Cutting mortality

I think that Cutting care and treatment is a factor to be considered. I see alot sellers stating that they have sanitized the cuttings prior to shipping. And I see some of the videos teaching how to root and they are treating with very high percentages of bleach and it just makes me cringe.
I do a light soak and sanitization before I set to root so I feel like the cuttings get over processed alot of the time. Ive noticed quite a few cuttings that will shoot a ton of roots but the exposed nodes wont bud, and I feel like they could of been "burnt" with the processing.
 
Kid Fig said:
Well twas a dangerous adventure acquiring Rionon.

I went deep into the Jungles making my way towards a desert like landscape and in said landscape my eyes were forced to wince once I witnessed the magical glow that surrounded the mother tree.

But before I could collect a single branch - I found it to be guarded by fierce wasteland creatures who would cut down any trespassers for their flesh - that's when I pulled out a magical scroll scribed with numbers and letters whose power was able to quell the creatures from exacting their violence upon me....


Now what really happened was after learning about wild seedlings I started looking at river beds and washes for possible signs.

I got lucky and after finding many "not a fig" trees I found RS in the wash area of the Santa Ana River under a bridge next to a homeless encampment.

I gave the man a Fiver and told him briefly why I was down there.

OR do you mean details about the actual tree/variety?
Click to expand...
KidFig Hope i did not step on your toes by giving out some of your RS ? Could not remember if i was suposed to hold it ? GREW SO WELL AS BOTH grafted and potted trees ,got rid of most all my potted trees and RS was in that exercise . great tree !
 
Kid Fig said:
Well twas a dangerous adventure acquiring Rionon.

I went deep into the Jungles making my way towards a desert like landscape and in said landscape my eyes were forced to wince once I witnessed the magical glow that surrounded the mother tree.

But before I could collect a single branch - I found it to be guarded by fierce wasteland creatures who would cut down any trespassers for their flesh - that's when I pulled out a magical scroll scribed with numbers and letters whose power was able to quell the creatures from exacting their violence upon me....


Now what really happened was after learning about wild seedlings I started looking at river beds and washes for possible signs.

I got lucky and after finding many "not a fig" trees I found RS in the wash area of the Santa Ana River under a bridge next to a homeless encampment.

I gave the man a Fiver and told him briefly why I was down there.

OR do you mean details about the actual tree/variety?
Click to expand...
I was hoping for details of the fig finding adventure. Thank you for providing that @Kid Fig, but also any details about the actual Tree / variety. Due to the generosity of one of our benefactors I actually have a few cuttings.
 
DCallahan said:
I think that Cutting care and treatment is a factor to be considered. I see alot sellers stating that they have sanitized the cuttings prior to shipping. And I see some of the videos teaching how to root and they are treating with very high percentages of bleach and it just makes me cringe.
I do a light soak and sanitization before I set to root so I feel like the cuttings get over processed alot of the time. Ive noticed quite a few cuttings that will shoot a ton of roots but the exposed nodes wont bud, and I feel like they could of been "burnt" with the processing.
Click to expand...
FOR what it's worth ,never a fan of "sanitization" of fig cuttings ! Sanitization by deffinition is killing living stuff and that includes fig cells ! ALL for what ??? your going to stick these cuttings into soil teaming with fungus,mold,bacteria,viruses other living stuff . Sanitization does more harm than good !!!
 
Fig Gazer said:
FOR what it's worth ,never a fan of "sanitization" of fig cuttings ! Sanitization by deffinition is killing living stuff and that includes fig cells ! ALL for what ??? your going to stick these cuttings into soil teaming with fungus,mold,bacteria,viruses other living stuff . Sanitization does more harm than good !!!
Click to expand...

One instance I do clean cuttings if there is scale. A quick soapy scrub can fix that.
But we also have gone away from sanitizing cuttings. Definitely agree it’s more harm than good. If they can’t live symbiotically with microbes. They won’t live anyway.
 
Fig Gazer said:
KidFig Hope i did not step on your toes by giving out some of your RS ? Could not remember if i was suposed to hold it ? GREW SO WELL AS BOTH grafted and potted trees ,got rid of most all my potted trees and RS was in that exercise . great tree !
Click to expand...
Fig Gazer said:
KidFig :IS it true that the mother tree of RS got washed away in the floods a couple years ago ?
Click to expand...
Oh you're good👍 - you just beat me to it by some months but RS hits the market this Spring!

Last I checked it did - when I went back I ran into another homeless man and he said there was no tree there when he set up camp BUT that he did have some firewood from a dead tree he used a few months before I had asked so I assumed the floods mightve uprooted it and died.
 
@FigGazer I agree with you on fresh cuttings not needing any treatment, but when you're getting cuttings from stock that has probably been stored and sanitized it creates an environment that fosters the bad that can harm the cuttings. I don't treat my personal cuttings before rooting.
Kind of like the theory on stored chicken eggs, and unwashed egg will last 10x longer than one washed.
 
Last edited:
Kid Fig said:
Well twas a dangerous adventure acquiring Rionon.

I went deep into the Jungles making my way towards a desert like landscape and in said landscape my eyes were forced to wince once I witnessed the magical glow that surrounded the mother tree.

