Thnx for the explanation Plum!

I just wanted to add that I think Herman was just teasing you, that you 'SHOULD BE' making fun of us, not that you were. Your method just seems so simple and makes such sense that it really makes anyone who tried all those other methods feel.........well, dumb. LOL!

Thnx again, all future cuttings will get that treatment and will report how it pans out for me here in NNJ.

Sherry (et all): The containers I use are called Sterilite, the dimensions are 13" x 8" x 3 1/2". The basic mix is 1/2 Perlite and 1/2 Pro-mix, barely damp (excess dampness causes rot). I use about 2 1/2" of the mix, and put the cutting just under the top of the mix, horizontally. No need to drill any holes, just snap on the lid and keep them warm. No direct sunlight, this will cook them. Yes, I use one cultivar per container, and you can label it on the lid.
These containers are very convenient - they will stack room high (if you're a circus clown), and when roots start to grow you can see them on the sides and the bottom.
When actual bud growth exceeds the height of the lid, just take off the lid; at this time you might have to water, but slightly! When you think your new plants are ready to be put in pots just slowly add water and pour off until you have freed the plants from your mix. I have gotten three little plants from one ten inch cutting, and two plants per cutting is very common.
It is worth repeating - make the soil mix just BARELY DAMP!!!.....Elder (Lou)

During my early spring fig pruning, I just buried some
of the extra cuttings (in horizontal bunches) in my
almost used up compost heap. It is in a rarely visited
and very shady location. Today I went to have a look and
I see many shoots coming up (left part of pic)... They
are from my bigger BT and Celeste trees.

{{gwi:774987}}

I see a looming question - why did you do that, George?
First of all, I have used that same compost (location)
to bury and 'winter' small figs and other plants there.
During the spring fig pruning (buds were already breaking),
I taught that maybe I will be needing some of these exrta
cuttings soon (it turned out not to be the case - hence I
had almost forgotten about them). The fridge seemed not an
option. Now that at least some made it, what should I do
with them!? Should I leave them till next spring or should
I dig them up and transplant them right or kill them?
I gave up giving fig plants to (fig stupid) relatives...

George, the first answer is - NEVER kill a fig until you've first tried to find a home for it!

The second thought is, if you don't have to move them, and you're okay with them growing there until fall when they go dormant, then I'd say let them be. Then dig them up and separate out the roots, pot them and store them (if you've got room), or give them away then. The last and least viable option would be to disturb them now in active growing phase, especially with the heat waves forecast for your area this week and probably lasting through August.

How many individual plants do you think you've got within that group? I wish you could tell which ones were Celeste and which were BT, because I'd like to get a true Celeste, since the two cuttings I have which are labeled as those, are probably not the same fig as Joe (Mountainman) and others have described, and I'd give one of your compost-pile orphans a good home in a heartbeat :).

FYI to Lou (Elder): I was very industrious this weekend using the Plumfan/Elder "bury'em down" method, and discovered that it's amazing what one can re-cycle in terms of plastic containers. I had one Rubbermaid and one Sterilite box of approximately the 13", etc. dimensions, plus had stashes of lightweight lidded containers leftover from when kind people from church had brought meals to our family during a tough situation with one of my kids a few years ago (the containers were about lasagna-sized, of varying depths). Also used were the clear clamshell "boxes" that strawberries are sold in (1 lb. size), a Walmart "to-go" fried chicken container (they're about 12"x6", I'm guessing), and large circular ones from seven-layer bean dip (also a good depth). My one question is: how do these containers "breathe" enough to supply ample oxygen to the cuttings if the lids are on tight? I deferred putting the lids on too snugly, using some plastic wrap as an overlayment against the soil in many cases to trap moisture until the leaves pushed through the dirt, with the lids on loosely for protection against anything smacking the cuttings while they set. But if you've had them grow with the lids on sealing the containers nearly air-tight, let me know, I'd be curious about that.

I moved close to half of a select batch of six to eight cultivars to the horizontal position, burying those of the test batch about an inch down under the mix. I left primarily only the terminal end-tip ones in their upright bottles, except that I used extra potting mix to bury them "to their noses", to eliminate the evaporation problem that Plumfan brought up. I'll be curious to see if there's a significant difference in vertical vs. horizontal, since both batches of cuttings are essentially completely submerged in dirt to allow rooting the entire length of the cutting. My initial guess is that because of the way moisture moves in a potting medium, the horizontal ones have an advantage in having equal moisture at all points along the cutting surface, whereas the vertical ones may have damper regions at the bottom and drier regions near the top. (I used a mix that was roughly equal parts perlite, vermiculite and ProMix, but perhaps slightly more perlite.)

