Please help with my fig cutting

F

figuringIt

Active member
i took a cutting from a local tree (in early summer i think), which rooted nicely and started to grow leaves. a coupe of leaves grew to a good size but then they started to curl upwards and eventually fell off.

i read up about figs trying to figure out what the problem could be and read that they need very light soil, so i swapped the soil thinking it was getting too much food. i can't remember now what i put it in the second time, but it was something like a mix of coir, perlite and some used soil. even in this new soil the exact same thing happened again, it started okay and the new leaves looked lovely, but once i watered it the leaves curled up in the same way and eventually fell off.
at some point i moved it to a grow room, under lights for 12 hours at approximately 22-24°C.

i left the stem in the soil and for a third time new leaves grew again! (fig is a hardy little plant it seems) and the new leaves looked great at first as usual. this time i did not water is for as long as possible until the leaves started to wilt. the soil was very dry and the plant clearly needed water, so i watered it and again, the leaves curled up and eventually fell off one by one again :(

i have attached a picture of the plant right now so you can see the type of curling i am getting. today i checked my water pH and it was a little high. bouncing around 7.5-8.5 (i have a bad quality meter so it's hard to get a good reading), so i added some apple cider vinegar to bring it down before watering and will continue to do that, though i read that fig can withstand a high range of pH so still not sure if that is the problem.

any suggestions? thank you! ❤️

fig problem.jpg
 
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First thought is too much grow light exposure at 74°. Young tender leaves will be more susceptible to leaf burn. Just imagine when propagating seeds in the spring and when a few leaves have formed the seedlings have to be slowly acclimated to sunlight exposure. Try setting the plant in shade for a bit. Just IMO.
 
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Kompakfigs said:
First thought is too much grow light exposure at 74°. Young tender leaves will be more susceptible to leaf burn. Just imagine when propagating seeds in the spring and when a few leaves form the seedlings have to be slowly acclimated to sunlight exposure. Try setting the plant in shade for a bit. Just IMO.
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My first thought as well! The figs I have tried under a 260w Fecida LED grow panel did very much the same. I couldn't figure it out. Figs like full sun, right? 3 feet height, 30% intensity, at the outside edge of the hot zone seems to be the sweet spot for young fig leaves. It looks way too dim to my eyes, but they seem to like it there.
 
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GoodFriendMike said:
Have you looked closely with a magnifying glass? Could be mites.
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thanks.
i just had a look and i can't see anything on the one remaining leaf. i checked up the stem too and can't see anything. it has also been around other plants too and nothing has passed on to other plants. it was next to white sage, basil, a bunch of cacti, aloe and a few other things and nothing else has the same problem.
 
Kompakfigs said:
First thought is too much grow light exposure at 74°. Young tender leaves will be more susceptible to leaf burn. Just imagine when propagating seeds in the spring and when a few leaves have formed the seedlings have to be slowly acclimated to sunlight exposure. Try setting the plant in shade for a bit. Just IMO.
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the first one or two times they started to curl was not under a light, it was in a window that doesn't get much light. maybe it was still too much. it also started really well, it was as the leaves got bigger that they curled. it also seems to be triggered by watering, almost as if they are too wet, but even when they are bone dry and wilting.
i just checked the lux in it's position and it is getting about 18.7 KLux. according to the graphs for the light it should be getting around 300 PPFD in it's position. do you think that is too much?
i will move it out of the grow room for now and put it away from the window with only ambient light to check. i would rather have etiolation than this.
thank you for the help
 
DavidNC said:
My first thought as well! The figs I have tried under a 260w Fecida LED grow panel did very much the same. I couldn't figure it out. Figs like full sun, right? 3' height, 30% intensity, at the outside edge of the hot zone seems to be the sweet spot for young fig leaves. It looks way too dim to my eyes, but they seem to like it there.
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Dave, 3 inches above the plants or 3 feet?
 
figuringIt said:
thanks.
i just had a look and i can't see anything on the one remaining leaf. i checked up the stem too and can't see anything. it has also been around other plants too and nothing has passed on to other plants. it was next to white sage, basil, a bunch of cacti, aloe and a few other things and nothing else has the same problem.
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Hopefully it is something simple as lighting or to much/to little water. The strange white dots are why I was thinking mites.
 
figuringIt said:
the first one or two times they started to curl was not under a light, it was in a window that doesn't get much light. maybe it was still too much. it also started really well, it was as the leaves got bigger that they curled. it also seems to be triggered by watering, almost as if they are too wet, but even when they are bone dry and wilting.
i just checked the lux in it's position and it is getting about 18.7 KLux. according to the graphs for the light it should be getting around 300 PPFD in it's position. do you think that is too much?
i will move it out of the grow room for now and put it away from the window with only ambient light to check. i would rather have etiolation than this.
thank you for the help
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I don’t know enough about grow lights to provide an educated guess but it seems just the duration might be cause. The more experienced growers will chime in to determine the root cause and provide solutions to your problem.
 
