New Fig Grower Looking for Advice

paupau said:
So its been
4 weeks since I started the proper fig pops
a little over 5 weeks since I started the cat food container pops
a little over 7 weeks since I started the ziploc baggy celeste pops
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Did you check @JC Figgy's post on making the figpops as compact as possible.
paupau said:
So far only the celeste baggies (which have been up potted already) and a single cat food container pop put out any roots.
After i up potted the ziploc celestes i finally got top growth going on most of them.
Ive had several of the proper fig pops start putting on buds but so far no signs of roots.
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The grow lights should help with root growth.
paupau said:
At what point should I be concerned about the current progress? From the ziploc baggy figs almost all of them put on roots within 3 weeks and im a good bit past that for the other 2 types of pops.
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2 months. Cuttings will stall and sometimes they need to be re-done. Dont be afraid to check on the cuttings by taking them out of the soil. I have a couple of cuttings that arent progressing at all and I might need to inspect the section below the soil.
paupau said:
I haven't touched any of them besides the 1 hollier cat food pop that put on roots and top growth. Also so far the hollier is the only fig with top growth that has had any issues with its leaves. The celestes haven't had any browning at all and no matter what I do with the hollier it continues to put on new growth that starts browning after a few days.
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I have a cutting with the same problem but its growing out of it after adding diluted fertilizer.
 
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Kompakfigs said:
Did you check @JC Figgy's post on making the figpops as compact as possible.

The grow lights should help with root growth.

2 months. Cuttings will stall and sometimes they need to be re-done. Dont be afraid to check on the cuttings by taking them out of the soil. I have a couple of cuttings that arent progressing at all and I might need to inspect the section below the soil.

I have a cutting with the same problem but its growing out of it after adding diluted fertilizer.
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I have not seen that post i dont think. But I do know that my cat food container pops are not compact at all. I think I may have actually done my best to avoid compaction when I made those lol. My proper fig pops are definitely much more compact which maybe thats why they have put on more buds in general.
 
paupau said:
So its been
4 weeks since I started the proper fig pops
a little over 5 weeks since I started the cat food container pops
a little over 7 weeks since I started the ziploc baggy celeste pops

So far only the celeste baggies (which have been up potted already) and a single cat food container pop put out any roots.
After i up potted the ziploc celestes i finally got top growth going on most of them.
Ive had several of the proper fig pops start putting on buds but so far no signs of roots.

At what point should I be concerned about the current progress? From the ziploc baggy figs almost all of them put on roots within 3 weeks and im a good bit past that for the other 2 types of pops.

I haven't touched any of them besides the 1 hollier cat food pop that put on roots and top growth. Also so far the hollier is the only fig with top growth that has had any issues with its leaves. The celestes haven't had any browning at all and no matter what I do with the hollier it continues to put on new growth that starts browning after a few days.
Click to expand...
It’s no sure bet, but usually when I have random bud swelling roots show within a week.
 
Kompakfigs said:
Did you check @JC Figgy's post on making the figpops as compact as possible.

The grow lights should help with root growth.

2 months. Cuttings will stall and sometimes they need to be re-done. Dont be afraid to check on the cuttings by taking them out of the soil. I have a couple of cuttings that arent progressing at all and I might need to inspect the section below the soil.

I have a cutting with the same problem but its growing out of it after adding diluted fertilizer.
Click to expand...
Alright following your advice I redid all my cat food container figs.

What was interesting is that even though several of them had what appeared to be condensation on the walls of the contianer, almost all of them had dry soil. Like maybe 1 or 2 had an inkling of moisture. So needless to say there were 0 signs of roots or buds on any of them. Thankfully there was only one casualty (RIP Banana) which thankfully i had multiples of.

So I redid the containers using fresh, moist mix. This time I made sure to compress the soil as much as possible and this time I actually scratched the bottoms to reveal cambium layer. A handful of the cuttings revealed to have a soft bottom when I did this so I just cut off the bad part and the cambium was green at the new bottom.

So hopefully this 2nd try will be better. So far I still only have substantial roots and top growth on the celestes and the 1 hollier. I didnt get time to check the fig pops thoroughly but saw the buds there progressing normally with a quick glance.
 

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While I was mowing the lawn today an idea occurred to me. Should I take out these hedges and replace with figs? Or would near an air conditioner not be good for them? Or even just planting them in between where the empty spaces are.
 

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paupau said:
While I was mowing the lawn today an idea occurred to me. Should I take out these hedges and replace with figs? Or would near an air conditioner not be good for them? Or even just planting them in between where the empty spaces are.
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a) Yes.
2) If you're worried about the A/C, just set the potted figs where you intend to plant them in ground and see if there's any effect. I doubt there would be.
d) I also think about figs while mowing the lawn.
 
cdh said:
a) Yes.
2) If you're worried about the A/C, just set the potted figs where you intend to plant them in ground and see if there's any effect. I doubt there would be.
d) I also think about figs while mowing the lawn.
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I was thinking more about the fig affecting the ac not the other way around lol
 
paupau said:
I see lots of people using pots.. what's the general consensus on grow bags? I have 1 gallon ones that are plastic that look like brown lunch bags and then i have 5 gallon woven fabric bags. Would those be acceptable for growing figs in or are the hard plastic ones a hard requirement (no pun intended)?
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I’m pretty new to fig trees too and I’m trialing both plastic and fabric pots in Southern CA.

