Italian 258 - how easy to root?

[cjccmc]

I have this cutting about 9" long with lots of nodes at the top. If I cut it just below that branch fork at about 5" mark do I have two viable cuttings? I only need one healthy plant at the end. I've had pretty good success (80%) with other cuttings getting roots to start but I have had trouble keeping plants thriving after up potting. So maybe having two cuttings to up pot gives me a better chance of one final healthy plant. What do you suggest?

[WillsC]

It is not the easiest plant to root and grow out but if it was mine I would cut it exactly where you suggested.

[COGardener]

It is reported as VERY hard to root.

Yet, my first one on my first try has rooted and is growing.

[Backyard_Fig]

Please let us know your progress

[Fygmalion]

Mine have not proven difficult to root but as Wills suggested, the grow out part is where my i258 cuttings have stalled. Still in the cups and still nice and green but they haven't progressed much beyond nice roots and a few leaves. Not sure it they are waiting for me to up pot from 32oz to 1 gal but I have been trying to hold off until I was convinced that they were well established and could survive up potting shock...

[Coop]

Good Luck Conrad
The 258 is something special.
I would absolutely cut that twig in half, looks like a good safe spot at 5"
Cheers
Coop

[cjccmc]

Glad to know it's not difficult to get roots started. I had read about it being a sluggish grower. So with the inputs above I'll make two cuttings out of the one and graft my other smaller cutting on an established tree. Thanks for the replies, I hope to have some successful results to show off in a few months

[Sarahkt]

Mine have rooted fairly easily when I used rooting hormone. Then again when I didn't use hormone.

[exoticplants1]

I never rooted the i258. I bought it from churl. Mine, grows like a weed and is a high producer. So, if your able to root. You'll fall in love with this fig tree.

[cis4elk]

I think it depends on the individual cuttings as to success rates. I only got 1 of 4 i258 cuttings to root and grow. But, all the other cuttings I received from the same source never grew either; later on I got one of the same varieties from someoneelse and every stick grew like nuts.
My i258 grew quite slow the first 2 years, last summer it took off. It has always been healthy.

[Bluemalibu]

Mine have rooted fairly easily when I used rooting hormone.

...And I-258 cuttings have never failed to take as grafts.

[Rafaelissimmo]

I was able to easily root and grow to a nice size the only cutting I tried last year. I sold my tree and kept the rooted cutting, from which I expect great things this year. This was the best tasting fig I grew last year.

[TorontoJoe]

Was quite happy to receive these very small I-258 cuttings as a gift. I was very concerned they wouldn't take. I rooted in mix of 250ML straight perlite with 60ML water with 1/4 strength fertilizer). Then into a sealed container. A few weeks later I'm ready to pot up.

This is the first time using only perlite as a medium...I've started several since with much success. This may very well become my default method

[cjccmc]

Nice roots! I'm using just perlite for pre-rooting also. It has produced best results so far, better than plastic bags.

[4loveoffigs]

Please give me more detail of how you are doing this. Tired of loosing expensive cuttings. Thanks

[TorontoJoe]

In fact that particular attempt a few years ago failed. The problem I had with routing in perlite was although route came very easily, the cuttings quickly died on the transition to potting mix. More recently I have been doing fig pops and have found it much more reliable.… That said, for me I-258 was a very difficult fig to propagate from a cutting. If you’re not confident in your rooting skills yet I would suggest trying to get one as a tree or air layer while you practice rooting cuttings on inexpensive specimens. If you look in the sticky of frequently reference topics, a number of propagation methods are linked there

[Claymango]

Is it just me, Or Dip N Grow root hormone will root any fig you give it... I'm talking about a freakish mutated amount of roots on everything I've used it on. Just score it, dip it, and put in Coco Coir, and vala.

[Taverna78]

D & G is very strong horemone. It works well but if you use too strong or get it too high on cuttings you'll have roots all over the cutting

[Billboard]

Hey stranger! Where you been hiding??
Welcome back.

[TorontoJoe]

I switched over to straight perlite very recently after a major cutting loss. I found this recipe and while it hasn't failed to root a cuttings yet, I'm concerned about one thing. Another grower who used this method said they got a lot of root rot when potting up. I'm guessing they need to get accustomed to the added moisture? First pot up of a cutting started this way will be these two I-I258's later today. I'm going to play it safe by going to 75/25 perlite to seedling mix. Maybe 50/50 at most depending on how it looks... I planning to also maintain the same water to solid ratio and keep it as a sealed unit for a while longer... I only have two of these little guys so I need to be careful.

[cjccmc]

I switched over to straight perlite very recently after a major cutting loss. I found this recipe and while it hasn't failed to root a cuttings yet, I'm concerned about one thing. Another grower who used this method said they got a lot of root rot when potting up. .

With a set of "practice" cuttings I pre-rooted in perlite shoe box then up-potted to 24 oz clear cups with again pure perlite. In those cups the roots grew well but after getting to about 3" long they started to turn brown and look unhealthy. For my real cuttings I am again pre-rooting in perlite but once I see any length of roots I will up-pot to 1 gal with potting soil. The only purpose I can see for pre-rooting is that it keeps your cutting out of damp soil for first 3 weeks so less prone to rotting.

[TorontoJoe]

With a set of "practice" cuttings I pre-rooted in perlite shoe box then up-potted to 24 oz clear cups with again pure perlite. In those cups the roots grew well but after getting to about 3" long they started to turn brown and look unhealthy. For my real cuttings I am again pre-rooting in perlite but once I see any length of roots I will up-pot to 1 gal with potting soil. The only purpose I can see for pre-rooting is that it keeps your cutting out of damp soil for first 3 weeks so less prone to rotting.

After pre-root in perlite what is your potting soil? Pre-made or custom recipe?

Did your practice cuttings ultimately make it?

[cjccmc]

I'm planning to use Promix for my future cuttings.

Those cuttings did not respond to extra water and blocking light from roots so I discarded them. I learned enough from the process to decide that up-potting into cups of perlite was not a good choice for me. See post here:

<https://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-home/132252-roots-turning-brown>

[IrishFigMadness]

How did they do? Did you manage to root those cuttings?

[cjccmc]

Got one of two that made it to a healthy potted tree.

The grafted one has done extremely well, I258 is a monster grower when attached to an inground tree.

[CarbonFX]

Started this cutting in February and had excellent success with it. More growth than most others started the same time. Quality of cutting was very good.

[4loveoffigs]

Where did you buy the multi hole plastic sheet behind your beautiful I-258

[CarbonFX]

It is a Geobin compost bin. Still in use and full to the brim from last fall. At $15 a bag for compost, this bin should make about a yard of it 30 cu ft.

https://yardfullyproducts.com/product/geobin-composter/

[Timbotide]

Good luck to you on rooting I-258.
I have tried cutting from multiple sources and managed to kill all of them. They just don’t root for me. Must be me...LOL...

[ramv]

1/4 for me rooting I258. For me rooting means getting it into 1 gallon container full of roots. Grafting has been far more successful.

[CarbonFX]

I use Harvey's method for all my cuttings.. hardest to root so far has been Galicia Negra. None have took!
with this I258 I didn't disturb the roots when up potting to the 3-gallon in the picture above.
Reading from old F4F posts about up potting seems that most experienced Growers repotted whenever they wanted as long as the roots were not Disturbed, seems to be working so far.

[4loveoffigs]

Harvey's method ??

[CarbonFX]

Basically direct planting method in tree pot using parafilm on cutting. I don’t think people call it that anymore. Was only a few years back. His video is on figaholics site of u want to check out. I still use this method, it’s tried and true for me