Welcome to the forum. The main reason UCGs get so much discussion is that you can get large amounts of theem for free from Starbucks. It also takes more coffee grounds to make a pot of coffee than the amount of tea leaves you'd get from a comparable number of cups of tea. As the others have said, you can compost these, bags and all (except for the nylon ones--I wasn't aware of those until I read that post). As Kimmsr said, it's tough to tell what went wrong with your first effort without more detail. Even if you do something "wrong" you should eventually get compost. If it's way too dry and there's very little nitrogen, it could take a few years, but there's an acronym that's often touted here--IALBTC (It All Leads Back To Compost). As far as whether you should buy, build or both, I bought a small bin mostly because my wife didn't want a pile. I've never used a tumbler, and they tend to be too expensive for my taste. If I had the room, now that I've seen them, I'd probably build a pallet bin or a wire mesh round bin (with hardware cloth or something like it).

I just had to say thanks for this post Leon. I had done a few air layers in the past with grape vines but never with figs. this past season I air layered about 10 off of one tree that I wanted to share with friends and they came out great. Your pictures are so clear and tell the complete story. The only thing I changed was on horizontal branches I used a water bottle cut in half lengthwise. It was easier to get the soil to stay in place. Below is pictures of one such success. I've shared your pictures with others that were interested and they also found them so clear and helpful. Once again Thanks, "gene" This airlayer was started on July 22 and cut off on Oct. 16. I let it go for 11 weeks because of it's size. My grandson holding up a very nice one. The root ball

Kali, An own root rose can have all cankered/black canes to the ground, but below ground life can, and often does persist. As the weather warms, shoots begin to emerge at ground level. Good, you think, the bush made it, so you think. A couple disheartening things often occur, though. The bush, depending on its age and how healthy it was when it went into the killer winter, is often so weakened by that winter, that the new growth it makes from below ground is very weak. The bush usually just limps along all season to die completely after the following winter. Alternately, in many cases I have had, "dead to the ground roses," regrow from the ground only to wither and shrivel up dead in a couple week's time that same growing season. A grafted rose is a wait and see situation if it appears all the canes above the graft are destroyed. There could still be live scion tissue inside that bud union that will spring forth fresh shoots shortly. You just have to wait and see. If fresh shoots come from below the bud union, emerging from the rootstock, then the new growth is the rootstock's, not the scion's. That bush gets dug out and pitched. If the rose sends out new shoots from the bud union, it should do so by the 4th. of July. I know it's a long wait, but I think it's worth the wait, especially for a beloved, mature bush. Sometimes a rough winter will kill all the canes, but new shoots will come from the bud union. This is good. However, the shock of the severe winter may also send a message to the rootstock to send out rootstock shoots too! You have to watch for suspicious looking growth that comes from below ground on a grafted rose whose canes all die back, but sends out good new shoots from the graft, and shoots from below the graft, from the rootstock. Any rootstock shoots need to be pushed down, not cut out, yes pushed down! If you cut them out, you often leave a piece of stump which will regrow quickly. Dig down with a trowel until you see where the shoot emerges from the rootstock. To detach the shoot, push the shoot down hard exactly where it attaches to the rootstock. It will break away clean, leaving no stump, often tearing a piece of rootstock along with it, that's good. Do not pull the shoot. It will snap and leave a stump which will regrow a new shoot. Hope I hit the target with these explanations. Moses

What Esther is talking about are NOT Spinout bags, they'd be something like the Hydro Crunch Planters you can buy at Home Depot, not the same thing. I have no experience with these, but I am using Spinout bags, in the ground, under some Arborvitae, and they do their intended job very well. For what Esther's looking to do I suspect the Hydro Crunch ones would do nicely. Pieter