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Will active cuttings root?

14 years ago

Hello,

I'm currently on a working vacation and have been able to get some cuttings from a few fig trees. The trees are fully leafed out and even have some unripened fruits on them. What I've done is removed the leaves and figs, wrapped the bottom halves in wet paper towel and put them in gallon ziploc bags. I'm hoping to see these cuttings sprout some roots, what are the chances that they will actually root?

Curious,

Little John

Comments (9)

AmericanFigLover
14 years ago
Yes they will root if you perform the right process. i just got finish confirming this. i too was taking active cutting. click the link below to read other post made on the fig4forums
website

Here is a link that might be useful: A green cutting
wildforager
Original Author
14 years ago
Great!! Thanks for the link, I checked it out and I've got my fingers crossed. Next, I hope I can start to ID these cuttings when they leaf out or set fruit.

Peace,
Little John
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oxankle
14 years ago
Figboy:
The link refers to "green cuttings". Just how green can they be?

Shoots on figs here range from soft green tips on down thru green with flecks of brown where the shoots are beginning to lignify.

From reading the link you posted I gather that some of these cuttings are terminal shoots, which would be very soft and green. Are these the shoots you are rooting in water, or do you take them from farther down the stem?

I like the idea of rooting figs in water; it extends the opportunity to take cuttings.
Ox
AmericanFigLover
14 years ago
you can root them in water but just change the water every two days or so. I don't think it matters how green as long as we chill it but not freeze it. I put some in refrigerator and the leaves were still alive. I rooted two in water but as soon as the little white bumps showed up I put them in soil or your favorite rooting medium.
danab_z9_la
14 years ago
You water rooters might try this.........get a small aquarium pump and aerate the water in which you are rooting your cuttings. Also, you might add some 3% peroxide solution to the water.

I have not tried this technique. However; from my fig research activities, I do know that the rate of root growth is a function of the oxygen content within the rooting media. Aerating the water will drastically increase the oxygen content. The peroxide will help keep micro organisms from growing in that water.

Anyone trying this technique please let me know how it worked for you.

Dan
oxankle
14 years ago
Dan:
Did your research result in any opinion as to whether or not a positive moist airflow thru the rooting medium would be helpful?
Ox
danab_z9_la
14 years ago
Ottawan,

I have done experiments where I increased the oxygen content of the rooting environment and another where I significantly decreased it. The idea came to me from the practice of air spiking of Greenhouses with Carbon Dioxide to increase PLANT growth. I thought, why not try increasing oxygen content of a cutting's environment to increase ROOT growth. One of my goals is to develop a reliable single node rooting procedure and I wanted to better understand a bit about the effects of oxygen variability.

I have not tried pumping air thru the bed for fear of producing either too much condensation or damaging desiccation. It might be an interesting experiment if the flow is kept rather low to minimize those negative effects.

For the hobbyist, unblocked holes in the rooting cups and a light rooting mix is all that is really needed to insure sufficient oxygen exits in the rooting bed.

Dan
gorgi
14 years ago
What happened to the old fashioned slow but reliable
way/method where twigs were just stuck in the soil in
the fall and then they rooted by next spring?

Newbies should not be intimated by excess tech words...
danab_z9_la
14 years ago
Yes, rooting cuttings is very easy and there is nothing wrong with older proven methods. However, trying new methods and techniques is fun & some like quicker results with a much higher sucess rate. It should not be intiminating to anyone to read about the variables and science of rooting.

Dan

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