Interestingly, I do agree that the extended refrigeration and then emergence into very walm, humid weather has a stimulating effect on the fig cuttings' length of time to show activity. Of the ones that I'd already set into bottles and put out onto the screened porch (and we've been 80's to 90's daytime since last weekend, when I set up the first batch), many of the terminal end-tip ones have leaves already unfolding, in less than a week's time. I'm hoping that the primo temperature range out on my porch will see a higher rate of rooting, than when I've tried to start cuttings inside and earlier in the season. Of about eight to ten cuttings I started in March, only about four made it (two Golden Celeste, a Nazarti and a Genoa, with only the GC's showing vigor at this point), the rest were once again the victims of that insidious limp-leaved root rot problem that would come out of nowhere. Everything had leafed out, some had decent roots, and then - wham! never know what was off-putting, though for a few, I think it was catching more morning sunlight too soon, for others, maybe just a moisture inbalance. I'll be eager to see how these dormant cuttings, held since February from UC Davis' winter shipment, will do now that they're coming out in July after about five months' refrigeration. Keeping them barely damp, and just that, is going to be critical!

Sherry

Blech, prufreeder brain toasted:

emergence into very walm, humid weather

yeah, that'd be "warm" :)

Sherry: The Sterilite containers I used have the snap-on lids, not the seal-tite lids, and therefore allow some exchange of air. In fact, I originally used them for growing catepillars, so am sure this is the case. As for your other containers, I really have no experience with air tight lids, but would assume (dangerous) you would want to make some arrangement for air exchange. I might add that it would be advisable to clean those 'used' containers with a clorox mixture.....Elder (Lou)

If this is gonna make it to the FAQ, let's make it completely fool proof. Does it matter if the branch you bury sideways is brown or green?

Thanks for the tip Gorgi. I have a huge compost pile that came with the house. I can easily winter a fig tree there. I NEVER thought of that place for this purpose, but it should be an ideal place to protect it.

Sherry,
I haven't done anything to the FAQs page since Spike turned GW over to iVillage, but I just checked access to the edit page and it still seems to be working. If you want to write something up, I'll add it to the FAQs list.

Well as I am just an old country farm boy I just watch my fig tree and when it is at the point of sprouting leaves I select the limb ends that will stand cutting off and not harm the shape of the tree, then take a gallon pot fill it with garden soil then stick the cutting in and water. I then place it in a shady spot and if it dont rain regular I dump in a tea glass of water, dont over water as it wont root if it is too wet. Dont disturbe for at least 1 year.

what other plants can propagate this way? bluberrys?

Time to get busy with the burying...

Just wanted to say that I am in the process of trying to propagate a fig tree. I took about 8 cuttings and I've had them in the fridge for about 17 days. Granted it's july, but would it make sense to try to go ahead and horizontally plant them or should I wait longer? I was thinking garage to get them going where it's humid and a steady warm temperature.

Also, I just purchased a new construction home. Our grass is barely growing, it's mostly sapplings and weeds and vines. One thing I noticed while weeding out some of these small sapplings, is that the majority of them that made it tended to be from broken root segments that were about 1.5 inches below the surface of the soil. Most of them did not yet have root structures but I found it interesting that the ones that were growing happily were the ones that had ended up 'planted' by the bulldozers horrizontally and about 1.5 inches from the soil. It definitely lends some strength to this horrizontal method of planting figs.

One question I had about the horizontal method: If I get these planted horizontally, I should leave them somewhere warm like in a garage and close to sunlight? Or should I keep them in the dark until they root and begin to send out shoots? Should I cover them with plastic or a lid until they begin to leaf? Thanks for all and any help!

I tried just about every method mentioned on this forum to
propagate fig cuttings. The horizontal method worked by far the best for me.

Vern

Question!

I had given up on my horrizontal cuttings, after 2.5 months I hadn't seen anything. Granted I cut them in June, kept them in the fridge for a month, planted in July and just this morning (sep 14th) i noticed a few leaves popping through! I was shocked, I had given up on them! Probably did everything wrong as far as timing as I could but the horrizontal method works!

Question now is how to handle the growth this late in the season. Should I keep them in the garage and let the cooling off of the garage eventually put them into dormancy? I live in NC, the temp won't start really dipping below 60 in there until Late October/early November.

Or should I keep them inside and try to nourish it with light to stimulate a nursery/greenhouse through the winter?

I just don't want to kill off what finally sprouted! Any feedback would be much appreciated, thanks!

Eric

Bump.

Also, any updates from those who have tried this method? I'd be curious to hear your results.

