Hi Token,
yes i have seen this method on another type of forum but it was about marijuana propagating i stumbled acoss. Never the less it was an experiment useing 9 different methods which i must say caught my interest and was very good reading the methods which could be applied to ficus carica im sure at least in the fresh cuttings aspect. One of the methods was similar to yours and looking at all the pictures which there are many seemed to have worked well. Another which i'm recently experimenting with useing gel2 root cups did absolutely nothing for his experiment( ouch for me) i currently have dormant scion in 2 cups. If anyone is interested in these methods which i would think would do good with fresh fig cuttings during the season you can message me and i will give the link.
I just cant post it here an offend anyone , but i just look past that aspect with an open mind in propagating ficus carica.
Best Health
Martin

Fascinating.

Diesler, did you try any of the methods that you found?

C.J.

Get that thing potted in a well-draining mix. It's good to go.

I have one comment which may need input from experts.
I see that this cutting is feeding too many shoots buds at the same time it is rooting. I have this feeling that removing some shoots at this time may help.
I have never faced similar situation of so many active shoot buds so I am not saying it from experience but just by deduction. Do not act on what I am suggesting unless confirmed by others and if you feel satisfied.

Jenia im useing the gel2root cups as i mentioned . I found those before the site i mentioned.I dont root so many cuttings anymore but if i did i would definetly try this way it seems interesting and most of all would be fun for me which is important.

Token28001 , if it were mine and nothing special to lose for trying i would give it more time to see what happens to it if left a little longer but thats just me i like to see what can happen if i push things a little. If you want a plant though pot it up in your favorite potting mixture whatever that may be.

Jenia
Token28001 system he built is similar to what is called
EZ Cloner which works on a spray system going off and on, keeps roots in the dark and the top part of plant exposed in a controlled humidity enviorment under lights.

Ottawan im not expert but i will chime in ,i have one particular plant last season but the scion was longer a solid 10 inches to a footlong fron ucdavis called santa cruz dark i posted last season of figs4fun sight that had many buds start opening and i left them, the root system kept growing well and held the leaves when they opened. Turned out to be a beautiful plant. For me only and not advice i always let them be i dont cut the leaves only if im trying something with a particular problem plant.I do cut the little figs that sometimes grow on scion thats trying to root.

Martin, It's funny you mention that because when I went looking for instructions to build a cloner, I found one that linked back here to Gardenweb and a hundred others that were on cannabis forums. I built mine to increase my rooting percentages in summer. I've got about a 90% success rate with softwood cuttings. Failures often come from mold developing.

EZCloner is the one professional cloner that I found. It's expensive.

I have taken several tiny figs from the cutting already. The leaves are still tiny, and the cloner does sit under lights where I keep my overwintering tender plants. For now, I'm going to leave them. Most times, rooted cuttings will put out leaf growth that is smaller until the roots have had a chance to catch up. My brugmansia do this all the time in the cloner.

I'll do what satellitehead suggests and move it to a soil mix today.

Congratulations token28001. Any chance you have pic's on your cloner set up. I would like to have fun experimenting. Thanks.

Here's what I posted a while back somewhere else for others. I also posted about it on the propagation forum when I first built it.

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Mine cost about $50 to build. Get two Sterlite sweater boxes that are the same size. They will both be translucent. One needs to be painted black to protect the rooting plants from light. Mine came with white lids. This is what you will be making.

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In the painted one, place two aquarium wands and a heater. The wands will be attached to an air pump. I recently bought a timer for mine. It came from Lowe's. It has 48 on/off switches. Mine runs 30 minutes, and is off for 30 minutes. It repeats this cycle 24/7/365. The heater is preset to 78 degrees.

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The unpainted box is used as a cover to hold in humidity. It just rests on top of the white lid which will be drilled to hold your cuttings. The 57 holes in mine are 9/16" diameter and are staggered to allow the cuttings more room.

To hold the cuttings in place, I went to the Dollar Store on a hunt. I found some foam hair rollers. They come 10 to a bag.

When you take a roller apart, the foam has a hole in it already.

I cut mine into 1" sections. There will be small pieces left. I save those for tiny, tender cuttings like pennyroyal and creeping jenny. I slice through the hole creating a C-shaped bit of foam. This cut will allow you to remove the rooted cutting from the foam without damaging the tender roots.

The cutting is inserted into the foam which is then inserted into the holes I drilled in the white lid.

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From underneath, you can see the roots.

