How to Propagate Fig Cuttings – Tracking Progress

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Have you ever tried growing fig trees from cuttings? I’m giving it the old college try. I am so excited to see if I can grow a tree from fig cuttings! (Let’s skip over the part where we tell my husband fig trees aren’t a zone 6 hardy plant, shall we? One more indoor plant pet won’t hurt…)

So how did I happen upon these glorious cuttings?!

In a random stroke of luck, I won a giveaway on Instagram for a bundle of fig tree cuttings from @FigBeard – Figbeard Fruit & Permaculture.

He’s the man when it comes to fruit trees and edible landscapes! He sells trees – mostly Figs, Pomegranates, Persimmon, and Jujube.

So exciting to win! And now here’s to hoping I can keep these babies alive and help them thrive! I’ll document my steps and progress in this post.

But first, a few questions about fig cuttings…

What are figs?

Figs, also known as Ficus carica, belong to the mulberry family. Interestingly, figs themselves are more of a flower (an inverted flower) than a fruit!

Prepare to have your mind blown… I’ll wait.

You good? Okay, here goes…

Fig flowers actually bloom from the inside of the pod, ripening into the fruit we know and love.

The fig has achene, which is a single seeded fruit with a hard shell – just like the outside of a strawberry.

Figs are roughly the size of your thumb and are enjoyable fresh or dried.

Can you grow fig tree cuttings in water?

The answer is, it depends. Some gardeners swear you can root fig cuttings in water, but this is best done during the warmer summer months. In the wintertime, stick to soil as the medium for rooting cuttings.

The fig tree cuttings I received are pretty woody. They look extremely healthy and I want to give them the best shot at life. I decided not to attempt growing these cuttings in water.

What about planting fig cuttings directly in the ground?

You can plant fig cuttings directly in soil – potting mix or a peat heavy mix. Before planting them directly in the ground, though, check your climate and weather to ensure you don’t accidentally kill the cuttings. Figs are not generally cold hardy above zone 7.

My growing zone is not warm enough for figs year-round, and we don’t plant most things outside until Mother’s Day weekend, anyway. So, for me, I don’t plan on planting fig cuttings directly in the ground.

How long for fig cuttings to root?

According to @Figbeard, the first signs of success should begin to show on your fig cuttings after about two weeks. It should take closer to 6 to 8 weeks total for the cuttings to get established.

If you live in a colder climate, consider growing your fig tree cuttings in a large pot so you can bring them inside for the winter.   

How to Root Fig Cuttings

Desperately not wanting to screw this up, I asked FigBeard himself how to root fig cuttings. Fortunately, he provided a few helpful tips!

I planted my fig cuttings on March 30. These are the exact steps I used to plant the cuttings.

1. When rooting fig cuttings, fill small, clean planters or other containers with damp (not wet) soil mix.
   
2. Use a popsicle stick to mix up the soil and make sure it is evenly moist.
   
3. Poke a small hole in the center of the pot.
   
4. Dip the cut end of the fig cutting into rooting hormone such as Clonex.
   
5. Gently poke the cutting into the hole in the soil mix.
   
6. Immediately label the type of cutting as well as the date you planted it.
   
7. Place a plastic bag overtop of the cuttings. I blow some warm air into it first and then secure it under the pot.
   
8. Now comes the hardest part – leave them alone! Resist that urge to peek at the roots (or lack thereof) and be patient to see the signs of growth.

Final Thoughts: Propagating Figs

After just having a tiny bit of success with starting powder blue blueberry cuttings, I am super excited to have some hopeful success with growing these figs from cuttings!

The fig varieties I received to try are:

• Alma Fig
• Black Jack Fig
• Celeste Fig
• Kadota Fig Tree
• LSU O’Rourke Fig

It will be a fun gardening experiment, tracking each type of fig and how they’re doing over time.

When chatting with @Figbeard earlier, he so kindly offered this advice:

“Pot up your cuttings in some moist but not wet soil, put it in a shady spot, and forget about it,” he said. “Most of the time people kill their cuttings with too much love.”

He added that rooting hormone is fine to use as well.

Learning How to Propagate Fig Cuttings

Propagating fig cuttings went okay in the grand scheme of things. I ended up with one successful plant so far. (Knock on wood.)

My other fig cuttings never grew.

This one did the funniest thing! This fig tree cutting stayed dormant for the colder part of the year indoors. I gave it water when I remembered but it largely went unnoticed.

In the spring, I finally put it outside, and – BAM! This thing took off making all sorts of green leaves!

Here are the first velvety-soft green leaves to emerge. Aren’t they adorable?!

These are my guiding lights in my first attempts at growing fig trees from cuttings. If you have tips or successes to share, please post in the comments below and help a girl out!

If you’re looking for fig tree cuttings for sale, be sure to check out @FigBeard on Instagram.

And, if you’re looking for some more posts on cuttings, check out my post on Propagating Blueberries from Cuttings (Powder Blue Blueberries).

You might also enjoy the Google web story on fig cuttings that I created for this post.

In the meantime, let’s chat in the comments – I could use some positive vibes from anyone who’s done this or planning to join in the fun!

07.16.22 – Updated to add new photos.

11.28.22 – Updated to bold a heading and add Google web story.