Indoor winter cuttings help

Bocephus

Bocephus

Member
I'm new to this and really need some input. I tried routing cuttings earlier in the year and killed most of them unfortunately. I got half to root, but lost them when up-potting. I feel I did it too early and used happy frog which I feel like got too compacted. The only 2 that survived, this far were I258s (I need info on these as well).

I jumped the gun and just acquired some new cuttings. I really studied and feel I have given them a much better shot at rooting in promix hp. I have in tree pots covered with a plastic bag and 5 done like figpops. On a heat mat set at 79 degrees. I feel they will be pretty successful, but am afraid of what to do when they do root. The tree pots shouldn't need up potting for a while but the pops will. What medium do I use? When to fertilize? My 2 i258s that lived, I mixed promix with some compost as the medium. So any help on that transition is really appreciated.
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Here are my i258s on heat mats under lights, too cold outside. The larger one is starting to yellow and lose leaves. I did give a half dose of fox farms liquid fertilizer yesterday. This room stays around 63 so I am going to add a space heater to try and keep it around 70 in there. This is also where my cuttings will go if they make it to the next step. Any help on keeping them alive in this room is much appreciated.
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Yes, I-258 is on my hard to root list, so good job on 2 of those at once (I hope it's true to type).

90 days is a good rule of thumb for uppotting that I use. I would avoid compost (loads of pathogenic microbes/spores) at this point and stick to soil less medium. Just a good potting mix, or you can get peat moss or coco coir and mix that with 1/3 perlite, maybe some very clean sand (20% not too much it get very heavy). That will give you about 1/2 organic and 1/2 inorganic.

Fertilize as soon as they put out leaves - and get them into good light as soon as the buds break and leaves start to push.

I'd bump room temp up to 72F and with a heat mat at 78F you should be right in the sweet spot for the root zone (right around 75F) - too cool and they are very slow to root, too hot (anything 80 or above) and it seems to drive the bacterial and fungal growth more than the figs.
 
One tip that I do is to compact the soil in my figpop. I started doing it with the reasoning of minimizing the air pockets, which slow down/inhibit root growth (think air pruning). Then I saw Mike Piersimoni also emphasize that in a fig pop workshop that I went to at the PA Fig Festival.

Then when you cut open your fig pop bag, it comes out as one tidy piece of soil with entwined roots in it.

Here is the link to the video if you would like to see it:

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And for this round, I would suggest just starting with the promix hp. It works for a ton of people, and as you are learning, you want to minimize the variables, and just work on your technique first. Then later, when you have your technique down, you can experiment with different things like different media mixes, etc.
 
PapaFig said:
Yes, I-258 is on my hard to root list, so good job on 2 of those at once (I hope it's true to type).

90 days is a good rule of thumb for uppotting that I use. I would avoid compost (loads of pathogenic microbes/spores) at this point and stick to soil less medium. Just a good potting mix, or you can get peat moss or coco coir and mix that with 1/3 perlite, maybe some very clean sand (20% not too much it get very heavy). That will give you about 1/2 organic and 1/2 inorganic.

Fertilize as soon as they put out leaves - and get them into good light as soon as the buds break and leaves start to push.

I'd bump room temp up to 72F and with a heat mat at 78F you should be right in the sweet spot for the root zone (right around 75F) - too cool and they are very slow to root, too hot (anything 80 or above) and it seems to drive the bacterial and fungal growth more than the figs.
Click to expand...
Hmm…thanks for the temperature advice -I have been keeping mine way too cold.

I’m going to try increasing both the room temp and the heat mat. I had not tried to keep that room that warm since I saw some people (like Mike Kincaid) say the cooler room temp + warm heating mat works better. I don’t really care about better right now, I am learning and just want it to work.
 
One thing you really want to keep in mind is oxygen for your potting mixes. Plant roots need air to be healthy and soil needs air for promoting aerobic microbes. Your mix right now is dense and will possibly hold on to more water than you might like. ProMix has about 20% aeration, with the compost that is less. Consider bumping that up to at least 35-50% aeration when up potting or with your next rooting batch. Researchers recommend 50/50 for rooting and that is what I found works best for me as well.

Aerating materials are things like perlite, pumice, etc.

I agree with PapaFig about changing the temperature on your mat to keep it within 72-78°.
 
PapaFig said:
Yes, I-258 is on my hard to root list, so good job on 2 of those at once (I hope it's true to type).

