Fig cuttings - leave the apical bud on or not?

[Schoenie]

Christmas was early this year! I just received a stack of 30 cuttings today (fully lignified it seems, but NOT dormant -> some bled some latex when I cut them).

After bleaching them, rinsing them off under warm tap water, and cutting off the bleached ends, I plan on pre-rooting them for a couple of days in water and then wrap the above-soil in Parafilm, scratch them, put some Clonex gel on and switch to 4x9 pots with pre-wetted (5:1) Professional Growing Mix #4 (peat moss with Perlite). I plan on keeping them under limited light (to prevent them from leafing out before they have roots) on a heating mat at 77 deg.F. in a covered Sterilin grow box.

Most if not all of the cuttings I did a couple of weeks ago, have rooted (I have yet to find one that rots), but thus far... only the ones that did NOT have an apical bud (I like to call them "stump cuttings") leafed out. I can imagine that due to "apical dominance", the ones that still have the "sharp top" do not push the lateral buds much. If these work out, I figure it might be through the apical bud taking off.

What do you experts do, if you have the choice? Cut off the apical bud and work with a "stump cutting", or leave it on (wrapped of course)?

 

[Inflorescence]

Our rooting styles are very different, so do what feels right to you. I leave them on, though they are more challenging to root.

Latex coming out does not mean they are not dormant cuttings. There will always be some latex that comes out of live wood. The fact that they have no leaves and no green leaf scars shows they are dormant.

 

[Schoenie]

Our rooting styles are very different, so do what feels right to you. I leave them on, though they are more challenging to root.

Latex coming out does not mean they are not dormant cuttings. There will always be some latex that comes out of live wood. The fact that they have no leaves and no green leaf scars shows they are dormant.

I appreciate your opinion and I'm intrigued by your statement that "they are more challenging to root". In my case, all my cuttings rooted pretty much at the same speed (I had over a dozen cuttings from the same tree), with lots of roots appearing within a couple of weeks (even growing above soil level). The difference seems to be in the leafing out only.

As I'm only a fig novice and lack the confidence, I will follow your hint and try to increase my chances of success by proceeding with clipping off the top buds.

 

[SpiritFarmVa]

I appreciate your opinion!
As I'm only a fig novice and lack the confidence, I will try to increase my chances of success and proceed with clipping off the top buds.

The cuttings that I baby and over think are usually the ones I kill. If you have a way that works for you stick to it.

 

[warpcore]

,,, I will try to increase my chances of success and proceed with clipping off the top buds.

If you plan on clipping off the top buds, you may want to consider using those for grafting onto your other trees. That is another way of increasing your chances of propagating a variety.

 

[ktrain]

Years ago I used to just leave them on, then I tried a year without them ..maybe the year without I had a bit more success.

These days I'm not that particular on it, either way unless the cutting is very thin.
Run a few trials and see where you have more success.

Then report back to us

 

[Trustyfarms]

I like to remove them as they don't break through parafilm as good as lateral buds and I've had to help them out in years past. I've also noticed that on a fully lignified dormant tip cutting that the most apical bud flushes out slower than lateral buds. Ultimately it comes down to preference and I tend to use these apical tips for grafting as @warpcore mentioned as they make good candidates for whip tongue and cleft grafts.

 

[bushdoctor82]

I’ve noticed the same this year.

All cuttings without apical bud have begun to leaf out and the ones with apical bud haven’t just yet. They were all stuck the day after Thanksgiving.

 

[GoodFriendMike]

I think it is just preference. And personal experience.
I leave them on and wax them. The only problem I have found which is different than what other’s have posted.
I find they leaf out to fast some time’s.

 

[Schoenie]

If you plan on clipping off the top buds, you may want to consider using those for grafting onto your other trees. That is another way of increasing your chances of propagating a variety.

Good suggestion! The "problem", however, is that I just got pulled into the rabbit hole and do not have any rootstock available yet...
I'm currently rooting cuttings from some vigorous varieties for just that purpose.

 

[Schoenie]

Years ago I used to just leave them on, then I tried a year without them ..maybe the year without I had a bit more success.

These days I'm not that particular on it, either way unless the cutting is very thin.
Run a few trials and see where you have more success.

Then report back to us

I plan on cutting off the tips / apical buds of 2 out of 3 cuttings I have for each of the 10 varieties I got and then compare how they do.
The results will not be statistically significant, but might provide a hint. I will report back to share how this evolves.

 

[Schoenie]

I’ve noticed the same this year.

All cuttings without apical bud have begun to leaf out and the ones with apical bud haven’t just yet. They were all stuck the day after Thanksgiving.

Aha! A very similar observation...
We might be onto something here...
Thank you for sharing!

 

[Schoenie]

I think it is just preference. And personal experience.
I leave them on and wax them. The only problem I have found which is different than what other’s have posted.
I find they leaf out to fast some time’s.

Just thinking out loud here:
I can imagine that while the apical buds have almost fully developed already (they appear almost like "a pack of tightly packed mini leaves") while the lateral buds still have to come a long way, the former COULD take off much quicker after roots have developed (or even: if sufficient light and warmth is provided before roots have formed).

