big for solo cups, lol.

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You can keep cuttings in fig pops for a year same as a tree pot if need be but I do not recommend pushing them that long. The solo cup it’s jus to hold the cup pop upright and to collect any water that comes out of the cuts you make at the bottom so to do not make a mess with the water that leaks out. Those roots seem strong but they haven’t hardened yet so you still can wait if need be.
 
Italian4u said:
If you are doing the fig pop method no real need to uppot. All you need to do is poke 4 holes at the bottom of the bag and place the tube in a solo cup. Keep the top open and water them. Any excess water will drain out into the cup. Then you can uppot in spring.
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Ive done that with my figpops, just pop a few holes in the bottom and i put water in the solo cup and put the bag in there. works
 
If you are using the common 4x16 bags that i think most people use they should fit perfect in a solo cup. you dont have to fill them over half way.
 
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