What’s bugging my cuttings?

FIGSinGA

FIGSinGA

Member
Hello good people of figlandia!

My cuttings are rooting and leafing out nicely after a month, but a couple are showing issues at the tips of the leaves, particularly new leaves. Thoughts? Treatments?

Grow tent is kept mid to upper 70s, humidity varies from 40-90%.

Thanks all!
 

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We could use the shotgun approach. You're out camping you hear a noise in a bush the noise continues all night. The next night the noise continues you just take out your shotgun and fire a couple times into the bush. In the morning you'll see what made the noise, problem solved. It looks like a nitrogen deficiency to me. Are you fertilizing these cuttings at all? What's the rooting mix they're growing in? It doesn't look like bugs to me. But it's hard to say when we don't have a picture or three of the underside of the leaves. I usually like to treat leafing cuttings with wettable sulfur 1 percent suspended in solution with yucca extract or something else that will suspend wettable sulfur in solution. Your cups do not appear to be sealed so dipping them would be problematic. It would be great if you got us some pictures of the underside of the leaves. Several pictures not just one.
 
Are you giving them enough water. Leaf curling up may be under watering, curling downwards maybe over watering. If it’s something else another member might know what.
 
Try a neem oil solution as a foliar spray every couple days. Hard to tell exactly what is the issue with the pictures you posted and them being so young still. But if it’s a pest issue, neem solution would help get rid of it. If that doesn’t go away then it could be lighting / water issue. I personally don’t know myself though
 
Thanks for all the feedback thus far. Roots vary from cutting to cutting. Here are more pictures.
 

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I’d keep it simple. Ease up on the watering over the next week or so to see if conditions improve. I typically wait 8-10 weeks after sticking the cutting to start watering generously.
 
FIGSinGA said:
Thanks for all the feedback thus far. Roots vary from cutting to cutting. Here are more pictures.
Click to expand...
Now that I see these pictures, did those leaves fall off or did you cut them off? My very first ever cutting I rooted I had no idea what I was doing. It was doing good then the leaves started to curl and fall off. Then I noticed a little while later the entire cutting was covered with spider webbing. That’s when I found out about spider mites. The cutting died. Thank god I found a forum.
 
Figgerlickinggood said:
Now that I see these pictures, did those leaves fall off or did you cut them off? My very first ever cutting I rooted I had no idea what I was doing. It was doing good then the leaves started to curl and fall off. Then I noticed a little while later the entire cutting was covered with spider webbing. That’s when I found out about spider mites. The cutting died. Thank god I found a forum.
Click to expand...
I cut them off so everyone could see the underside of the leaves.
 
The issue isn’t that bad and definitely not detrimental. If you do nothing, they will be fine.

It’s not from insects. Mites cause a rust color. Gray is from the leaf tissue dying.

That can be caused from excess moisture being on those parts of the leaves, whether through too much humidity, foliar sprays or from touching a surface, like plastic.

Gray, dry tips can also be from calcium deficiency. This could be because the cuttings are adjusting since they are newly rooted. Or it could be they need a little calcium added.
 
Figless said:
We could use the shotgun approach. You're out camping you hear a noise in a bush the noise continues all night. The next night the noise continues you just take out your shotgun and fire a couple times into the bush. In the morning you'll see what made the noise, problem solved. It looks like a nitrogen deficiency to me. Are you fertilizing these cuttings at all? What's the rooting mix they're growing in? It doesn't look like bugs to me. But it's hard to say when we don't have a picture or three of the underside of the leaves. I usually like to treat leafing cuttings with wettable sulfur 1 percent suspended in solution with yucca extract or something else that will suspend wettable sulfur in solution. Your cups do not appear to be sealed so dipping them would be problematic. It would be great if you got us some pictures of the underside of the leaves. Several pictures not just one.
Click to expand...
They are rooted in peat and perlite, with a smidge of potting soil, then covered in perlite. No fertilizer yet, only 5 weeks in. I've only watered twice.
 
I tend to agree with @bushdoctor82. What's going on above ground is most often a symptom of what's happening underground... which is more important... especially at this stage. Your roots look good. Water along the sides, away from the main stem over the roots. Use a very weak fert.

Did you change anything recently? Light? Position? Feeding? Watering? More abrasive language? Figs hate change and drama
 
I fertilize from the beginning. My personal favorite is the weakest strength synthetic fertilizer then cut by 50%, so really light fertigation. Also my favorite extreme MYCO the pelletized formula But I use a mineral soil which contains basically no nourishment. I like synthetic fertilizers which contain a small amount of salt to force impregnation into the cells of the young rooting cuttings. This gets an uptake of nutrients into the cells from the start. Synthetic formulas like potassium chloride, nitrogen plus trace minerals that will all get up took into the cells. Helping to force explosive growth. I have been known to switch, back and forth between organic and synthetic fertilizers I tend to treat even mineral soils to a couple treatments of Gnatrol. It's my personal belief that Gnats are present in the bag soil that we bring home to use in our propagation centers. My first treatment of Gnatrol is applied before the cuttings are put into the propagation potting mix. I only apply a couple of times, the first before the application of cuttings.
 
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@Inflorescence said
The issue isn’t that bad and definitely not detrimental. If you do nothing, they will be fine.

It’s not from insects. Mites cause a rust color. Gray is from the leaf tissue dying.

That can be caused from excess moisture being on those parts of the leaves, whether through too much humidity, foliar sprays or from touching a surface, like plastic.

Gray, dry tips can also be from calcium deficiency. This could be because the cuttings are adjusting since they are newly rooted. Or it could be they need a little calcium added.

Unless it's Gnats I begin to wonder about calcium magnesium, and nitrogen deficiencies. I just looked above, and noticed @Inflorescence is in this conversation as well, she's probably right about a calcium magnesium deficiency. She usually is spot on, let's invite@Charlie Dodgson as well to take a look at the start of this thread. There is definitely something going on with the very tops of the leaves.
 
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BNaula1 said:
Try a neem oil solution as a foliar spray every couple days. Hard to tell exactly what is the issue with the pictures you posted and them being so young still. But if it’s a pest issue, neem solution would help get rid of it. If that doesn’t go away then it could be lighting / water issue. I personally don’t know myself though
Click to expand...
I hate Horticultural oils they tend to promote burning. Brian couldn't we try something else? How about Azatrol, or Azamax?
BNaula1 said:
Try a neem oil solution as a foliar spray every couple days. Hard to tell exactly what is the issue with the pictures you posted and them being so young still. But if it’s a pest issue, neem solution would help get rid of it. If that doesn’t go away then it could be lighting / water issue. I personally don’t know myself though
Click to expand...
 
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