Figs from cuttings

Farway

Thought I’d get my experience with rooting fig cuttings in water down for the record and anyone thinking of trying increasing their stock of figs

At the beginning of this year I was pruning my figs and idly pondered about trying to strike some cuttings from the prunings

Normally with cuttings I use the poke a stick in the soil and leave it alone to root or die method.

However this time I looked on You Tube just in case someone had another easy, cheap & cheerful way and found some said they root easily in water.
That seemed cheap & cheerful enough for me to try, so I stuck about half a dozen twigs from the pruning into a jar half filled with tap water and left on the proverbial kitchen window sill

By April nodules had appeared on the stems

During May the nodules turned into white roots and this was the result beginning of June

All looked well so gently removed from the water and here they are, all rooted

Finally potted up as below, and now just waiting for them to settle and make roots into compost

Conclusion – An easy method to gain more figs and took approx four months without any failures so far

Update - August 2021. Here they are on 05 August 2021, they have been outside in their pots since about June, there was one failure which failed pot potting up.

pink_poppy

Wow, they look really good, Farway 👍 

twopenny

Wondering who I can cadge a cutting from?
There are a few round here 

goldfinches

twopenny said:

Wondering who I can cadge a cutting from?
There are a few round here 

I'm wondering the same too. Thanks for showing us the way Farway.

MovingForwards

I spotted a fig tree while out today. Wonder if they would notice if I took cuttings!

gamston

we have a few fig trees in 1/2 beer barrels, we cover and move them in the winter to sheltered positions they don't like wind
a friend has the same type in south of essex planted in the ground they are lovely trees now

madjackslam

This is great. Last autumn I went with the "just cut some twigs off and stick em in a pot" approach. Three out of the five are showing signs of life, but nowhere near as far on as yours.

Farway

madjackslam said:

This is great. Last autumn I went with the "just cut some twigs off and stick em in a pot" approach. Three out of the five are showing signs of life, but nowhere near as far on as yours.

That was my method, but in water you can soon see if it's working, and I suspect being indoors and a bit warmer helps

madjackslam

That was my method, but in water you can soon see if it's working, and I suspect being indoors and a bit warmer helps

I've not really tried rooting cuttings in water before, but interestingly (well, to me), I've been trying it with basil this year. Loosely based on this guy's approach, but without all the grow lights, heat, etc. (Just on a sunny windowsill.) Has worked really well.

FreeBear

In the past, I've done air layering to propagate figs. Thought I'd give this "cutting in a jam jar"  method a go. Put a cutting in a jar of water and watched the leaves wilt and fall off. Yet two weeks later, there is a bunch of white roots forming, so I guess it is going to live. Quite surprised at the speed and ease.

Thanks for the tip.

twopenny

Quite a few things will root in water.
Autumn is the best time.
I've got itchy fingers but really end of August onwards is best so I think some evening walks for reconnaissance is next