But before I could collect a single branch - I found it to be guarded by fierce wasteland creatures who would cut down any trespassers for their flesh - that's when I pulled out a magical scroll scribed with numbers and letters whose power was able to quell the creatures from exacting their violence upon me....


Now what really happened was after learning about wild seedlings I started looking at river beds and washes for possible signs.

I got lucky and after finding many "not a fig" trees I found RS in the wash area of the Santa Ana River under a bridge next to a homeless encampment.

I gave the man a Fiver and told him briefly why I was down there.

OR do you mean details about the actual tree/variety?
Click to expand...
😂 I could have read a few more chapters of that story. Lol
 
I have switched to only outside rooting. Coconut Coir for media. I dont pre clean cuttings. Fresh cuts, hormone and parafilm, set and wait. Cuttings have done well when I thought they would die and others die when I thought they would survive. I am not good at consistency of care. It is survival of the fittest.

My experience is mid summer cuttings and outside rooting does best. I have had a cutting take a year to root (I am neglectful). I have had logs just sit and do nothing. So many factors come into play.

Ultimately: healthy cuttings, correct moisture levels and reasonable heat and hope for the best.
 
Could we be approaching it all wrong. We all know that when a tree is pruned, any material left behind on a branch, will wither to the next node down the branch, but almost never affects that node itself, as if the node area is less susceptible to dessication. Maybe minimizing the amount of material that might dessicate, is worth looking into.

I have often thought about cutting the immediate node areas out of multiple cutting, say 1/8"-1/4" above and below each node, and treating the nodes as if they are seeds, discarding all the cutting material in between. Plant them an inch deep, water them in, cover with a humidity dome, and wait. Once the node "seed" sprouts and begins to grow, it has less cambium to transport nutrients through, when roots develop out of the node. Just a thought I've had, as I too seem to struggle to find a common for cutting failure. I'm completely out in left field here, but not sure the idea requires a whole new thread. 😅
 
I lost a few so far. CC and Tia Penya I killed earlier on. I sterilize my mix but I had it open for a while before I used it. I'm pretty sure it was contaminated with something

In the second case I left on a humidity bag and had to go away. When I got back they had a case of the white fuzz.

I got some logs recently that I've really been keeping an eye on... they're doing awesome.

I do agree though..... I think some cuttings are never going to make it.
 
There’s a really cool video clip from a research thing that shows roots growing as a result of consuming bacteria and spitting them back out. It is the act of expelling them that causes the root tissue to move forward with growth. I think trying to have things too sanitized causes issue, especially since the plant relies on it for growth. Whenever you are dealing with living tissue, trying to eliminate microbes kills them because they are meant to live and work together.

Also, depending on how old the wood is, newer wood will have a protective lipid type coating on it which helps keep water from penetrating it too much. So if that is removed with soap or detergents, I think that could compromise a cutting and make it more vulnerable.

I do see people recommending hot water from time to time to clean cuttings. But if it is changing color from that, it is because you are to a degree “cooking” some of the tissue. Enzymes that help keep things alive are killed off at certain temps and certainly it is unnatural to soak a cutting in hot water, that’s never a process you will see in nature for making something grow.
 
Inflorescence said:
This is a common side effect of using rooting hormone. Not saying that’s what happened with you, but it is a common issue with it when it is used.
Click to expand...

I don’t use hormone much on cuttings but I’m curious. I imagine it has to bud out eventually… I wonder how long they can go without putting on new growth vegetative growth 🤔
 
Fig Gazer said:
KidFig Hope i did not step on your toes by giving out some of your RS ? Could not remember if i was suposed to hold it ? GREW SO WELL AS BOTH grafted and potted trees ,got rid of most all my potted trees and RS was in that exercise . great tree !
Click to expand...
If it is at all reassuring @Kid Fig I believe I have just a couple of these cuttings given to me by a unnamed beneficent donor somewhere in Santa Barbara. Do you wish RS quarantined?
 
TorontoJoe said:
I don’t use hormone much on cuttings but I’m curious. I imagine it has to bud out eventually… I wonder how long they can go without putting on new growth vegetative growth 🤔
Click to expand...
If you use to much rooting hormone. The cutting sometimes uses all it's energy pushing out roots that it dies shortly after.
You need a good combination of roots and growth. I stopped using it.
 
Rooted fig seeds just in case you wondered if it could be done.
In all fairness they did end up failing but just to get a single node to root made me happy.
I should have left a bit of leaf so it could photosynthesize.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1189.jpeg
    IMG_1189.jpeg
    372 KB · Views: 4
  • IMG_1190.jpeg
    IMG_1190.jpeg
    320.6 KB · Views: 4
ktrain said:
😂 I could have read a few more chapters of that story. Lol
Click to expand...
Awe shucks - what's funny is that were I to say story like sentences instead of writing them down it would've been more like:

I went deep into a forest and found a magical fig tree and all of a sudden a crazy werewolf-dude was trying to kill me from getting some branches so I bribed his @$$...

It's like my brain power increases IF I don't speak but just think lol.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top