Do you remove any bark from the cutting?

I wanted all to know that this is a most interesting conversation. I have never grown figs before, but since I just got some cuttings, I'm growin em now for sure !! I was just reading up on how to root them and I ran into this. You can bet I'm gonna print this one out and keep it in the fig file. What else do I need to know now?

Thanks to everyone for passing the knowledge along to us that really, really need it. I appreciate it very much.

Linda In NC

I wonder, could you propagate wine grape vines like this? I just may try! I have dozens of cuttings from my vines. All have been calloused, and were cut dormant. I kept the good ones in the fridge to be started in biodegradeable containers, and tossed the junk into a paper bag in the garage. I just peeked into that bag in the garage and I was shocked! They all have bursting buds, and some show roots already. I may lay them down in a little trench and see what happens. I might try it with pomegranates and olives too!

I did a few horizontal cuttings this year and by far they have been the most aggressive cuttings versus the others I did the baggie method, at the same time from the same tree.

OK, so this is probably a dumb question...but before starting Plumfan's technique, do you just put the cuttings in a ziplock in the fridge for the winter?

Thanks!

Ann

Plumfan and Elder
Do either of you use and growth hormones on the cuttings you bury?
If/when I get cuttings from UC Davis will they have been winterized before shipping, or do I need to refrigerate them before burial?
Dan

Hi,

How does one get the end of the cutting to become callused?

Is it best to do that to a cutting, for the best results?

Thanks,

noss

i am very interesting to plant a Fig tree from seeds.I am working in Abu Dhabi and not available fresh Figs in supermarket to get seeds.But dryed Fig available in supermarket as packet.So if i use this dryed Figs seeds,will it germinate or not?Plase help me.Thanks.

I follow a more direct planting method. I scrape about 1" of the bottom of the cutting dip it into rooting compound, and stick the cutting into a pot full of soil. I have tried 60/40, sand, mirical grow, bedding mix from a local sod yard. They all work. merical grow plants did better, but it is a lot more expensive. My choice was the bedding mix (50% sand 50% mulch compost), it is cheap ($17 per yard) and I had great results.

Keep them watered daily for the first couple of months.

Happy growing.

Newbie alert!

My lovely neighbors of almost 20 years have decided to sell their house. They have a couple of common figs in their yard and I managed to convince them to give me a couple of cuttings. I have 6 of them (3 of each variety) in barely damp sphagnum moss in bags on the fridge and the other 4 got scraped and dipped in rooting hormone and are in pots of 50% pearlite and 50% loose potting mix and tented with light weight plastic bags. This is more of an experiment than anything, but I really hope I get something viable from at least one of them. Any thoughts as to which might be the most successful?

Thanks
Alexa

Yes, just put them in a ziplock in the fridge.

No you don't have to add rooting hormone.

No you don't have to remove bark or treat them in any kind of special way.

Yes, Plumfan claims this also works well with grapes, make sure the cuttings are hydrated, you can soak the cut base end in a couple inches of water like cut flowers in a vase for a few hours before burying.

Bear in mind that his inspiration was the fact that unwanted cuttings thrown into the compost heap for disposal often rooted into healthy trees.

In other words it isn't hard and doesn't require a lot of special effort. That's the beauty of it.

I'm currently trying this with black currants. I like my odds since currants are so easy one can literaly just cut off 10" from the end of a branch in early spring and stab it into the soil where a new plant is to grow. That worked for me the first time I tried it.

Man!

Looking at the 'original' post date (2006),
maybe this method should be called
(wise/humble) Leon's method!

Let us ALL give/take credit where it is all due....

Leon Rocks!

:)

noss

I'm looking at Plumfan's method and I was wondering, Can I cut them now - put them in the fridge x number of days and then put them in the ground?

I have a really big stake in my cuttings rooting. My father-in-law passed away and it broke our hearts. There never was a better man. He had a fig tree that he loved so much and I want to take a cutting.

We don't know what's going to happen to the house yet, but i want to get a cutting in case it's sold to someone. I feel the clock ticking.

I'm looking at Plumfan's method and I was wondering, Can I cut them now - put them in the fridge x number of days and then put them in the ground?

I have a really big stake in my cuttings rooting. My father-in-law passed away and it broke our hearts. There never was a better man. He had a fig tree that he loved so much and I want to take a cutting.

We don't know what's going to happen to the house yet, but i want to get a cutting in case it's sold to someone. I feel the clock ticking.

I'm sorry for your loss, Mona Lisa, and I hope you can get a tree from the house where your father-in-law lived.

