I was going to say it was rain, but then I remembered you said clear. Everyone knows that rain is dingy yellow.

I seem to remember you writing previously that you leave the bottom inch unwrapped so the cutting would callous on the end. Now we see roots growing from the base. Are you getting as much rooting action under the paper towel?

thanks,
~james

Yes and no. You can see that there are root initials (little white bumps) all the way up, right up to the growing tip. I have had some twigs which were cut on both ends that had good roots on both ends. Generally there are less root under the paper towel, but not always. Some varieties ONLY root at the bottom tip, and some form initials or roots literally over the entire surface of the bark from one end to the other; some form root only at the very bottom end, some only at a leaf node, some anywhere - not two varieties or cuttings behave quite the same. The point of leaving the bottom exposed is to allow the bottom of the cutting to harden off or callous over, which prevents or discourages uptake of infectious agents, which encourage mold and rot.

3 1/2 weeks ago I placed 12 Fall cuttings of 4 varieties of figs, wrapped in barely moist paper towels, inside plastic bags, as you have described. They were kept in an interior bathroom with temp of about 80F. After three weeks I have plenty of white, amorphous growth, and not one single root. Some of the white growth is now turning brown. Before putting them in plastic I dipped them in 9:1 water/clorox, and shook them, then let them dry. Could residual clorox have been the problem. I have NO mold, and 8 of the cuttings have budded about an inch, so they are not dead. I might add that I have NEVER had any luck with Fall cuttings, only with early Spring cuttings, no matter what propogation system I use.....Elder

Elder,

Some cuttings get a lot of initials (amorphous bumps) and when they have a lot of this growth, I go ahead and pot them up in the vermiculite, and they go from there. Each variety and each twig seems to have its' own personality.

I also have fig cutting in a plastic bag with a paper towel around it. I also dipped the cutting in a water/clorox solution. They have been in that bag since January 16th under an electric blanket. So far I see some little orange specks on some of them, but that is all. Are these orange specks amorphos growth?

Vern

In my experience they are white.

In my limited experience fat white roots are very good
news, on the other hand, (new) brown thin roots are
usually bad news...

OK, will pot them up and see if any roots start. The buds are already an inch long on several cuttings.....Elder

Inch long? I'm thinking that's a root.

No, the buds I'm talking about are green leaves and terminal bud growth, the initials (as you call the amorphous, white growth) maybe have grown to 1/32 of an inch, but without anything I could call root growth.....Elder

I had three cuttings in the bag,by the bag method,Soilless'from the 16Th of Januarie,2007,on cement,next to heating furnace,and when i checked now :
No roots,all,three, are 100 percent Dead.!!!!!.

Here are thre pix about 6 weeks after putting them in the bag:

Herman, sounds like they were too hot. I have some growing roots on my desk right now, at only 68 degrees. Something in the 70s seems to work well.

Pit,
Sorry if it's elementary, but at what point do you transfer the cutting from the bag into the clear cup?
And you punch some drainage holes in the bottom of the cup of straight vermiculite,right?

Hopefully I've got some cuttings from UC Davis headed my way and need a "plan".

Glenn,

Depending on what area of LA you are in, you may want to use something other than Vermiculite for rooting in. In Houston (humid humid humid), I used a mix of 1/3V and 2/3Perlite and felt it held too much moisture. I am going to try straight Perlite as well as a mix in which the Vermiculite is traded for expanded shale.

~james

I'm in Monroe, James; about midway of the state on I-20.
We've been in Houston off and on for the past 18 months taking my wife to MD Anderson, and I believe your humidity is generally higher than ours.
IF my cuttings arrive in a few days (I had an email response to an inquiry on 1-17-2007 indicating that they should ship in three weeks) I should be able to get them rooted and in pots by early April. From there, in a short time I should be able to put them in the ground after I develop the site further. Need to raise the areas for planting a bit and recheck my drainage as we get a lot of water at times.

Always need drain holes in whatever container it is in - cup, 1 gallon, etc. To much moisture (standing in water) is a killer.

I am tranferring from bag to cup when I take these photos. Usually takes 3 to 5 weeks in the bag.

Root formation requires moisture and air, so your rooting mix needs something to hold some moisture (or a very humid environment, such as a greenhouse), and porosity to allow air in the root zone (coarseness of the media accomplishes this). The COARSE vermiculite does both. If the vermiculite is not coarse enough, it will hold too much moisture.

And, just when you thought (hoped) that this thread might have suffered a peaceful demise - one of the four varieties I had tried rooting in plastic bags is Danny's Delite. I potted all my cuttings, as per suggestion, and discoved that all three of the DD's had little figs growing on them, no roots, no green bud growth, just immature figs. I hope that's indicative of production potential.....Elder

I gently snip those little figlets off. Too much energy into fruit buds and not enough for growth of the cutting. They will eventually fall off anyway.

Elder, remove the figs immediately - they only use energy that needs to go to roots and leaves. You don't want a breba crop right now.

Leon and John, Thanks for confirming that I actually did something right, snipped the little devils off as soon as I identified what they were. But, still wonder if this shows a propensity for production.....Elder