Fiddle Leaf Fig Propagation

[WaterWitchin]

Just got some cuttings off my son-in-law's fiddle leaf fig. His are about 15' tall, and time to scale back a bit.
Good thing he has a tall ceiling in great room of his house.

Have a rather large ZZ plant that's been around for quite a few years. I've grown tired of it, so passing it forward while I experiment with the fiddle leaf taking over its space in my favorite big pot (terracotta with a lizard coming out the side. Pretty fun, I'll take a picture.)

SO, question is... am I foolish to plant three of these cuttings in my one pot? It's about 24" wide. I'm not looking for that lollypop shape, but more bushy and branchy. Is that too small in width for three cuttings that are around 2 foot tall? No idea how these things grow when small, other than what I see in stores for sale or googling images. It appears most plant just one in a pot. Any growers of these out there who can provide a tip or two?

[Dimples]

I have two very large FLFs, both were over 8’ tall but I chopped one back a couple months ago and it’s now pushing out the third set of leaves on the 4 new branches that grew. They’re both in pots that are 17-18” across and about as deep, with a slight taper. I’m probably going to give them larger pots next year, likely around 20-22”.

Assuming they all root, three cuttings that size will be happy in that size pot for awhile. It’s probably much too large to start them in. I prefer to root plants individually and combine them later in case one/some do better than others, but if you’ve had success with rooting in large pots, go for it.

Eventually they will undoubtedly need a larger pot unless you plan to keep the top somewhat pruned in balance with the root volume, but not for some time.

---------- Post added at 05:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:11 PM ----------

In a home/potted environment they grow as single trunks (columns) until something forces them to branch. If they’re healthy and growing, and you cut the top off, they should back bud and push out at least 2 new branches near the cut. You can also notch them to get branching lower down but I haven’t tried that yet and success seems mixed - I suspect most failures are due to people keeping them in too low of light so the plants don’t have enough stored energy to branch.

I have one in front of an East window, and the other in front of a south window with a sheer curtain. Both are very happy.

[WaterWitchin]

Thanks Dimples! That all makes perfect sense to me. I sort of wanted to try both water rooting and a perlite/peat rooting method, so that works. I'll put up each individually, and see how it goes and grows.

[Dimples]

I tried rooting some of the cuttings in water and in soil. They all “failed”, but I’m positive it’s because I all but abandoned them. Water rooting with an air stone went best but my setup wasn’t ideal, and the developing root system snapped off when the whole thing fell over. By that time I was sick of tending to them, so I tossed them.

I’m currently attempting to air layer the top 2 feet of the other one. I’ve been needing to check on the progress so I’ll let you know how it went when I get around to it. Won’t help you currently, but may be useful info in the future.

[Dimples]

I checked the air layering, it didn't work. I'm going to chop and prop instead.

[estación seca]

Figs of all kinds are not the easiest plants to root from cuttings or layerings. Ficus lyrata is reputed to be much harder than edible figs. A lot of experienced edible fig growers are happy if they get 50% to grow.

Layering works if the gardener is very meticulous in doing it.

Rooting hormone is very helpful.

Cuttings root best in extremely light soil mixes like medium perlite or pumice, not large, which stays too wet and contains too little air. Typical bagged potting soils are too dense.

People using pump-sprayed aeroponics systems also report high success rates.

[WaterWitchin]

Well, that's not super encouraging Estación... don't like those odds.

I've got three in water rooting now, with willow water, and three in a 1:1 mix of peat and perlite, with 4" layer of LECA at base of pot (also watering with willow water a few times). So if I get at least four to survive, I'll deserve a blue ribbon, right?

Will attempt to remember to report in in four or six months on the project.

[camille1585]

Keep us updated with photos, sounds like a fun project!

[WaterWitchin]

Just for kicks, I'm putting up the "before" pics of my fiddleleaf adventure per Camille's interest. Hopefully in six months time I'll be able to update this thread with growth pictures, as opposed to dead sticks in a pot.

The cuttings in the pot... four of them:





And a peek at the soil/perlite 1:1 mix with cuttings in situ...



I had much longer cuttings. After reading a bunch of fiddleleaf info on the web, decided to divide each one into two, only leaving 2-4 leaves on each cutting. I'd read that leaving lots of leaves on the cuttings was contrary to getting them rooted (too much leaf to maintain for cutting while in rooting mode). Made sense, thus whacking in two. Sounded similar to propagating hydrangea from cuttings. Twice as many starts as I'd kept for myself, so I had three more to gift out to a friend to try.

Still using willow water plus KelpMax for next couple waterings, then will switch to plain ol' water. Stay tuned...

[camille1585]

I was not familiar with this fig species until this thread, and wow does it have huge leaves!! Now I want one at home and have a good spot for it, but my significant other would probably kick me out!

Question though, do these root easily enough to not need typical cutting care? (By 'typical' I mean the ABCs of cutting propagation:Prune back the remaining leaves to about half to a third of their total length, use a small pot, and cover the pot with plastic.)