GoodFriendMike said:
Hopefully it is something simple as lighting or to much/to little water. The strange white dots are why I was thinking mites.
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i think you have actually nailed it!
i double checked and i looked even more closely and i have actually found at least two mites on there, on the under side nestled in to a corner of a vein!
i don't know what they are yet but i will try to ID them online. i am so grateful they did not transfer to my other plants yet! life is amazing :)
i am going to quarantine this and try to ID the mites
thank you so much!
 
figuringIt said:
i think you have actually nailed it!
i double checked and i looked even more closely and i have actually found at least two mites on there, on the under side nestled in to a corner of a vein!
i don't know what they are yet but i will try to ID them online. i am so grateful they did not transfer to my other plants yet! life is amazing :)
i am going to quarantine this and try to ID the mites
thank you so much!
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Let us know what you find. I get the spider mites sometimes on indoor plants.
 
DavidNC said:
Zooming in on that photo, I do see some tiny raised white spots. Is that what you found?
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it was actually underneath the leaves that i found them. i guess the dots must be the damage they have caused. i couldn't find any on the top, though maybe they were there but i didn't see them. they are so tiny!

GoodFriendMike said:
Let us know what you find. I get the spider mites sometimes on indoor plants.
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will do. so far everything is pointing to spider mites but there is absolutely no webbing anywhere, so i'm doubting it. maybe they are just destroying the plant before it gets to that point.
i'm going to see if i can combine my magnifying glass and a phone camera :/
 
I have 1 or 2 struggling like this, I just give them diluter fert. and keep the soil moderately moist.
Also keep them in a more controlled environment, they seem to be slowly breaking out of their slump.
 
i didn't have much luck combining a phone camera with a microscope, but i did get to get up close and personal with a few of my new friends.
every website seems to talk primarily about spider mites and all the mites look basically the same, so IDing them is proving difficult.
i just sprayed a bunch of 70% IPA on the plant to see what would happen. i checked back 15 minutes later and found a few mites that were not moving, so i'm guessing that got them.
i also saw an egg so not sure if that will still hatch or what, but i will spray it every few days and hope that i don't kill it. i can always get another cutting if i need to.

it's odd that they seemed to respond to the plant being watered. maybe it was a coincidence, but they didn't seem to attack until the plant was watered, then the plant started to curl within a day or two.
 
figuringIt said:
i didn't have much luck combining a phone camera with a microscope, but i did get to get up close and personal with a few of my new friends.
every website seems to talk primarily about spider mites and all the mites look basically the same, so IDing them is proving difficult.
i just sprayed a bunch of 70% IPA on the plant to see what would happen. i checked back 15 minutes later and found a few mites that were not moving, so i'm guessing that got them.
i also saw an egg so not sure if that will still hatch or what, but i will spray it every few days and hope that i don't kill it. i can always get another cutting if i need to.

it's odd that they seemed to respond to the plant being watered. maybe it was a coincidence, but they didn't seem to attack until the plant was watered, then the plant started to curl within a day or two.
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You will definitely notice webs with spider mites, if you're not seeing them you can rule them out.
 
ktrain said:
You will definitely notice webs with spider mites, if you're not seeing them you can rule them out.
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ktrain said:
yeah...insecticidal soap is really good at controlling them.
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thank you!
whatever they are, the IPA seemed to do the trick. i think i am going to try the insecticidal soap mix suggested in the video in this post:
RandyK

Thread 'Treating Spider Mites'

It was suggested the I create a topic on treating spider mites.  Almost a year ago I developed a really bad infestation of spider mites on my fig cuttings that I was rooting in a grow room.  The cuttings were on a heat mat and under grow lights.  I had never had spider mites, so was completely unaware of what they were, what they look like and what they would do to my plants.  And they developed and spread very quickly.  Suddenly all of my cuttings were struggling and looked like they were going to fail.  When I finally examined them closely and researched on the internet what could be...
  • Like
that seems like it will have a better long term effect than IPA. it should also be useful for the mildew i seem to have problems with every year with my squash.
it would be nice if i could ID them but i have wasted hours and i'm getting nowhere.
 
figuringIt said:
thank you!
whatever they are, the IPA seemed to do the trick. i think i am going to try the insecticidal soap mix suggested in the video in this post:
RandyK

Thread 'Treating Spider Mites'

It was suggested the I create a topic on treating spider mites.  Almost a year ago I developed a really bad infestation of spider mites on my fig cuttings that I was rooting in a grow room.  The cuttings were on a heat mat and under grow lights.  I had never had spider mites, so was completely unaware of what they were, what they look like and what they would do to my plants.  And they developed and spread very quickly.  Suddenly all of my cuttings were struggling and looked like they were going to fail.  When I finally examined them closely and researched on the internet what could be...
  • Like
that seems like it will have a better long term effect than IPA. it should also be useful for the mildew i seem to have problems with every year with my squash.
it would be nice if i could ID them but i have wasted hours and i'm getting nowhere.
Click to expand...
This is what I have been using.
But people can definitely make their own.

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