Ficus Benjamin Cuttings - Help
 

Hello all. It's been a while since I have posted here.. probably about
8 months now. I sort of left the hobby without getting pass the
beginner phase and now I am trying to get back in.

I decided I would go back to the Ficus plant seeing that soo many
people have had success with cuttings and that it is the most easily
accessed plant in my environment. About eight months back I took three
ficus cuttings, dipped them into root hormone and stick them into a pot
with soil mix. If I'm not mistaken, I had roots in about 3-4weeks. What
annoys me now is that this is my second attempt, each with three
cuttings in a pot just as I did before 8months back and I just can't
get these cuttings to root.

My most recent attempt was 7 days ago to be exact. By the 5th day, 2 of
the plants lost just about all their leaves. The 6th day, I was down to
a total of... maybe 2 leaves. As of today, I have no leaves at all. At
the very tip of every branch on the cuttings are what look like new
leave sprouts that I though would save the day, but here I am on the
7th day and I've got no leave and the stems and new leaf sprouts seems
to have dropped a tune darker.

If it helps, I am located in the Bahamas with temperatures of 90
degrees tops and a low of about 75. The second I'm don't with this
post I am going to yank out the cuttings and get some new ones. I aim
for, at most 6inches in length... cut at a branch node and pinch half
of the leaves from the bottom of the cuttings. Next I take the cuttings
out of direct sunlight with a baggy over the pot to simulate a
greenhouse type of environment. To be exact the pot is placed in my car
garage. What am I doing wrong, I got it so easy on my first
attempt..Help :/

Ficus Benjamin Cuttings - Help
 

Ficus cuttings are just about the easiest to get going that I ever
encountered. Why don't you just try to take a cutting and stick it in
some rooting powder and then just stick it in water in a window sill in
indirect lighting. It should root. Then you should plant it in fast
draining soil. When dealing with cuttings or collected medium it is
always best to keep the humidity up. I have collected very difficult
conifers from an arid region here in Arizona and I have been able to
keep them alive by keeping a very humid growing environment around them
for their first few months after collecting. Let me know if you have
more questions

Jim