90 days is a good rule of thumb for uppotting that I use. I would avoid compost (loads of pathogenic microbes/spores) at this point and stick to soil less medium. Just a good potting mix, or you can get peat moss or coco coir and mix that with 1/3 perlite, maybe some very clean sand (20% not too much it get very heavy). That will give you about 1/2 organic and 1/2 inorganic.

Fertilize as soon as they put out leaves - and get them into good light as soon as the buds break and leaves start to push.

I'd bump room temp up to 72F and with a heat mat at 78F you should be right in the sweet spot for the root zone (right around 75F) - too cool and they are very slow to root, too hot (anything 80 or above) and it seems to drive the bacterial and fungal growth more than the figs.
Click to expand...
Thank you very much
 
BucksCountyFigs said:
One tip that I do is to compact the soil in my figpop. I started doing it with the reasoning of minimizing the air pockets, which slow down/inhibit root growth (think air pruning). Then I saw Mike Piersimoni also emphasize that in a fig pop workshop that I went to at the PA Fig Festival.

Then when you cut open your fig pop bag, it comes out as one tidy piece of soil with entwined roots in it.

Here is the link to the video if you would like to see it:

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Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.
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And for this round, I would suggest just starting with the promix hp. It works for a ton of people, and as you are learning, you want to minimize the variables, and just work on your technique first. Then later, when you have your technique down, you can experiment with different things like different media mixes, etc.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the link. I did not compact the pops, just bounced them on the table a few times to level it out. So you're saying if/when these root and I up pot, just use the same promix? They won't need actual soil at that point? Thanks
 
Inflorescence said:
One thing you really want to keep in mind is oxygen for your potting mixes. Plant roots need air to be healthy and soil needs air for promoting aerobic microbes. Your mix right now is dense and will possibly hold on to more water than you might like. ProMix has about 20% aeration, with the compost that is less. Consider bumping that up to at least 35-50% aeration when up potting or with your next rooting batch. Researchers recommend 50/50 for rooting and that is what I found works best for me as well.

Aerating materials are things like perlite, pumice, etc.

I agree with PapaFig about changing the temperature on your mat to keep it within 72-78°.
Click to expand...
Thank you very much. Just so I'm clear you're saying when I up pot these current cuttings, from pops or tree pots, i should use 50/50 promix and perlite? I do feel like the 258s are holding water. Should I try and unpot then repot with the mixture you describe?
 
Bocephus said:
Thank you very much. Just so I'm clear you're saying when I up pot these current cuttings, from pops or tree pots, i should use 50/50 promix and perlite? I do feel like the 258s are holding water. Should I try and unpot then repot with the mixture you describe?
Click to expand...

Because it already has 20% perlite, you only need to add up to 30% more. Judge by your climate and the health of your trees for how far you need to take it. If you are having watering issues, like having too much water, you’ll want more perlite. If you are having problems with it drying out faster than it should, you’ll want less.

But for plant health in general, you should consider adding at least 15% more. And you can estimate that, it doesn’t need to be exact.

The size of perlite you use also has a bearing. If it’s too small, it can hinder air flow. So you’ll want coarse perlite, #3, or #2 perlite at the smallest.
 
Inflorescence said:
Because it already has 20% perlite, you only need to add up to 30% more. Judge by your climate and the health of your trees for how far you need to take it. If you are having watering issues, like having too much water, you’ll want more perlite. If you are having problems with it drying out faster than it should, you’ll want less.

But for plant health in general, you should consider adding at least 15% more. And you can estimate that, it doesn’t need to be exact.

The size of perlite you use also has a bearing. If it’s too small, it can hinder air flow. So you’ll want coarse perlite, #3, or #2 perlite at the smallest.
Click to expand...
Holy cow, I never knew they had sizes.... I need to see what mine is and go from there. Thank you for the in-depth reply.
 
I wanted to piggy back on the above questions.. out of my cutting I have one variety with yellow leaves. And it's Malta black. I have three of them and they are all yellowish I have treated them all cuttings the same. They are all fertilized the same, they are at 73 degrees with nice lights...
All of them look nice and happy no matter what kind they are except Malta black- I double checked they aren't too wet or dry.... I did take one of them out from under the grow light and put it by my desk with just plain regular light (but still warm). And after two days it seems greener and less yellow... Do some varieties not like so much light?
 
Also is this fmv? These were supposed to be Texas blue giant but I have 3 cuttings of this and I will just trash them if they can infect others. I have them isolated right now.... Is it catching?PXL_20251114_030419494.jpg
 
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