rooting fig cuttings

Figgerlickinggood

Figgerlickinggood

Well-known member
there's one thing I could never figure out,  when rooting cuttings in medium the soil must be just moist enough to hold together otherwise the cutting will rot.  now this is the part I could never figure out.  if TOO MUCH WATER in the medium rots the cutting then how is it able to root in a glass of WATER and not rot?
 
@"Figgerlickinggood"#7 @"Figology"#21 I just lost a test run of water cuttings, but I did them Outdoors, and I didn't switch out the water often enough. Going to try some root riot compressed peat moss Cube cutting's next. I refuse to try Rockwell starter cubes. Because I think the interface between the Rockwell cubes and the soil will always be a Contagion for rot. Soil and Rockwell are not a good combination for plant roots.
 
@"Figgerlickinggood"#7 God Bless You I'm going to looking for that video tonight. Teresa I've been getting teased un-mercifully by my friends for buying some root riot cubes, and trays for my experiment. To be honest I don't see why it can't work. I just don't think it's going to work Outdoors. I've done more Rockwell Cube propagation then people would believe, but there's always a little root rot, or root Contagion that forms in the interface between Rockwell cubes, and potting soil. It's well known in hemp growing circles. Rockwell cubes are virtually useless for propagating fruit trees. That's why I want to try root Riot cubes. Because the compressed peat should not cause this same irritation, or Contagion between compressed peat moss cubes, and peat moss containing potting soil.
 
Figless said:
@"Figgerlickinggood"#7 God Bless You I'm going to looking for that video tonight. Teresa I've been getting teased un-mercifully by my friends for buying some root riot cubes, and trays for my experiment. To be honest I don't see why it can't work. I just don't think it's going to work Outdoors. I've done more Rockwell Cube propagation then people would believe, but there's always a little root rot, or root Contagion that forms in the interface between Rockwell cubes, and potting soil. It's well known in hemp growing circles. Rockwell cubes are virtually useless for propagating fruit trees. That's why I want to try root Riot cubes. Because the compressed peat should not cause this same irritation, or Contagion between compressed peat moss cubes, and peat moss containing potting soil.
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Those little cubes are not peat moss they are little sponges and once the cuttings root they sprout out in all directions through the sponges and then you can’t get it off the cutting.
 
The water isn’t what is rotting the cuttings. It’s the breakdown or composting action of the wet potting mix. Having a wet potting mix without a lot of pockets for air creates an airless environment which causes the potting mix material to start to decompose and break down. This brings in the bacteria to help eat up the dying material, and the bacteria make the environment even more airless and hot. The cutting being in an airless, composting environment starts to die itself, and this is what causes rot, especially if the cutting already had some weakness.

Water does not compost or die, so it does not induce rot, unless the cutting itself has dying material.
 
I would say water alone is a very selective media.  In microbiology, when we wanted to test for certain organisms vs others, we would sometimes use agars or growth media that contained a very sparse or few types of nutrients - a nutrient deficient media. 

They more basic and fewer nutrients you include, the fewer types of organisms there are that can live there (always a few though, it seems).  The more complete the growth media, the more types of (potentially harmful) of organisms that can grow.

They will rot in water also.  If it's breaking down cellulose, it's probably a yeast/fungus.  But bacteria and (and everything else) would love the sugars in the sap and they can quickly infiltrate the stem - this is what makes your flowers wilt in plain water.  
Florists use preservative solutions that usually contain sugar, acidifiers and biocides to make commercial cut-flowers last longer.  The chlorine in the tap water mostly dissipates in about a day once it is dispensed into an open container, but it should help to disinfect the cutting if replaced regularly (every other day at least).  
The UV light and oxygen levels are also different in a saturated medium vs water jar, leading to more anaerobic conditions if the medium is too wet (or if you never change the water in the jar). 

I wonder if adding a phyto-friendly disinfectant, like a quaternary amine, and perhaps sugar/honey (as suggested once by @"Figaholics"#29 ) would increase rooting percentage in water, along with daily water changes.

The trick part seems up potting, since the adventitous "water roots" breakoff pretty easily and the transition to soil seems tougher than if they were rooted directly and the cutting can remain in the same container (e.g. 4"x9" treepot) until rootbound with significant top growth and still be up potted with minimal root disturbance.  This seems like less work and less chance for failure.

The key, as has been mentioned, is getting the initial water content right and keeping humidity very high (in the root zone), temp around 75°F and "gentle" lighting.  We hydrate coco coir blocks to field capacity (myco definition, i.e. squeeze test) and add about 30% (by volume) dry material (perlite) for a final water content of around 70% field capacity.  I think most growers have a "method" or go by feel (after you kill enough cuttings, you start to get a clue :)
 
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