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Propagating a Fig Tree |
| By Ellen Brown |
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Question: I have a few fig trees and my friends wish to have branches to propagate. I have done this in the past on a hit and miss basis, but I would like to know what is the best way to start fig trees. When is the best time? We tried Winter and they did not grow. Is it best to start in water until rooted or to put in soil?
Hardiness Zone: 8b
Angelina from Glendale, California
Answer: Angelina,
In your climate, early spring or summer is a good time for propagation. Figs can be propagated from seed or by air layering, but taking stem cuttings and rooting suckers are probably the easiest methods for propagation. For stem cuttings, take the cuttings from a vigorously growing stem that contains some of last year's growth. You want the cuttings to be somewhat woody and not entirely green, as soft wood stems are more likely to rot. The cuttings should be 6-8 inches in length and about a pencil to a pinky finger in diameter. Remove the bottom leaves to expose 1-2 nodes and dip the cut ends into a rooting hormone. Insert the cuttings into a 4-inch plastic pot filled with a light, porous potting medium. (Plan on 1 to 4 cuttings per 4-inch pot.) Moisten the soil and cover the pot with a plastic bag or a 2-liter pop bottle to keep cuttings humid (cut off the bottom and leave the cap on). Place the pot under the protective shade of your mature fig tree. Once vigorous growth appears, remove the cap on the bottle to harden off the cuttings. Once hardened, they are ready to be given away (probably the following spring).
To root suckers, wait until they are about 6 inches tall (mid summer is the point when they have usually developed roots), cut them out and insert them into pots containing moistened, well-drained soil. Cover the pots in the same way you would the stem cuttings and place them in the shade. Harden them off once vigorous new growth appears.
Ellen
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RE: Propagating a Fig Tree
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Post By Lucy (Guest Post)
(07/25/2008)
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Can I cut the hardwood of the fig to put it in the soil without rooting hormone? Is it willing to grow in a matter? Thanks, Lucy
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RE: Propagating a Fig Tree
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Post By Angelina (Guest Post)
(03/16/2008)
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Thank you very much for your feedback. In early February I cut four little branches and put them in a large wooden tub with a different fig tree. Two branches appear alive and would you believe on one, a little fig is growing near where the leaf is unfolding. Isn't Mother Nature amazing?
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RE: Propagating a Fig Tree
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Post By Dan Toth, Brick, NJ (Guest Post)
(03/16/2008)
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Never prune a fig tree! Figs are produced from New growth and one-year-old growth. If you get rid of that, it will never bear fruit.
Fig trees are not truly trees in the sense of wood, they are more like a hollow-branched bush, as the inside of a fig trees branches are soft. That is why they are sometimes affected by freezing weather/cold wind.
Hope this helps.
CouncilmanDan AT comcast.net
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RE: Propagating a Fig Tree
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Post By CL300 (Guest Post)
(10/26/2007)
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That helped a lot, Susanmajp. Thanks!
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RE: Propagating a Fig Tree Help
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Post By Marie (Guest Post)
(07/20/2007)
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HELP. Our two fig trees do not bear fruit. One is from a cutting, the other just showed up in our yard. Approx. 5 yrs old and 10 ft tall. We prune radically each year. Leaves are large & green, very healthy trees but no figs (actually 2 or 3 figs per tree)
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RE: Propagating a Fig Tree
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Post By Lauris Rose (Guest Post)
(07/18/2007)
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I have a friend with a fancy french variety of fig. The gophers almost finished it off, but he has brought out the plant (no leaves are on it) and put some cuttings in a pot for us to watch over in our greenhouse.
Thought I might airlayer a branch from the suffering plant but branches are only about 1/2" in diameter. Think we would be lucky?
Lauris Rose
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RE: Propagating a Fig Tree
Someone gave me one a few months ago. We found that the best time to do it was in spring. We cut a branch into pieces, dipped one end of each peice into rooting hormone, then put it into a container of soil -- we used the bottom half of water bottles. Most rooted, but a few didn't. We kept them in the containers until the roots could be seen, then transplanted in a larger pot or planted them outside.
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