Help! I'd like to root a big piece of Ficus Natelensis Cutting

KwabsK

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Hi Guys


So I saw this nice piece of material I wanted to air-layer but the owner of the tree said no. He wants to chop down the tree. About two weeks ago, after chopping down the tree, I was able to salvage the piece I wanted. I wasn't sure how to go about rooting it so I followed a process I found YouTube. I did do the cuts he did at the bottom of the cutting. It has now been about two weeks and I am started to see why spots forming around the area submerged in water.

Any advice? Comments?
 

sorce

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Welcome To Crazy!

Sorce
 

John P.

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With ficus those white spots/tufts eventually turn into roots. Keep it in the water until they form nice, long roots.
 

hemmy

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I did do the cuts he did at the bottom of the cutting. It has now been about two weeks and I am started to see why spots forming around the area submerged in water.

Any advice? Comments?

It sounds like John has had success in water. I’ve never tried it. I root Ficus in pure pumice, sometimes adding sand if the cuttings are very thin. I usually reduce the leaf mass, spray with hydrogen peroxide(H2O2)/water mix and cover with a plastic bag or inside a plastic container in mostly shade. Opening it up every few days to remove dead leaves and spray the H2O2 mix as a fungicide. I always clean up the cambium on the bottom cut with a sharp knife and put cut putty on the top cut to help reduce dieback. I don’t bother with a bag on large cuttings with no leaves. For fun, the largest cutting I’ve rooted was about 16” in diameter and 2ft tall from the trunk of a Ficus rubiginosa.
 

John P.

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Yep, rooting ficus in water seems to work very well. Once there are enough roots, you can plant them up and gradually expose them to sun.
74E5CAB0-53F0-4161-A936-83A1F1437F40.jpeg
In this picture you can see the little white clumps along with some roots (ficus Microcarpa):
4BA4770F-A1A2-4E3C-B3B9-2B709A145A26.jpeg
Even works with Zelkova:AD3A474E-EFD2-4F20-ADA9-16E4871A9862.jpeg
 

jason biggs

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natalensis is pretty much bullet proof - even if you put the cutting straight into a pot, without leaving it in water, it roots...
you must have reasonably warm weather though.
 

Starfox

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98489934_3469573659733244_7010508987925790720_o.jpg

Works a treat for some species. I've already potted up some Gardenia cuttings and currently have roots or callouses forming on Hibiscus syriacus, Bougainvillea, Acer p, Casaurina and Acacia saligna.

Ficus are dead easy in water, just give them time to form lots of roots and you should be fine.
 

It's Kev

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Here’s a type of ficus I’m yet to identify, it’s got very dense foliage...which we’ll see when it leads out again.
but anyways, I snapped this branch off a donor tree and jabbed it into the soil underneath a tap that’s got this occasional drip so the soil stays moist and some undergrowth shrubbery plants kept it out of the sun. Didn’t even put it in rooting hormone, just nature at work
Today I went to check on it actually and notice all these buds popping all over it, so I removed it carefully and it had a couple of roots too
0788907E-D12A-40B5-9D05-F0EA6AB1C59A.jpeg2C60B641-959A-4DAD-94E0-842F7C2A810B.jpegFC5C3BFF-9890-4E31-A6FC-9BC6163FD63B.jpeg
 
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