Cupping up then outside?

[Taverna78]

Has anyone taken a well rooted cutting from humidity bin, cupped it with a top cup with hole up then put directly outside so it will bud open in direct sun ? It has 3 buds that are almost ready to open. Many Roots about 3 inch long. Temps average 60-80F daytime and 40-60 at night. All of other cutting has budded leaf but not enough root yet.

[greenfig]

Go for it! This is the perfect time. Do not wait for the leaves to open in the bin.

[Taverna78]

I get mad because routed cutting with leaf in bin start good end bad. Tis whole thing having to acclimate leave cutting to the sun is pain in the butt! I have 20 cuttings with callous or tiny tiny root and leaf or bud ready to open but afraid to put outside cause not good root yet. Should I leave top cup over outside cutting or just leave off and pray?

[greenfig]

No leaves, no cups. That works for me when the cuttings are in a shade or partial shade. I wouldn't put the cup in the direct sun yet.

[nepenthes]

If there aren't any leaves, then I would think it's safe to leave the top cup off. To me, high humidity for cuttings is to: a) keep the medium consistently moist by reducing the amount of evaporation; b) if there are leaves, reduces the rate of transpiration which would cause the cuttings to wither and die. I could always be wrong, though

I would watch moisture levels carefully outside, though. Wind and other factors can dry things out quicker than indoors. If you want to leave the top cup on, just be careful that the cuttings don't overheat. Seems like anything we do can end in failure, huh? Good luck!

[Taverna78]

Failure strive me to excellence... As you say " it's the challenge we Longfore "

[Taverna78]

I try and see what happen in Chicago zone. You all piece of my heart

[AscPete]

I've planted pre-rooted cuttings (~ 20 - 30 days old) directly into cutting mix and exposed them to indoor ambient temperatures. I've also successfully planted multiple cuttings in containers outdoors in a shaded spot in late spring. The temperature and exposure are the main concerns when placing newly rooted cuttings outdoors.

IMO humidity bins and humidity chambers are used excessively in fig rooting. The higher humidity (85% - 90% RH) is only required for the 1st step of the rooting process, the 'pre-rooting stage'.

Pre-rooting is the initial period, 30 - 45 days when the cutting is hydrated, callused and develops roots, after this initial period the cutting can be placed in lower ambient humidity to "grow". The entire process is sped up if the ambient temperature is maintained at 72*F - 79*F. In the pre-rooting stage light is not required, it can be done in a warm dark space, cuttings can even be completely buried at this stage (direct plant or pre-rooting methods) . Once rooted the cuttings can be fertilized with a dilute water soluble fertilizer to speed growth.

The only exception to this process is when a cutting develops leaves before roots and needs the extra humidity to keep the leaves from "drying out the cutting", but simply removing the leaves can also help for these cuttings.

If you separate the "pre-rooting" and "growing out" stages of fig rooting and maintain optimal temperatures your cutting survival rates will increase. Good Luck.

[cyberfarmer]

I did a lot of uncontrolled experimentation this year. Some were cupped and binned. until they had several nice sized leaves. Others were cupped only until the first leaf started to unfold. Some went directly from the rooting bin into one gallon pots outdoors. I killed a few of the ones that went direct from roots to soil, but most did very well. The ones in the humidity been ended up getting gnats and mostly died. When That happened, I pulled out all of the ones that seemed to have not been infected. They mostly died. So, it wasn't exactly a scientific study and I don't have percentages, but I had MUCH better success with NO humidity bin.

[Taverna78]

Yes I believe the bin is making it harder for budded or almost budded cuttings with root. Every time I have cutting with small leaf starting it will either hault all together or will loose it. Now I just remove from bin and place on table top under ambient light.

[shah8]

Agreed. Still not good at rooting, but lessoned learned this third year:

humidity bins are a bad crutch. I have to spray copper to control fungus, and I'm having trouble with cuttings just not managing well when they are too big for what humidity management I can offer--plastic ziplock bags. Still have a couple struggling along, but next year, no perpetual humidity, just bag the cups and tie off around the stems, and let the leaves deal with ambient humidity from the start.

*sigh*, people with earlier springs have it much easier than the rest of us. Just put a stick in where it's gunna be, bring it in when it's too cold/rainy.

[Taverna78]

Sì I agree thing is there's got to be something we're missing here... Even in the perfect climate as some of our members live that is perfect for growing even their area isn't as humid as it is in our humidity boxes. I've gone thru fungas gnats, root rot, overwatering and paying TOO much attention to them. I've gotten my rooting down almost 100% successfully, I been the rabbits eating trees, 80f during day and 30F at night (cover uncover cover uncover) and have had two vdb of my own cutting root bud and start to grow wonderfully (of course now the leafs are browning and the growth has really slowed down) all I know is I have 5 jammed bins of budding and rooting cuttings that should be cupped up Tis weekend with a successful cupping mix and I'm almost not even afraid to do this because I feel the attempts will go fine then fail. I NEED to find out what I am doing wrong or what conditions I have these cupped budded cuttings in that should be elsewhere.

[Taverna78]

Does anyone deal with windchill ? (Makes it feel colder then it really is) I wonder how it effects the actual hard temp to the tree... Thermostat shows 42F and sunny but windchill is estimated to be 29F but no frost. Just cool