List of Difficult to Root Varieties + Please Add More

snarfing said:
I am officially confirming st martin. 2 of my cuttings rotted out of 105, both st martin. Now could it be me? some suggested its just the grower. but as i am a first time rooter ic ant be sure, but the fact that the rest seem to have rooted (though may die in the uppot, so lets nto count our chickens) and those two both rotted and they were the only st martins make me think it might be the variety to some degree.
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The first thing I'd do is to consider what difference there may have been between those and the others that did well. It might be something subtle... and not necessarily your method.

Age of cutting?
Location of cutting during rooting?
Source of cutting?
Light
Ambient humidity
Different batch of mix

Anything that might have been different...
 
TorontoJoe said:
The first thing I'd do is to consider what difference there may have been between those and the others that did well. It might be something subtle... and not necessarily your method.

Age of cutting?
Location of cutting during rooting?
Source of cutting?
Light
Ambient humidity
Different batch of mix

Anything that might have been different...
Click to expand...
1) not that old, maybe a week since i got it, it was dormant and not dried out at all
2) in a fig pop in the dark
3) i got it for free off of this forum, i forget who exactly gave it to me. Or it was included as a freebee from a forum member. Either way the rest of their cuttings did great
4) pretty high, it was fig popped
5) the mix was promix with added pearlite.

both st martins did not root out and instead the bark just rotted off. i clipped both off and applied clonex rooting gel this time and we'll see how it goes. Before i used rooting powder which I know people say causes rot but it didnt in any of the other varieties.
 
snarfing said:
1) not that old, maybe a week since i got it, it was dormant and not dried out at all
2) in a fig pop in the dark
3) i got it for free off of this forum, i forget who exactly gave it to me. Or it was included as a freebee from a forum member. Either way the rest of their cuttings did great
4) pretty high, it was fig popped
5) the mix was promix with added pearlite.

both st martins did not root out and instead the bark just rotted off. i clipped both off and applied clonex rooting gel this time and we'll see how it goes. Before i used rooting powder which I know people say causes rot but it didnt in any of the other varieties.
Click to expand...

Hmmm. That's a tough one. I've never rooted a St. Martins but I was hoping I could help tease out something that might have been different. It seems that sometimes the stars just aren't aligned and things go south for absolutely no reason.
 
I really don’t think there is such a thing as a hard to root variety. I posted my thoughts on this last year in the other forum:



Is there really such a thing as a “hard to root” variety?​

04-11-2025


Is there really such a thing as a variety that is “hard to root?”

There are so many random posts along these lines, which imply that something about the variety itself makes it less prone to rooting successfully.

But with so many variables that go into successful rooting, ranging from the quality of the cuttings themselves to the skill/technique of the grower, it seems there are too much confounding variables to assert that a variety is inherently “easy” or more “difficult” to root.

All these variables (and many more) pertain to the quality of the cutting, only some of which the buyer is even aware of or has control over:
Cutting length, cutting diameter, number of nodes, degree of lignification, freshness, prior exposure to damaging winter conditions, cold storage time prior to rooting, prior treatment by seller with antifungal or anti-mite treatment, unrefrigerated shipping time (with exposure to heat or cold), measures taken to prevent desiccation in storage, degree of FMV infection of the mother tree, etc.
Many of these the buyer doesn’t even know about upon receipt, just taking a leap of faith in the quality of cuttings received.

Of course there are an equal number of variables that pertain to rooting technique which can wildly affect outcomes. I won’t even go into how many different rooting methods there are and the various factors that can ruin a newbie’s chances of success.

As an anecdotal example, my rooting success is above 90 percent for the past three years on a large number of cuttings. This year, however, a couple cuttings I obtained of my most anticipated variety failed. I was puzzled that I went 0/2 for this one variety. Could it be that it was uniquely challenging to root?
Unwilling to give up on the variety, I purchased two more cuttings of the same variety from another seller and they both easily rooted and grew vigorously.

If I had stopped after the first two failures from the initial seller, I would have concluded this variety is hard to root. But in fact it had more to do with cuttings themselves probably. Maybe the cuttings weren’t stored well, or had been stored too long, or maybe the post office left them out in the cold too long in transit. Who knows.

But I suspect that posts along the lines of some variety being hard to root have more to do with seller or end user factors than with the variety itself.

Can we stop blaming the variety and attribute it to cuttings and/or growers instead?

Food for thought.
 
Lafiggy said:
I really don’t think there is such a thing as a hard to root variety. I posted my thoughts on this last year in the other forum:



Is there really such a thing as a “hard to root” variety?​

04-11-2025


Is there really such a thing as a variety that is “hard to root?”

