Unless you’re a fairly experienced (read: obsessive) gardener you probably have no idea what this propagation from cuttings is. Basically it means making little plants from a big plant by cutting pieces off and putting them water or soil. I feel like I’m getting my money’s worth when I can multiply whatever I buy so I was uber keen to give it a go. Let’s have a look how has this IKEA hack turned out – maybe you’ll even propagate your own fig tree from cuttings!
In the picture below you can see my fig tree – it’s Ficus Microcarpa Moclame – they sell them in IKEA for a tenner each (click here) and they are aesthetically very pretty! The little trunks come braided with a circular crown on top. I have two of these because they are just too beautiful – and a bloody good deal! Also cat friendly! After a little under a year of having this boy at home, the crown started getting a little shapeless so I cut off a few twigs which I thought were poking out the most. Now I had a handful of fig tree twigs which seemed just a tad too pretty to chuck in the bin. A quick search on the internets tell me I can slot them in a jar with some water and that way they’ll grow roots. Oh yes. That’s exactly what I did. Every couple of days (read: once a week, although they say every day, oops!) I washed out the jar and added some fresh water. After two weeks or so, the bottom of each twig became covered in strange white fluff. Despite the dread that I was knowingly growing mold in my bedroom, I decided to wait it out. Another two weeks down the line the twigs grew massive roots – in fact they were so big they couldn’t fit into the jar anymore! Today I took them out and planted them in pots. Hurray!
The whole process took circa 4-5 weeks, which is nothing considering I got three new plants out of this already – and counting! These little figs will make really lovely presents for my friends and family, can’t wait for them to grow a little bit more so I can give them away!
