Done with rooting cuttings

ChesapeakeFigs said:
I was going to say the same. The biggest difference between making your own mix and store bought mixes is...promix has a balanced ph, a wetting agent, and usually mycorrhizal. I wouldn't mess with making my own mix, until I got results I was used to and happy with first. I still don't think making your own mix is advantageous even when you have done this many times.
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The problem is that in my country they do not sell pro mix and all other companies here are trash with there mixtures, barely any perlite in them, very expensive, lots of wood shavings and dont even get me started on the fungus gnats issues when you use those brands🤣
 
ChesapeakeFigs said:
I would start by simplifying your process. You don't need to score the side of your cutting, and you don't need to use rooting hormone. Also, what soil are you using? I would use a peat based mix like promix ( are you using coco?). I would also wrap at least a part of the top of the cutting with parafilm. You should be getting at least 60-70% success unless something is wrong with your process. Overwatering is usually most people's problem too
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I used coir one year and noticed it held more water then peat. I didn’t notice a difference with figs but there was a huge difference when using it for garden plant starting medium.
 
It’s the rooting hormone. Don’t know why people keep using it. It always causes issues.

2nd issue is the heat mat. Also almost always the issue. The two combined cause the most failures in rooting, no guesswork needed. 🙂

3rd most common issue is lack of air in the rooting mix. Weighing and measuring water is completely unnecessary and only becomes an issue when people do not use a balanced mix. I think it makes people feel “professional” to measure the “proper dose” of water each time, haha, that’s the only explanation for why it persists. Just balance your mix better and the need for that goes away.

I would focus on materials you have readily available in your area. I’m sure there are things that will work there just as well as the typical things used here. What are some of the base materials there? You need something to hold water and something to provide air pockets.

Sorry for the losses though, that stinks.
 
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I'm not going to get into what you may have done correctly or incorrectly. That's been covered here.... Only this..... For me it's about a journey. I used to lose more cuttings than those that survived. It's not a failure.... it's part of a process, and getting to success.

I will quote someone who I respect deeply.... "Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly". You cannot ecpect instant success and the greatest success often comes a long time after we want.

The key.... you need to embrace the failures as much as the successes.... and learn from them. That't the real point here.... if not, this forum probably would not exist. It would have no meaning. It's like investing. You will at times, lose money.

I fail all the time.... it sucks but I do....

There's a lot I can't guarantee.. but if you give up on rooting cuttings... I can pretty much guarantee you'll never enjoy the satisfaction of the win.

Just saying :)
 
NaturesFinest said:
The problem is that in my country they do not sell pro mix and all other companies here are trash with there mixtures, barely any perlite in them, very expensive, lots of wood shavings and dont even get me started on the fungus gnats issues when you use those brands🤣
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I can see the lack of quality mixes can be a problem.
Have you investigated using 100% diatomaceous earth? I haven't used it but I've heard growers having good success with it and that it eliminated fungus gnats.
 
Inflorescence said:
It’s the rooting hormone. Don’t know why people keep using it. It always causes issues.

2nd issue is the heat mat. Also almost always the issue. The two combined cause the most failures in rooting, no guesswork needed. 🙂

3rd most common issue is lack of air in the rooting mix. Weighing and measuring water is completely unnecessary and only becomes an issue when people do not use a balanced mix. I think it makes people feel “professional” to measure the “proper dose” of water each time, haha, that’s the only explanation for why it persists. Just balance your mix better and the need for that goes away.

I would focus on materials you have readily available in your area. I’m sure there are things that will work there just as well as the typical things used here. What are some of the base materials there? You need something to hold water and something to provide air pockets.

Sorry for the losses though, that stinks.
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The only thing commonly avaible is compost, and i can get perlite quite easily.

But yeah heat mats seem to cause lots of problembs, im considering rooting in my greenhouse next spring to see how that turns out but ill test it with cuttings from my own trees once i found a good way to propogate with oan cuttings then ill consider buying some again 😁
 
TorontoJoe said:
I'm not going to get into what you may have done correctly or incorrectly. That's been covered here.... Only this..... For me it's about a journey. I used to lose more cuttings than those that survived. It's not a failure.... it's part of a process, and getting to success.

I will quote someone who I respect deeply.... "Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly". You cannot ecpect instant success and the greatest success often comes a long time after we want.

The key.... you need to embrace the failures as much as the successes.... and learn from them. That't the real point here.... if not, this forum probably would not exist. It would have no meaning. It's like investing. You will at times, lose money.

I fail all the time.... it sucks but I do....

There's a lot I can't guarantee.. but if you give up on rooting cuttings... I can pretty much guarantee you'll never enjoy the satisfaction of the win.

