How do I start cuttings off my Fig tree?

The fruiting kind not the indoor type

How do I start cuttings off my Fig tree?
In winter, a month after the tree loses all of it's leaves is the time to take cuttings. Figs are very easy to grow this way.



Take cuttings from year old wood, about finger size in width, about 15 inches long. Take a dozen cuttings, tie them together with a string or rubber band and bury them in the ground, for one month. This hardens them off, and lets the cuts heal over. Dig a hole about 8 inches deep and lay the pieces across, then totally cover them with soil.



A month later, dig them up. Seperate the cuttings and place each one either directly into the ground where you want a tree to grow, or into gallon pots with a well draining soil mix. Water them twice a week and in a month or two they'll sprout.



I learned this technique from a man who sells figs at a fruit stand, and he had a whole row of small fig trees his grandparents brought as cuttings, from Italy.



I currently have one such fig tree which I started about 8 years ago, and I even dug the thing up when we moved.
Reply:Get yourself some rooting medium at a garden supply store. (Rootone is the name of one, but there are several good ones.) Start your cutting inside, in a vase with water and some of the rooting medium. Keep adding water every couple of days.



Wait for a couple of weeks, and you should see a nice bunch of roots. Now's the time to plant it in your yard.



Good luck, Figgy!
Reply:I would buy some hormone powder, make sure the cut is diagonal and provides a good surface area, then wet it, dip it in the powder and plant it in some miracle grow. Might want to do several of these. Also, what about growing the plant from the seeds ... the fig itself?