Another thought--Is there time for you to make some air layers from the tree? That's where you put some soil around a nice branch with plastic and aluminum foil, or in a bottle and the branch will put out roots, if you don't know what air layers are. If you do a search of the forum, you will see posts from people on how they do air layers.

What a lovely keepsake a tree from his tree will be. It will be a living memorial in his honor.

noss

Mona Lisa-
Fig cuttings are usually easy to propagate. Just make sure you take several cuttings to increase your chances. There are many methods. What has worked best for me is to make a mix of about half perlite and half potting soil and put the mix in 4" pots. I just take the cutting and directly put it in the pot. Sometimes I apply rooting hormone. You will not have a viable plant until roots form, and aboveground leafing is not a reliable indicator of that. If you want some help with this, go to My Page here on GardenWeb and email me. Since this is a special plant, I'd be willing to try to propagate it for you in my greenhouse if you can send me a couple of 6"-8" cuttings. Then, if I was successful I'd send you back any plants that resulted.

Hi Noss,
I'll look up the air layer method asap. I thought if I try all methods, then one has to work. I hope. I may end up with a fig orchard but that's better than the alternative. Thank you so much for your advice. I most definitely will look it up.

Kudzu9
Thank you SO much!!
I'll send you some right away. I'll look on your page as soon as I get off work!
I feel so much better having help and not relying only on myself.

You've made my day PERFECT!
Mona Lisa

I was able to get 6 beautiful fig cuttings that are now
about 12 to 14 inches tall, with excellent leaves.
They are the FICUS CARICA, or Hardy Chicago Figs and they are still in plastic 12 oz cups. I am not sure when to move them into regular pots with soil.
It is now Feb 4th, 2013 and I am located in CT.
When should I move them into my garden and/or can I keep them in pots for a season or two until they are larger?
I plan on giving them as gifts but keeping one for myself.
This is my first try at this and I'm very happy that all my cuttings grew so well. That's thanks to all the info
I received from this site.

If using the horizontal planting method with containers rather than directly into the ground, do you keep the containers in a warm or cool area to allow the cuttings to begin growing, and can the be kept in a dark warm place until growt begins or should it be a room that receives some light. Thanks

rgvnewf, hope you got it all sorted out... very delayed reply.

The reason one would bury them 1.5 inches maximum in outdoor soil is so the sun can warm them profusely in the spring, like when the ground is getting good exposure and the surface is getting a bit warm. Humidity under soil combined with solar warmth means about 100% rooting, and in some cases you'll get two trees from a single cutting.

And Murky was right, this was learnt from a compost pile. Rose trimmings and grapes were volunteering as well.

Hope all your fig dreams materialize, everybody!

I have a question. Using plumfan's method of planting cuttings horizontally in soil, on average, how soon do you see results?

I think it is all relative to the conditions the cutting is exposed to. Cuttings do better in moist and warm conditions and will root faster. That is why we in cold country simulate these conditions for our cuttings to root in 4-6 weeks.

There is a ton of great information here and I can honestly say that I read every comment. With that said I am still a tiny bit confused and hope its still ok to ask some questions. I have never grown a fig tree before... I got into a few different figs the past couple months, made some frozen yogurt, jam, jellies, and well decided that I really enjoy them. So I started to grab some cuttings. I tend to jump in head first into things and at the same time joined a local garden group that has a plant sale a couple times a year... well I quickly (within 2 days) acquired 140 or so cuttings of 9 different fig varieties that im now trying to root. I didnt put them in the fridge before i started trying to root them. I filled some of the bigger sterilite containers 1/3rd the way with perlite, filled that perlite half with water and stuck the fig cuttings in vertically. I then got scared and pulled some out and put them in paper towels and they are now laying horizontally on top of the perlite. These are currently on a bakers rack with lights on them. Humidity is high and temps are a stable 82 degrees. Im honestly afraid im doing it all wrong and will lose all of them. At this point what IS the best way to go or is it beyond hope? They have been in this setup for 4 days now. Some had started white dotting yesterday before I put them in paper towels. I just dont know if taking them all out and burying them horizontally makes the most sense with what ive already done or not. Would my setup work if there was less heat and no light? With so many options, I just am unsure what the best would be to go from here and where I have so many cuttings im not sure what would make sense there either. Im going to be making a hoop house in the next couple weeks and im in Zone 8A near the beach in NC.