Just saying :)
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Fair point, yeah ill try next year with my own cuttings untill i find my way back to succes its just very strange to me how last year i got 60% succes, and now i put a lot more work in and only manage 30%, last year i dint weight the pots and had fungus gnats later on and still trough all of that managed 60% succes. This year no gnats, weighted the pots, measured the watering and 30% success this tells the story how less is more😁
 
DCallahan said:
I can see the lack of quality mixes can be a problem.
Have you investigated using 100% diatomaceous earth? I haven't used it but I've heard growers having good success with it and that it eliminated fungus gnats.
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I have not, i do use it in powder form to get rid of a lot of nasty bugs like thrips and such on my strawberries, also use it against spider mites. But im also trying coco coir on my last cuttings to see if the problem was the low PH of the peat moss.
 
I used hp promix the first year I did this (this is my third year) and I loved it, however, I cannot source locally and getting online is cost prohibitive. This year I’m using sunshine #4 from local Ace Hardware mixed with extra perlite and I feel it’s on par with Hp Promix. Perhaps you can source that one?
 
I can't tell you how many cuttings I killed when I started out.
Or how many methods I tried.
I would have good results at first, but then disaster.
I settled on direct potting and fine tuned it.
As far as I'm concerned I still think watering is the number one killer of that method.
But once you figure that out...your golden.

I hope you dont stop trying, maybe find some free cuttings some where.
After losing some expensive ones, I got a bunch of Celeste cuttings to practice with.
 
My 1st year was my worst, and the 2nd was a little better. Year 3 I made a big jump in my success rate. I do use Promix HP, Clonex and parafilm. I add just enough water to the Promix until I can squeeze a drop out with some in my hand clenched tightly. I do scrape/score my cuttings before I use the Clonex, and I do not use a heating mat. I do use lights almost from the start. This works for me and it my routine now. I start with a very weak fertilizer solution once I start to see green growth and I keep applying until I harden them off. I'm +95% successful, but I still make mistakes with overwatering. This is key, and it probably cost me two cuttings this year.

Stick with it and you will get there! @NaturesFinest you've got this! (y)
 
ktrain said:
I can't tell you how many cuttings I killed when I started out.
Or how many methods I tried.
I would have good results at first, but then disaster.
I settled on direct potting and fine tuned it.
As far as I'm concerned I still think watering is the number one killer of that method.
But once you figure that out...your golden.

I hope you dont stop trying, maybe find some free cuttings some where.
After losing some expensive ones, I got a bunch of Celeste cuttings to practice with.
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Yeah this is the methode ill try, just use my own cuttings and figure out what works for me.
 
NaturesFinest said:
The only thing commonly avaible is compost, and i can get perlite quite easily.

But yeah heat mats seem to cause lots of problembs, im considering rooting in my greenhouse next spring to see how that turns out but ill test it with cuttings from my own trees once i found a good way to propogate with oan cuttings then ill consider buying some again 😁
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Rooting is very easy… the problem comes in when it’s made complicated. And there is too much bad advice. A lot of people say you must do this and you must do that— when those things are not true. For example— Water never kills cuttings, it is the mix becoming waterlogged and compacted to where there is no oxygen. It is lack of air that kills cuttings. If water killed cuttings, people would not be able to water root.

There is only one solution to that which is to add air pockets with something like perlite. If you have to measure water to make sure it’s not too much, you know it’s wrong.

Compost isn’t good for indoor rooting mostly because it does attract fungus gnats, it can hold too much moisture, and sometimes it’s not fully broken down. It can work outside though with sufficient perlite added.

There must be other gardening things like sand, decomposed granite…? Coco coir is a very good rooting medium. Factually speaking, it does hold less water than peat. The problem it can have is salinity.

But honestly, your problem in this case was the rooting hormone. The pictures you showed have the classic symptoms. Rooting hormone burns out cuttings and does cause rot. I would bet your success rate would dramatically improve just by dropping that alone.

You may want to try rooting outside. Some people do a lot better with it because it completely eliminates heat mats and fungus gnats.
 
To me 60% peat is a bit heavy on the peat moss. And if you press the mix down around the cutting you will make the soil so tight you get less gas exchange.
A little lime would correct the ph and add some calcium.
I’ve done air layers with a peat perlite mix and it was packed too tight so roots didn’t want to form due to lack of air.
 
NaturesFinest said:
Fair point, yeah ill try next year with my own cuttings untill i find my way back to succes its just very strange to me how last year i got 60% succes, and now i put a lot more work in and only manage 30%, last year i dint weight the pots and had fungus gnats later on and still trough all of that managed 60% succes. This year no gnats, weighted the pots, measured the watering and 30% success this tells the story how less is more😁
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If you can't get perlite, maybe try vermiculite or rice hulls.
 
Make it as simple as possible for yourself. Go with DE rooting method in the spring outdoors under a porch. Water it every day with a small stream from a hose. Try to get your cuttings from Cali growers (I seem to get the best cuttings from there). And with Cali growers they don't take their cuttings too early so it can be closer to spring when you start rooting then, minimizing time in storage.
 
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