From the top, the cuttings. You can also see the upside down clear container that I'm holding up with my other hand. There's a lot of moisture on the inside of the container. That keeps the cuttings from wilting.

I am using no chemicals this time. I have found that adding rooting hormones or transplant solution increases the algae. The light is on a 12/12 cycle. Not much light is needed for the cuttings. You're not trying to grow more leaves yet, though some cuttings will leaf out while rooting.

I've been most successful rooting herbaceous plants. Hard, old growth wood takes longer, and has often rotted before rooting. I hope the timer on the air pump will reduce some of that by giving the cuttings wet/dry periods rather than constant wet. I've used it for tomatoes, petunias, salvias, brugmansias, vitex, viburnum, gardenias, etc and on and on. I've even rooted pyracantha in the dead of winter taking cuttings on a below freezing morning.

Best of all, it's cheap, easy, and it works more often than not. I hope that helps.

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One problem with the fig cutting, the holes are too small. There's barely enough room for the cutting without roots, so I have to be extra careful when I remove the rooted pieces. I still use the foam rollers to hold them in place, I just don't push it through the hole. I wrap the foam around the cutting and let it balance.

Token28001,
first i like to thank you for taking the time to post the pictures. In my opinion you did a very fine job of building a cloner. Yes all the forums ive been reading rave about how this setup works well for them with green cuttings of all sorts and you prove it works well. I only wish i would have done this years ago. Im not really rooting fig scion much anymore but its an idea for veggies if i choose cause it would be fun this way . Im very familar with aquarium supplies as i had a 55g for almost 20 years.
My hats off to you there on a very nice inexpensive setup that WORKS and can root many pieces and really takes up very little space in the home. Way to go.
Martin

Thanks token 28001.It was detailed. Very interesting. I have the aquarium, air pumps & heater. Will gather other stuff this weekend. I like the idea that you can view the roots. I have done well using water in aquarium to root last season. This season I switch to spaghnum moss for precious cuttings to check rot. Anyway I have a spare small aquariumm & soon a new toy. A question --- is the water preheat or just the air temp set to 78*F. Last year when I was rooting in water I think I set water temp to 72*F. I like to root a bunch of Desert King and encourage my friends to grow figs.

Good work token 28001

Thanks for posting the great info & photos

Cecil

Paully, the heater that I bought is preset, so I can't adjust it. It's a little too high, IMO. But it still works. The air temperature varies with the basement temperature, but is usually 60-80. Sometimes, when the wood heater in the opposite corner is really fired up, the basement can get closer to 90. But the inverted "top" container seems to do a good job keeping the cuttings from frying. And the humid environment really keeps things from wilting.

I've got some issues with my cutting. I potted it up as mentioned. It's lost 2 of the tiny leaves over the past couple of days. I decided to remove it from the cup it's in to see if there were roots. Well, there are.

This is 4 days later. It was potted on the 18th.

Any ideas why the leaves are falling off? I had this same problem last year with cuttings that rooted. They eventually all fell off and the cutting died. I have moved it to an indoor light rack where the fluorescent run on a 12/12 cycle. It's not lack of humidity for sure. Any advice?

This one, the leaves at the tip of the cutting fell off. The green tip is getting a little larger. The cutting still feels solid. I think my mix is too wet.

Hi Token28001,
i could be wrong , looking at your picture it does look like it was pulled from mix that was to wet. What can happen then is the wood right above the roots will start to soften then steadily get worse if kept in a mix thats too wet. If you think your mix is too wet you can get a bowl get some dry mix and slowly add water , you can use a spray bottle to add the water as your mixing with one of your hands just so its all damp only and will hold barely together when squeezeing some together . It does not take much at all as at this stage the roots just do not take up much water when they are that small.
Martin

Great stuff...thank you for taking the time to post.

FYI---I am on my second generation cloner. Unlike you, I am not prepared at this time to reveal the specifics of what I have been working on.

Re your question....what you have developed on that stick are "water roots" (roots adapted to very moist conditions). Look at them under magnification (if you have such) and compare those roots to other roots and you will see the difference. Now you are transitioning from a very moist rooting environment to a drier environment.....and those roots will be changing function. Like any root hardening off process it takes a bit of time for them to adapt.....leaves falling off are often part of the process until the leaves are in balance with the total mass and function of the root system.

Dan

So I need a drier mix. Got it. Thanks. I'll do that this evening and see if it helps.