There are so many random posts along these lines, which imply that something about the variety itself makes it less prone to rooting successfully.

But with so many variables that go into successful rooting, ranging from the quality of the cuttings themselves to the skill/technique of the grower, it seems there are too much confounding variables to assert that a variety is inherently “easy” or more “difficult” to root.

All these variables (and many more) pertain to the quality of the cutting, only some of which the buyer is even aware of or has control over:
Cutting length, cutting diameter, number of nodes, degree of lignification, freshness, prior exposure to damaging winter conditions, cold storage time prior to rooting, prior treatment by seller with antifungal or anti-mite treatment, unrefrigerated shipping time (with exposure to heat or cold), measures taken to prevent desiccation in storage, degree of FMV infection of the mother tree, etc.
Many of these the buyer doesn’t even know about upon receipt, just taking a leap of faith in the quality of cuttings received.

Of course there are an equal number of variables that pertain to rooting technique which can wildly affect outcomes. I won’t even go into how many different rooting methods there are and the various factors that can ruin a newbie’s chances of success.

As an anecdotal example, my rooting success is above 90 percent for the past three years on a large number of cuttings. This year, however, a couple cuttings I obtained of my most anticipated variety failed. I was puzzled that I went 0/2 for this one variety. Could it be that it was uniquely challenging to root?
Unwilling to give up on the variety, I purchased two more cuttings of the same variety from another seller and they both easily rooted and grew vigorously.

If I had stopped after the first two failures from the initial seller, I would have concluded this variety is hard to root. But in fact it had more to do with cuttings themselves probably. Maybe the cuttings weren’t stored well, or had been stored too long, or maybe the post office left them out in the cold too long in transit. Who knows.

But I suspect that posts along the lines of some variety being hard to root have more to do with seller or end user factors than with the variety itself.

Can we stop blaming the variety and attribute it to cuttings and/or growers instead?

Food for thought.
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i hear you but there was nothing about these cuttings that were unique. ive rooted dryer ones, ive rooted thinner ones. I rooted other ones from this seller. why did BOTH of these variety rot? Maybe something was wrong with the tree i suppose. They were freebess but i cant remember if they were from @JC Figgy for free (his other stuff rooted great) or from @Opiem10 and them from the giveaways (also most of their stuff has rooted). if either of them remember let me know lol.
 
snarfing said:
I am officially confirming st martin. 2 of my cuttings rotted out of 105, both st martin. Now could it be me? some suggested its just the grower. but as i am a first time rooter ic ant be sure, but the fact that the rest seem to have rooted (though may die in the uppot, so lets nto count our chickens) and those two both rotted and they were the only st martins make me think it might be the variety to some degree.
Click to expand...
After rooting hundreds of cuttings for many seasons from many sources, I don't believe there is difficult to root variety but there are difficult to root cuttings. Try to get the cuttings from a different source, there is still time for 2026. :)

You are right about not counting your chickens now because getting the initial roots and leaves is the easy part, the harder part is yet to come.
 
grasshopper said:
After rooting hundreds of cuttings for many seasons from many sources, I don't believe there is difficult to root variety but there are difficult to root cuttings. Try to get the cuttings from a different source, there is still time for 2026. :)

You are right about not counting your chickens now because getting the initial roots and leaves is the easy part, the harder part is yet to come.
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im not torn up about it, st martin doesnt really excite me they were free so i tried to root them. I know theyre well liked but idk adriatic berries are not that big to me
 
snarfing said:
i hear you but there was nothing about these cuttings that were unique. ive rooted dryer ones, ive rooted thinner ones. I rooted other ones from this seller. why did BOTH of these variety rot? Maybe something was wrong with the tree i suppose. They were freebess but i cant remember if they were from @JC Figgy for free (his other stuff rooted great) or from @Opiem10 and them from the giveaways (also most of their stuff has rooted). if either of them remember let me know lol.
Click to expand...
What if it’s as simple as the post office left them outside in sub zero weather too long?
 
Another thing is I usually root multiple cuttings of one variety separately. That allows me to adapt or fine tune my methods as I see how the first one reacts. Also, I don't always want multiple copies of the same variety as it takes resources and time to grow the extra ones.

e.g. I received 8 logs one year from multiple sources and lost first 3 of them. I checked with friends who are experienced in rooting to see how to handle the rest. I adjusted my routine and was able to root the last 5 successfully. When I said root successfully, I meant rooting it all the way so I can hose it regularly and up pot without any problem.

Cuttings that were rooted recently still have some way to go to become stable. Don't let your guard down just because you see it growing a few leaves and lots of young roots.
 
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