Kevin, Good questions. I wouldn't be overly concerned about rootstock. While rootstocks can convey characteristics like tree size reduction, increased precocity, cold tolerance, water tolerance, etc., unless you have a specific need, standard roots will do fine. Konrad offered some good information as usual, although I might question that poor vigor is a problem with fruit trees on their own roots. A big part of the reason nurseries suggest planting the graft union above the soil line on dwarf trees is so the scion portion doesn't root out and cause the tree to lose it's dwarfing characteristics. Here's a little background. Rootstocks dwarf by nature of some degree of incompatibility with the scion. This incompatibility disrupts the flow of carbohydrates and other nutrients producing a smaller sized tree. There is good research indicating the larger the portion of dwarf rootstock sticking up out of the ground, the greater the degree of incompatibility. Limiting the nutrient flow can cause positive things like increasing cold tolerance (i.e. forcing the tree into dormancy earlier) but many times it produces a more delicate tree requiring a higher level of management. Perhaps a biological analogy would be raising two children, one with optimum nutrition, the other on half rations. In most cases, the less fortunate child would be weaker, smaller, more prone to illness, and shorter lived. Sometimes the degree of incompatibility is too great, causing either long term graft failure or simply breakage at the graft union. Occasionally a rootstock will increase the flow of nutrients compared to a standard rootstock and produce a larger more vigorous tree. This happens only seldom. Generally it's the other way around. Naturally one might expect the fruit to be smaller on dwarf trees as well, but this is not the case. The reason being that most of the energy going into the fruit comes from the leaves, not the roots. In fact, the leaves export a significant amount of energy into the roots. That's why partially girdling a branch (i.e. choking it with a wire) will generally produce bigger fruit on that branch. The leaves use all their energy for the fruit with little or nothing to the root. This is also the reason some dwarf roots will produce marginally larger fruit. More leaf energy goes to the fruit and less to the roots. In times past, people were much less concerned about rootstock. Grafted apples were on seedling rootstock from Red Delicious apples. The primary reason Red Delicious seed was used was because Red Delicious was the most apple, and therefore the most common seed. Processing plants could collect large volumes of seed as they processed the apples The seed was inexpensive to purchase and trees performed fairly consistently on the rootstock. Same thing with peaches. Lovell rootstock was popularized because Lovell used to be a popular canning peach. Canners could sell the seed inexpensively. As far as I know, Lovell isn't canned today, but the seed hasn't lost popularity. Halford is still commercially canned today and is also a popular roostock. I grow my own peach roostock and haven't noticed any difference in performance from my own seedling rootstock and other more popular rootstocks like Halford, Lovell, etc. What you have described above is indeed called air layering. The reason most trees are not propagated by air layering is because it's much more economical to graft and success rates are generally higher. Lastly as an interesting aside, in rare cases the rootstock can convey it's own traits to the fruit. Tomatoes can be grafted onto poisonous nightshade plants (to which they are closely related). If grafted, the tomatoes will contain some of the poisonous alkaloids found in the rootstock.

Thanks Michal, one can tell that he is not to experienced with figs, i love the video and the way he did things "SIMPLE" and nothing fancy. He tried and and proved how tough these plants are, he was patient and took the time to show us the stages of what he actually did. Could he improve yes but in my opinion he showed many how its possible and let us not forget this way His way of doing things and it worked. Sometimes people forget this was his way and say this and that can be improved and he picked figs not fully ripe as one could see the latex dripping over skin of fig he had picked but he's happy and to me thats the biggest pleasure. In the end he made 2 new plants out of 2 cuttings no matter how long it took it worked. Experimenting is part of the fun. Martin

Amber could use a Simon Cowell/Mom's advice but she doesn't take criticism very well. She's been offered a singing contract twice and turned it down both times. I think it's because she doesn't have a passion for singing. She does so many other things (dance and fashion design) that she can't seem to focus on one thing. I think she turned the contracts down because she didn't like having to deal with a voice coach and the work that goes along with being a singer. She has her own unique style and doesn't want anyone trying to break it. That's my DD, stubborn as ever. :-) I really like her other song much better but it's audio only and I can't remember where I uploaded it to. Jodi-

ophoenix, I didn't mean that they started to look worse after I cut them. They were already looking worse without me doing anything. So I cleaned the shears and cut the leaves. Now I'll wait and see what happens. I left the little leaves (new growth) on top alone. The azaelas and sedum seem to be doing great, so it seems endless summer hydrangeas are pretty picky compared to them. I'm not too worried about the azaela or sedum though. Azaelas are everywhere and I only took the sedum because my neighbor offered it. I mostly want a purple hydra. I can always buy one in the spring but its fun to experiment with cuttings. Its funny how each plant acts differently. I turned 1 rose of sharon into 10 just by cutting off a branch and plopping it into the ground. No help whatsoever. Just put a dead stick next to it and roped it for the 1st year to keep it upright. 5 years later and they are all still alive, very bushy, and blooming like crazy. That's the easiest plant ever to propagate. I wish they were all that easy lol.