Thai Figs added 2 new photos.
Rooting cuttings is something that I still find difficult, but I am improving. My last batch, this is what I did.
1. I decided to root now while the temperatures outdoors are reasonable.
2. I put up a 50% shade cloth to block the evening sun, and set the cuttings in a location completely shaded from direct sun from dawn to late afternoon
3. Chose tall plastic cups with lids. Prepared some slightly damp media that was 2/3 rice husk 1/3 coco peat ....
4. Melted a single drain hole in the bottom center of each cup with a soldering pencil.
5. Put in about 3 cm - 4 cm of media, then 6 or 7 Osmocote pellets, then filled to the top with media. Didn't compress media, left it loose and airy.
5. Put caps on the cups and set cups in a tray with 4-5 cm of water for 5 min.
6. Removed the cups from water let them drain overnight
7. Took a small bucket and added a squirt of liquid hand soap. Mixed up a 10% bleach solution and added it to the bucket.
8. Mixed thoroughly then added cuttings .
9. Washed for 10 minutes while agitating periodically
10. Removed cuttings, turned them upside down, and again washed in soapy bleach for 10 more minutes.
11. Removed cuttings from soapy bleach and allowed them to air dry.
12. Cut down the stems diagonally on the bottom node to expose fresh cambium. Cut only went to the middle of the stem Bottom end of cutting was left with a half moon shape.
13. Painted bottom node with liquid rooting hormone.
14. Dipped top of cuttings in melted candle wax.
15. Put cuttings together in a cup and added a few cm of water. Left at least overnight. Changed water daily or even twice daily if I felt I wanted to leave longer .
16. At some point white lenticels appeared indicating they were ready to go into cups. I don't wait for actual roots now. If they have lenticels it's time for cups.
17. Used a pencil to make a cavity for the cutting in the cup. I think it's important not to go too deep, not more than half way down. The media on the bottom of the cup is too wet.
18. Put cuttings into cups. Dipped bottom of cups in a couple cm of water weekly to maintain constant moisture.
18. Moved indoors and set in a tray with 1 cm water once leaves opened.
So far 30% of my cuttings have leafed out. Many more have swollen green buds.
Nothing says Happy Holidays like hanging decorations on a tree
Even if they're only air layers...
I made some tree tubes from PVC pipe, gluing the bases together in groups of 4 or 6 so they would stand on their own. I potted up the single node and bare root air layers, set them in a tray with an inch of water, and put them under 3 nine watt consumer LEDs.
This is the result.
Thai Figs added 2 new photos.
Rapid air layers.
Two benefits of bare root air layers are the roots usually come out very clean (free of fungus), and very quickly. These air layers were started just over two weeks ago, and harvested today.
The final variety I got from Tyro/Paul via Benjamas was this MBVS, which has finally come to life! 3 for 3 so far.
😀
Growing my cuttings and potting up fresh air layers indoors to avoid rain, insects and heat of the sun. I move them outdoors once they are fully established. LEDs are now cheap enough to be a reasonable option, and put out less heat than any other light source, so room doesn't get too warm.
Thai Figs added 4 new photos.
Update - 14 of the cuttings have opened buds or leafed out. Keeping fingers crossed 
Here we go again with our Mulberry bushes. Black Mulberry.
Thai Figs added 4 new photos.
Black Genoa - a must have variety that grows well in Thailand. Produces medium size dark fruit with delicious jelly interior and light seed crunch.
Only 450฿. EMS 150฿
Thai Figs added 4 new photos — with Benjamas Asawa.
Fico Preto - by most reports this variety is the equal of Black Madeira, some believe it's actually the same variety. I don't have an opinion on that (yet), but I can say the strain of Preto I got from Tyro (Paul) on F4F (via Benjamas Asawa) is an extremely fast grower. The first pic is the unwrapping on November 7, the second a closeup of one of them taken on Nov 20, and the last two pics are from today (Nov 25). And yes, that's an air layer being startef on one of them now and no, it's not for sale 
Thanks to both Paul and Benjamas for providing such a high quality product.
Thanksgiving Day is the start of the Holiday Season for most Americans. It's usually the day stores put up their xmas decorations. So I thought I'd get in the mood by decorating my tree.
Thai Figs added 3 new photos.
Will they root or will they rot??
UPDATE #1 - Eleven of the original twelve are still looking good. One even has both visible aerial roots and new buds opening up; I presume it also has roots below soil level that I can't see. However one is getting moldy and will get tossed.
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UPDATE #2 - Three successful rootings. 
😊 Four died 
😢. The remainder still alive with green terminal bud(s) that haven't opened yet. 
😴 Tried to speed things along with those by painting BAP/lanolin on two of three buds on one cutting, See foto in comments section of the happy result. Have now painted all remaining unopened buds! 
😆
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This is a good time of year to try to root fresh tip cuttings. The rainy season is now over, but new growth is just starting, so the tips on my plants are old lignified (hardened) growth, not green. And our temperatures are coming down as we approach the coolest time of year. These two factors will give the tip cuttings the best chance of forming roots before stem rot occurs.
Last year I rooted in running water. This year I'm giving individual humidy domes a try. The advantage of this method is I can leave some leaves on the stems and they won't wilt. That should help the cuttings grow roots faster. The screw tops can be loosened or removed entirely to reduce humidy, but tightened back down if any leaf wilting is observed. The media I'm using is 75% cocopeat and 25% perlite or rice husk.
