I want to grow a fig tree from a cutting someone gave me. It is about 18" long and has about 4 leaves and 3 little figs on the end of the cutting. I have temporally stuck it in a glass of water and want to know how I should proceed in order to propagate a new tree. It is now September in Long Island New York. Any help would be much appreciated.

Are you sure that figs are hardy enough to withstand your temperatures? It gets really cold there.
John S
PDX OR

If you cut off all the leaves and fruit, letting the wounds dry for a day or two, then bury the whole thing in loose moist potting soil, keeping it all around 80 degrees, you could probably "rescue" this branch. But it would be far easier for your friend to anchor a smallish branch to the ground with a brick next spring and give you a totally rooted plant next fall.

You can also obtain a branch tip (or 4) this coming February and directly place it in garden soil with full sun and occasional watering before transplanting it to a permanent location when it goes dormant ‘next winter.’

The way I've started many a fig is inserting them in the ground at a strong angle - more sideways than up. I place 80% of the branch under the soil, leaving only a couple of buds, which may or may not include the tip, or terminal bud exposed. Keep them right-side up! Allow them to leaf and grow an entire season before transplanting the next year.

Plumfun's plan for laying over a branch of the "mother tree" will work if it has limbs near the ground. You can also look for sprouts near the base of the mother tree, carefully dig and transplant them any time between now and next summer. Figs are not grafted so any root suckers are identical to the fruiting variety.

and questioning your winter lows is a concern. I've seen young figs killed by 10 degree weather, but I've also protected mine by burying them in sawdust or leaves when extreme cold is predicted.

Viron, interesting that you have learned about the "strong angle". I have for at least a decade or two just laid dormant cuttings totally horizontal in a shallow trench and covered with perhaps and inch or so of crumbly dirt. Learned this lesson from watching too many figs get started in a compost pile while cuttings were totally buried.

Once a friend from Calif sent me 12 cuttings to propagate for him. A year later I was able to dig 14 treelets! Some had rooted and shooted from two places and could be divided.

The same friend did not believe me, so he ran his own experiment -- 10 cuttings straight up and down in the ground, and 10 totally covered with soil in a horizontal mode. Every single horizontal cutting made it, but in his climate only 1 in 10 of the verticals made it.

My theory is that the sun warms all the shallow soil uniformly over the horizontal cutting, which the fig really likes, plus the ambient soil humidity that surrounds such a cutting keeps it from drying badly.

Vertically planted cuttings tend to be anchored into much cool soil, which is not optimal for fig propagation as well as tendencies for the above-ground portion to be evaporating / transpiring water from the cutting, helping it to fail from the drying process.

As for whether Long Island New York is good climate for figs: it is probably just like the PNW, some are well suited, others won't do squat.

Plumfun, “Viron, interesting that you have learned about the "strong angle".”

That credit goes to my area’s Queen of Figs, Helen Webb of Yamhill. She had 40 year old fig ‘clumps’ 15 feet high and wide. She shown me how to pick them too, in the early morning when they’re still cool and firm, just ‘walk’ the branch down, little need for a ladder… I’ve a couple Brown Turkey figs from her, and though my apple crop is nearly non-existent, those Brown Turkey’s and Desert Kings didn’t miss a beat.

Helen, gone for around ten years now (once having given a tour to the HOS of her magical orchard), described nearly the same thing as you, regarding the warmth vs. chill and higher vs. lower. She’d also suggested I dig some starts from her prized Brown Turkey’s shortly before her death. I did, and both died. So I returned before her homestead and orchard was sold and dug again – like their lives depended on it! Those lived, and I’ve propagated and passed on dozens of them! What’s great is that’s often times the first thing old friends will mention when we meet; “You know that fig tree you gave me..?” Nothing but positive feedback.

I’ve also taken loads of ‘their prunings’ to the HOS Spring (Scion) Exchange – no anthracnose or aerial crown gall on them. No pollinators needed, no spray, no deer damage, just amazing tropical-looking consistent fruit-producing green machines

Another subject that arose during this year’s pruning demonstration for the Yamhill County Master Gardeners near Grand Island yesterday was fig varieties, propagation and pruning… Though I’ve surely repeated myself over the years… this topic thread appears informative and recent.

Again, it’s a treat working with OSU Master Gardener’s – their knowledge is above average, their questions pertinent and their personal experience and contacts are impressive.

Hi I live in Zone 5 of the USA. In Manteno, IL. I would like to get some cuttings from some Fig varieties that would do well in my area. If anyone has any they can send me would be much appreciated. Write me at mail <<at>> mikealrhughes <<dot>> com. Any help appreciated.

Mike Hughes
P.O. box 475
Manteno, IL 60950

In Zone 5, you can pretty much count on keeping your figs in pots and giving them winter shelter.

If you want to try one in the ground, try Chicago Hardy.