Lou-

I suspect that you are over-thinking this. When I started out growing figs from cuttings I worried about many of the things you seem to be. What I have come to realize is that you can fuss too much and it's not helpful. Fig cuttings are very resilient and are one of the easiest things to root in my experience. My technique these days is to take a 4"-5" piece (making a fresh cut off the to-be-planted end if the pruning cut is old), scrape some of the bark off that end (maybe 1/2"-3/4"), dip the cut end in rooting hormone, make a hole 2" deep in a cup of moist potting soil, and stick it in. I keep it watered, and about 80F. And then I wait for it to sprout leaves: most of mine sprout in a week or two, while a few have taken up to two months. If I want to get really fancy, I'll use a little perlite in the potting soil, and I'll use a clear plastic cup so I can observe root growth. I generally have about a 95% success rate. I don't bother with putting the cuttings in the refrigerator first or in moist paper towels in a plastic bag, or any of that other stuff. I'm not saying those aren't good things; I'm just saying I no longer consider them necessary, or likely to increase my success rate

Many of the fig trees in this country are the result of immigrants bringing over cuttings years ago that they carried with them on weeks-long sea voyages; they planted them when they got here and grew the trees they were familiar with. I guarantee that they were not cold stratifying these cuttings or any of the other sophisticated things we now do.

You've got 140 cuttings? With even a little success you will have far more fig trees than you can plant and unload on your relatives. As much as I love figs and fig trees, I realistically only have room for about 20 plants in my fairly big yard.

I really appreciate your response and I definitely do overthink things, no doubt about that. I am torn between going to walmart and getting a ton of clear cups tomorrow or buying a bunch of new shorter bins. The bins I have now wouldnt work well for the horizontal burying method. I guess I could also try a little bit of both just to see how it goes. My biggest concern was just ruining them all and having little to no success. My plan for all of the cuttings is to grow some in the yard here, give a couple to family and then sell the rest at the local plant sales since I have varieties that most dont really have here. So the more I can propagate the better. I also have no clue how much these will grow before say April or July when the plant sales are. Definitely going into this blind which is hard for me when I tend to always overthink things.

There's no need to use a horizontal burying method. Dip the ends, wrap wet paper towel around, and layout on trays inside of those boxes leaving a little space. Metal or plastic mesh shelves for air flow. You could do 200 per box.

Sales wise, don't expect much for such a small plant. Fig are very easy to root and big box stores sell them for cheap. You would have to have your "superior" variety figs on hand for people to taste to convince them. You would get more money just selling the figs.

140 figs may get unmanageable to root and grow. I grew about 30 this year and that was interesting. but am also in Z6 and I had to start indoors since it was December . in the end about 20 survived. you may have better luck in z8.

I will have to find / make some racks at some point to do this in the future lol. I went to walmart and picked up a few more bins. I have 60-70 cuttings buried in potting mix / perlite and 60-70 cuttings in cups of potting mix / perlite inside the bigger bins. Im done, whatever happens happens at this point lol. I just need to add a couple more lights I think and all will be well. Time to worry about the next cutting. As for selling them, I have free pots, the mix will equate to .80 per gallon and averaging free / bought cuttings im at $.80 per cutting so if I can get $5-$10 for fig plants throughout the year next year im well more than covered. I also build / market websites and do photography, so almost everyone I meet is a potential client so it will all work out $ wise. I just want to stop stressing about these fig cuttings lol. Is 75 degrees warm enough? is it ok if its bottom heat (on top of the lights) or does it need to be top heat under the lights? If they are under the lights the bins avg 80 degrees. Fingers crossed!

bottom heat is good.

Don't panic if some die. you could get mold on them too. there will be casualties.

Lowes - 10-20% off coupon + credit card cashback + 1 year plant guarantee + 90 return policy. 1-4 gal; 12" up to 48" tall. This is your competition. You are counting chickens before they hatch. If you are expecting tons of profit, choose something that isn't so easy to propagate or be prepared to scale way beyond what you have now.

I mention having <$2 plus some electricity into these and looking for $5-10 out of them followed quickly by the fact that its not as much about the money as it is about meeting and talking to everyone that buys. I guess im confused where this seemed like a business to food on my table.

I am doing this because I enjoy growing, figs just happen to be what fell in my lap. With that said, mums grow back every year but everyone throws them away and buys new ones the next year. Just because something is "easy to propagate" doesnt mean everyone know thats, that everyone has access to it, and everyone goes around pricing $5-10 items when you are the only one selling them at a local plant sale or farmers market.

I appreciate your advice on my perceived competition. If it were a business I was trying to run, I wouldnt try to compete with a box store in any way. It would be the value added service that would capture peoples business. But again, not what im doing, so no real issue there.

If you don't want people to comment about your "side business," you are free to not divulge such information on a public discussion forum. I'm trying to bring reality to your idea of profit.

I wish you luck in finding 140+ people each year to buy fit cuttings.