Learn how to root fig tree cuttings – don’t spend money on a potted plant when you can get a cutting from a friend! Rooted plants grown from your own mature fig also make great gifts.
Discovering Figs
I didn’t know that I liked figs. As a kid, my only experience with the historic (even biblical) fruit was the Fig Newton cookies my grandfather fed me. I had a love/hate relationship with those cookies – they were better than no cookies at all, but to a five-year-old palate, they were kind of weird.
When I was in my early teens, I went on a “Photo Safari” sponsored by the 4-H club to a local exotic animal rescue. The proprietor had a troop of ring-tailed lemurs that had been rescued after being sold illegally as pets. We were able to enter their enclosure and feed them their favorite snack – Fig Newtons. After this experience, my love for the cookies grew.
Fast forward to 2016, when I took my first-ever flight to the Dominican Republic. The beachfront resort offered a hybrid complimentary breakfast – traditional European “continental” breakfast of pastries and cold cuts, coupled with tropical fruits and juices. I wanted to try everything! I put a brown, shriveled dried fig on my plate – and I couldn’t eat it. The taste and texture were weird.
Then there was the time, two years ago, when a friend offered me a fig from her backyard plant. She warned me that it wasn’t ripe yet, but I wanted to give it a try. I ate it, but I didn’t enjoy it. It wasn’t sweet, and the texture was unpleasant. I wrote figs off as not-my-favorite fruit.
But, as noted in my post about pickled onions, tastes change. When another friend offered me fresh backyard figs, presented in a lovely configuration, nestled in a fig-leaf-lined bowl, I took one just to be nice.
Then I took another, and another. Then I asked her for a cutting of her plant. These figs were AMAZING! They were sweet. They had a tantalizing soft-yet-fibrous texture. I had to bring them home to my edible landscape.
What You’ll Need
To root fig cuttings, you’ll need pruning shears, one or more pots, high quality potting soil, and food-grade wax (soy or beeswax). Optionally, you may also wish to use a commercial root boost hormone powder.
Take Your Cuttings When the Time Is Right
If you want to grow your own fig tree from a cutting, timing is important. It is best to take the cutting when the plant is dormant. I live in Zone 7, so that meant a good freeze in the middle of November. You’ll know that the plant is dormant when its leaves are chilled, shrivel, and fall off.
How to Take Successful Fig Cuttings
Use clean pruning shears to take the cutting. Select a branch that is about the thickness of your thumb, and cut it close to the ground, within one to two inches. Strip off any remaining leaves.
I will be cold outside when your fig is dormant, so you’ll want to pot the cutting indoors. Follow these simple steps.
How to Root Fig Tree Cuttings
- Using pruning shears, cut your fig stem into 5 to 7 inch lengths. As you cut, trim the bottom of each cutting with a straight cut, and the top with a diagonal cut. This will help you tell the top from the bottom, as an upside-down cutting isn’t likely to root.
- Melt the soy or beeswax on the stovetop, and brush a small amount over the top cut of each cutting. This will help prevent mold or disease, and lock in moisture to help the cutting survive.
- Prepare your pot with potting soil. I used peat, as it was what I had on-hand, and the plants seemed to love it.
- If you would like to use a “root boost” hormone powder, dip about 1 inch of the bottom of each stem in the powder. Use gloves, and be careful not to touch the powdered area with bare skin. Then, insert each cutting into the soil to a depth of 2 to 3 inches.
Now, you’ll just sit back and wait. Water weekly to keep the soil moist, but not saturated. If your cuttings root successfully, you’ll see buds and leaves emerge in a few weeks to a few months.
Water weekly until spring arrives. Then, it’s time to transplant your fig trees to their permanent outdoor home.
We’ll give you updates on our trees when planting season arrives!
One part Lois Lane, one part Jimmy Olsen, one part Johnboy Walton, and a bit of that Clark Kent secret identity thing thrown in for good measure.
Cara Siera is a freelance writer and photographer with a passion for travel and exotic cuisine. Join Cara, her husband Marc, and one very spoiled German Shepherd on their next great adventure.