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Brian V

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Hi. I'm new to this forum. Last year was my first year growing figs so I'm new to that as well. I have a couple air layers and a small tree that I bought as a rooted cutting growing indoors. I've noticed some newly formed leaves are drying up and not growing. Some of the green buds also dry up and turn brown. What could possibly cause this? Today I noticed a couple of my newly rooted cuttings are doing the same thing. Is it a soil moisture issue? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
 

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Just out of curiosity, are you fertilizing?
What is the humidity like?
What are the temps...and are they consistent?

They are so sensitive at this stage, small environmental changes can cause things like this.
 
Right now humidity is low. It's about 25% it's been a cold winter and the heat has been running a lot. Dont figs like dry? The air layers are about 3 ft tall and in 5 gallon buckets from last fall. They were growing really fast. One day they stopped. One is actually fruiting but not growing. I put espoma organic in the mix when I planted them and a little miracle grow shake n feed. The cuttings got some very diluted water soluble miracle grow. The temps stay pretty consistent around 70-72.
 
You look for any mites?...either bud mites or spider?
I'm not seeing webs but that doesn't mean they aren't there.

Try eliminating the more likely things to narrow down the issue.
Fruiting does sometimes stall growth...or at least slow it.
 
I have not seen any signs of insects. My wife has some roses in another room that we find spider mites on sometimes. I've been checking. I've had 2 fans running not stop in here. Could low humidity and too much air flow cause them to dry out?
 
Brian V said:
I have not seen any signs of insects. My wife has some roses in another room that we find spider mites on sometimes. I've been checking. I've had 2 fans running not stop in here. Could low humidity and too much air flow cause them to dry out?
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That is not out of the question, as sensitive as they are, but I would lean on not being this issue.
Can you see the roots?
They may be weak, brown in color and thin....that is usually what I see when this is happening above ground.
 
Nice, those roots look just fine.
At this point I'd just monitor closely, go easy on the watering, continue with a diluted feeding.
Keep the environment consistent.

Not all cuttings are created equal, some are stronger than others.
I have had plenty abort small new leaves like that and be just fine.
 
What do you think about the larger air layers? The leaves have some browning. One of them dropped a small leaf. They are just kind of stagnant. For some reason I struggle with watering. If they are too wet, would the leaves and buds dry up? The top couple inches of soil are dry but if I dig down a little there is moisture. I also see new thick white roots.
 

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Now those do look like there could be some fertilizer burn on them.
I used an indoor outdoor non burning concentrate for my cuttings..I did have trouble at first knowing how much to dilute my Jacks 20 20 20.
 

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IMO, try less fan blowing, its the dry low humidity dry air blowing on them that's most likely the cause. Fee free to mist the leaves with a spritz of water every now and then. and Welcome to FF!
 
JC Figgy said:
IMO, try less fan blowing, its the dry low humidity dry air blowing on them that's most likely the cause. Fee free to mist the leaves with a spritz of water every now and then. and Welcome to FF!
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I don't think he is using a fan at this point, though you have a valid point that can cause this too. :)
 
I did have fans on all the time. They're off now. I have a smith tree that I bought last July. I made the mistake of up-potting too soon. It dropped all of its leaves and has been struggling ever since. We went out of town for Christmas and just before we left I watered really heavily and turned off the fans. I came back to 5 new leaves in the 9 days we were gone. Since we got back it has not done anything. I check these plants for bugs quite often ever since we found spider mites on the roses. I occasionally spray neem oil too.
 
Brian V said:
I did have fans on all the time. They're off now. I have a smith tree that I bought last July. I made the mistake of up-potting too soon. It dropped all of its leaves and has been struggling ever since. We went out of town for Christmas and just before we left I watered really heavily and turned off the fans. I came back to 5 new leaves in the 9 days we were gone. Since we got back it has not done anything. I check these plants for bugs quite often ever since we found spider mites on the roses. I occasionally spray neem oil too.
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Try to water your figs with a spray bottle so that water only goes to the sides of the container and only lightly pour water if the soil is almost dry. I like watering with a spray bottle because I like to overwater my plants and the spray bottle satisfies my urge to water them everyday. I would not advise watering heavily even if you are about to go on vacation.

Try to trap the humidity (with a trash bag or something) if going on a vacation or bottom water in a try so it wicks water when the soil gets dry. I did this on my 7 day vacation and it worked well for the most part. If you think dehydration is possible try waxing the top end of the cutting or wrap in parafilm to reduce the amount of water loss.
 
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