Fun project over the winter months

The most advanced Chicago cutting as of the end of January

This winter I decided it was time to refresh my container fig trees.  They are all in 3-5 gallon pots which I know is not ideal, most of them had roots growing out the drainage holes as they sought for more space and nutrients.  Figs are heavy feeders, and put on explosive new growth each year so I knew they were rootbound and lacking in nutrients. In the fall I planted one of the medium sized Chicago hardy figs in the yard to see if it would survive the winter temperatures.  Rather than transplanting all the rest into larger pots, which would have made them even harder to move, I decided on a different tactic.  I did some research and decided to prune the roots of the trees while they were dormant.  This involves removing them from their pots, cutting off approximately ¼ to ⅓ of the roots, and adding fresh compost to the bottom of each pot for new growth.

About half of the cuttings from my own trees

We had an unusually warm day at the end of December so I slowly worked my way through over half of the fig trees.  Since it was warm I was able to take them out onto the back patio, instead of spreading a tarp in the basement in order to contain the mess.  The 50 degree weather was perfect.  I had a bag of lobster compost and some old soil to mix in as fill, as well as chicken manure granulated fertilizer.  I hauled the trees outside 3 at a time and managed to get through 12 of them before my back and knees told me to stop.  All of the old soil and tangled roots went on the compost pile.

Tiny roots were forming as early as two weeks after cutting

As I pruned the roots, I also pruned the top growth, so the trees wouldn’t be as stressed with losing some root mass. This was recommended by the blogs and videos I viewed. I know that figs need annual pruning anyway to keep the trees short enough to easily harvest. Figs only produce fruit on the current year’s growth, and I didn’t want to need a step stool or ladder to reach. A few of my trees had trunks that were over 6 feet tall, so I wanted to bring them back down to a smaller size anyways.

This led to another 30 cuttings which I have now started to propagate.  I have cuttings from both my varieties, Chicago hardy and Green Ischia.  I started the rooting process this time around by putting them all in plastic bags with the sticks wrapped in a damp paper towel to keep them hydrated and humid.  I have been checking them weekly to water when needed, but it will probably take a couple of months before roots start to appear. 

As of January 10, 8 of these cuttings were already starting to root in the paper towel.  I hydrated a coco-coir brick and mixed it with pine bark shavings for a sterile initial growing medium.  These cuttings are now in plastic cups, in a tub which is sitting on a heat mat.  The lid is cracked, so that there is some airflow, but also high humidity.

Green Ischia fig cutting, with new growth

The first handful of cuttings have started to leaf out and have good root development, so they have been moved down to my shelving units that have grow lights. Looking forward to watching them grow over the next couple of months.