I tend to keep my cuttings in a shaded room for the first couple of weeks. Do you, Mike?

 

[Schoenie]

I like to remove them as they don't break through parafilm as good as lateral buds and I've had to help them out in years past. I've also noticed that on a fully lignified dormant tip cutting that the most apical bud flushes out slower than lateral buds. Ultimately it comes down to preference and I tend to use these apical tips for grafting as @warpcore mentioned as they make good candidates for whip tongue and cleft grafts.

Maybe I should remove the Parafilm (often multiple layers!) from some (the greener ones) of the apical buds to see how that impacts their leafing out. That could be an interesting experiment. Thanks for providing the hint!

 

[Schoenie]

Thank you ALL for sharing your experience and considerations.
THIS is one of the reasons why this is such a great forum!

 

[GoodFriendMike]

Just thinking out loud here:
I can imagine that while the apical buds have almost fully developed already (they appear almost like "a pack of tightly packed mini leaves") while the lateral buds still have to come a long way, the former COULD take off much quicker after roots have developed (or even: if sufficient light and warmth is provided before roots have formed).

I tend to keep my cuttings in a shaded room for the first couple of weeks. Do you, Mike?

I used to keep them in the dark.
Now they are rooted under led light's.

 

[Inflorescence]

Cuttings taken from lower on the branch have more natural hormones to incline them for rooting, which is why tip cuttings seem to struggle sometimes. Why do you think clipping the tip will cause it to root? I’ve heard some people guess that it will somehow change the chemicals in the cutting, but I’ve not seen that myself. A tip is a tip whether or not it’s left on.

Parafilming tip cuttings seems to cause issue with rot, but if you bury most of the cutting and leave the tip uncovered, it may increase your chances.

I also would never use straight peat & perlite from a premade medium, they are too high in peat and will give you issues with rot. For things that seem stubborn to root, well aerated but damp mediums seem to work better. I would consider a change of rooting medium if you are having persisting issues.

I would also try pre-rooting in a plastic bag with a damp paper towel, (pre-rooting means they have to start forming roots before you take them out of whatever you are pre-rooting them in.) (Also note that pre-rooting without rotting works best in lower pH mediums, so watch if your intended medium has been pH adjusted.)

I would also lose the hormone as that increases issue with rot for figs. And I would put them in indirect light to encourage them to grow, which will wake them up.

Some things to consider in your experiments.

Edited to add: Also lose the heat mat if your rooting area is warm enough for ambient temps. Heat mats can also cause rot and dry out from the bottom up which messes up rooting.

 

[Schoenie]

Thanks for tuning in again @Inflorescence. You do provide a lot of food for thought!

RE: Rot Thus far I have not seen ANY rot. Not in the soil after "digging some up" to see what things looked like in the soil (I'm rooting directly in black 4x9s) nor under the Parafilm . I like peat moss as it's known to contain humic acid, which is know to have preservative (i.e. anti-rot) properties (as illustrated by the preservation of bog bodies). I don't know how much of a role it plays when rooting, but as I said: rot or growing roots in general does not seem to be something I need to worry about right now. The Professional Growing Mix #4 that I use is a high porosity mix containing with 60-70% Sphagnum Peat Moss, quite a bit of Perlite, Dolomitic and Calcitic limestone (mainly for pH adjustment), a wetting agent, "RESILIENCE" , and a blend of Endomycorhizhae. It's made in Canada, so it MUST be good, right @TorontoJoe ?

I think you're probably right about the pre-rooting step. Thank you for the suggestions!

 

[TorontoJoe]

I wrap all exposed cutting in parafilm. I found I got more rot when I leave it on. The exception is if I feel the cutting is too small and needs as much energy as possible.

Later on, if I decide I want a straight tree, I bury the whole thing so just the one truck shows.

 

[Inflorescence]

Thanks for tuning in again @Inflorescence. You do provide a lot of food for thought!

RE: Rot Thus far I have not seen ANY rot. Not in the soil after "digging some up" to see what things looked like in the soil (I'm rooting directly in black 4x9s) nor under the Parafilm . I like peat moss as it's known to contain humic acid, which is know to have preservative (i.e. anti-rot) properties (as illustrated by the preservation of bog bodies). I don't know how much of a role it plays when rooting, but as I said: rot or growing roots in general does not seem to be something I need to worry about right now. The Professional Growing Mix #4 that I use is a high porosity mix containing with 60-70% Sphagnum Peat Moss, quite a bit of Perlite, Dolomitic and Calcitic limestone (mainly for pH adjustment), a wetting agent, "RESILIENCE" , and a blend of Endomycorhizhae. It's made in Canada, so it MUST be good, right @TorontoJoe ?

I think you're probably right about the pre-rooting step. Thank you for the suggestions!

It sounds like you are using Sunshine Mix #4? That’s the one I use in my potting mixes. It’s pretty high in peat, usually I go 50/50 peat to perlite at the least, usually a little lower actually. Low pH of peat prevents rot. pH buffers raise it for growing mixes because peat naturally is too low on the pH scale for plants. Nothing grows in peat bogs because by their nature they are breaking down things, little oxygen, low pH.

Glad you haven’t had rot yet, keep it up!