This is my second year with figs (but over 15 years with tomatoes), and I will say that pulling any plant out of a fabric pot, is not easy.

Plastic pots will let you slide the young plants out rather easily if you wet it a bit, squeeze the sides a bit, and flip it to let gravity help you out. Fabric pots, on the other hand, have been messier to work with, and more difficult to remove plants with heavy roots.

I currently have most of my fig plants in plastic pots with one in a fabric pot. I’ve easily uppotted all the ones that were in plastic. The fabric one, which is a true 10 gallon one, I’m loathe to touch. One, it’s gross after a year of watering and feeding. Two, it’s heavy and unwieldy.

Not sure if I can leave my one fig tree in the fabric pot indefinitely since fabric pots are supposed to air prune roots. If so, awesome. Otherwise, I’m going to move it into a plastic pot when growth stalls.

Your mileage may vary depending on location, experience, patience, and sanity. For what it’s worth, my tomatoes always grow like gangbusters in them.
 
figgilypuff said:
I’m pretty new to fig trees too and I’m trialing both plastic and fabric pots in Southern CA.

This is my second year with figs (but over 15 years with tomatoes), and I will say that pulling any plant out of a fabric pot, is not easy.

Plastic pots will let you slide the young plants out rather easily if you wet it a bit, squeeze the sides a bit, and flip it to let gravity help you out. Fabric pots, on the other hand, have been messier to work with, and more difficult to remove plants with heavy roots.

I currently have most of my fig plants in plastic pots with one in a fabric pot. I’ve easily uppotted all the ones that were in plastic. The fabric one, which is a true 10 gallon one, I’m loathe to touch. One, it’s gross after a year of watering and feeding. Two, it’s heavy and unwieldy.

Not sure if I can leave my one fig tree in the fabric pot indefinitely since fabric pots are supposed to air prune roots. If so, awesome. Otherwise, I’m going to move it into a plastic pot when growth stalls.

Your mileage may vary depending on location, experience, patience, and sanity. For what it’s worth, my tomatoes always grow like gangbusters in them.
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Good points. I typically use fabric pots for annuals so I dont worry about removing plants i just cut them out at the root collar. Obviously cant do that to figs
 
Asking this since ive seen it on more fig pops than I'd like but what does it mean when a fig pop produces a green bud and then not long after (within a week or so) that bud shrivels up and turns brown? The fig pops still seem like they have moisture in them and I still have some pops that still have green buds.
 
paupau said:
Asking this since ive seen it on more fig pops than I'd like but what does it mean when a fig pop produces a green bud and then not long after (within a week or so) that bud shrivels up and turns brown? The fig pops still seem like they have moisture in them and I still have some pops that still have green buds.
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I think its the problem of having leaf growth but no roots. I have had 3 cuttings that were displaying those symptoms. Green buds grew within the first 3 weeks but eventually the cuttings stalled. 2 still have green buds and with the 3rd, the buds wilted and turned brown. The soil moisture was fine (cuttings did not rot) but maybe the temp and/or humidity changes might have affected their progress. Due to no root growth (no roots no uptake) after 3 months, I'd repotted the cuttings a week ago but it might just be futile because the cuttings might have exhausted their energy. Crossing fingers those cuttings make it just to confirm my observation.
Maybe remove the ones with the green buds from the under the grow lights.
 
paupau said:
Asking this since ive seen it on more fig pops than I'd like but what does it mean when a fig pop produces a green bud and then not long after (within a week or so) that bud shrivels up and turns brown? The fig pops still seem like they have moisture in them and I still have some pops that still have green buds.
Click to expand...
I've never used the fig pop method but *with open cups*, it usually depends on whether there are any other buds that didn't shrivel up and whether there are roots. If both, no big deal. If there are roots, but no other green, probably okay. If there are other green buds, but no roots, wait and see. If the bud that dies was the only sign of life (ie no other buds and no roots), there's a much higher chance the thing is toast or should be started over. See other threads for how/when to start over--I can't help there.
 
Should the green growth be removed until roots are grown? Or is that not advised?
 
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cdh said:
I've never used the fig pop method but *with open cups*, it usually depends on whether there are any other buds that didn't shrivel up and whether there are roots. If both, no big deal. If there are roots, but no other green, probably okay. If there are other green buds, but no roots, wait and see. If the bud that dies was the only sign of life (ie no other buds and no roots), there's a much higher chance the thing is toast or should be started over. See other threads for how/when to start over--I can't help there.
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The ones im referring to are the traditional fig pops. The ones in the plastic containers have either grown fully or not at all, ive not seen any that started buds and then stopped.
 
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Bit of an unhappy update but it looks like several of the first round of the traditional fig pops i made have molded over in the portion of the bag above the rubber band.

so far the only 'succsessful' starts ive had are 2 of the cat food container figs (1 hollier and 1 celeste), 1 of the Tupperware figs (celeste), and 1 of the 2nd round of traditional fig pops that I made from the brown turkey cuttings I got from my uncle. I did decide to up pot the hollier to a grow bag because some of the roots really didnt look very healthy. Figured it was time to let that one breathe.

Only a couple of the 1st round trad fig pops currently have small green buds but so far they've just been growing a little bit then turning brown and dying. None of the remaining cat food container figs have started budding but I also just restarted them last week so probably no surprise there.
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