I'm changing my user name to The Fig Reaper.

ohiobruce

ohiobruce

Well-known member
Holy cow, I've killed a lot of cuttings in the past 2 months and not sure why. They push out roots and leaves follow. I get an inch or two of growth, and then, Poof, they wilt and die. I've tried keeping the potting mix drier, wetter, and keeping the humidity high for the leaves. No luck.

Earlier this winter I was having good luck.

Obviously I need to look at any changes I've made. I started using coir instead of peat, but the moisture level felt about the same.

One thing I did change was to start using Dip-n-grow. I got a lot of roots fast, but I wonder if the cutting used all of it's energy on roots and didn't have enough left to continue growing? Then again, some of my failures were started in a sand bin and didn't use the rooting hormone. They also followed the same pattern of good growth and then a sudden flame out.

I'm feeling like I know less now than when I started and didn't know anything.

Thoughts?
 
Just my two cents- I am not a fan of either peat moss or coir as the soil media of choice for newly rooted cuttings. Both hold way too much water and may not allow enough oxygen exchange for healthy root development.

I moved to a 50/50 mix of pine bark mulch and cedar mulch for my cuttings and results have been great. This media drains very well and roots are numerous and thick.

To prevent possible infestations of fungus gnats, I use half strength Spinosad when adding moisture. Not a single gnat this year in more than 200 cups with cuttings.
 
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Opiem10 said:
Just my two cents- I am not a fan of either peat moss or coir as the soil media of choice for newly rooted cuttings. Both hold way too much water and may not allow enough oxygen exchange for healthy root development.

I moved to a 50/50 mix of pine bark mulch and cedar mulch for my cuttings and results have been great. This media drains very well and roots are numerous and thick.

To prevent possible infestations of fungus gnats, I use half strength Spinosad when adding moisture. Not a single gnat this year in more than 200 cups with cuttings.
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Interesting. I'll give that a shot next season. I think it would be cheaper too.

I also have several Brown Turkey cuttings going strong that I'm going to graft to instead of rooting some cuttings next season.
 
Here are a handful of pictures showing roots for Ciliegia Dolce, White Greek, White Madeira #1, and Buzzone Nero cuttings. All will be up potted into mini tree pots next week so roots will continue to fill the cups even more.

FYI, the cedar mulch is very fibrous and fig roots seem to really grow well in that media. As well, cedar may also aid in keeping insects at bay. Think about cedar chests or lined closets.
 

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Like Opiem10 mentioned, aeration is the key! I used coir at the first year and had 20% success rate! This year, I used DE rooting and half Promix+ half perlites, and I had 100% success with DE and over 90% with the Promix mix. I also used Orchid pots with lots of holes for rooting. I believe that someone used 30% peat moss +70% perlites with great success. Opiem10's mulch mix is great idea too. You want the media that can hold moisture and also has good air flow.
 
ohiobruce said:
Holy cow, I've killed a lot of cuttings in the past 2 months and not sure why. They push out roots and leaves follow. I get an inch or two of growth, and then, Poof, they wilt and die. I've tried keeping the potting mix drier, wetter, and keeping the humidity high for the leaves. No luck.

Earlier this winter I was having good luck.

Obviously I need to look at any changes I've made. I started using coir instead of peat, but the moisture level felt about the same.

One thing I did change was to start using Dip-n-grow. I got a lot of roots fast, but I wonder if the cutting used all of it's energy on roots and didn't have enough left to continue growing? Then again, some of my failures were started in a sand bin and didn't use the rooting hormone. They also followed the same pattern of good growth and then a sudden flame out.

I'm feeling like I know less now than when I started and didn't know anything.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Did you use a bunch of perlite? Or something else to ariate the mix?
 
Opiem10 said:
Here are a handful of pictures showing roots for Ciliegia Dolce, White Greek, White Madeira #1, and Buzzone Nero cuttings. All will be up potted into mini tree pots next week so roots will continue to fill the cups even more.

FYI, the cedar mulch is very fibrous and fig roots seem to really grow well in that media. As well, cedar may also aid in keeping insects at bay. Think about cedar chests or lined closets.
Click to expand...

How do you hydrate the mulch before inserting your cutting, and how often do you water thereafter?
 
ohiobruce said:
I used Optisorb. It's sold at an auto parts store. It's granular and recommended by a lot of fig growers.
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I think that will behave more like vermiculite than perlite and hold on to water. Perlite acts as an aerator and improves the drainage. Wheras vermiculite (and i assume this optisorb) will aerate but not improve drainage but rather the opposite.

I dont know specifically what ratio figs prefer but in my experience with beds vs containers, you want to find a good ratio for the crop where you get the right balance of aeration and drainage. So for figs it may be true that optisorb is good to use, im sure that usage is in the context of what the soil and crop actually needs. If your mix is naturally holding onto water already, adding something like vermiculite is just going to help it hold on to water even more.

Im not experienced with figs at all, just sharing what I do know in case it makes sense to anyone lol
 
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