This is a great looking cutting! I would wait another month or so till the weather gets warmer and follow jons method! Look up "from twigs to figs on encanto site

There are so many nodes, if you cut that cutting into 3 parts, you'll have one to graft and two to try with other methods.  You could try a chip or bud graft.  No expert here, just read about it, but many here are!  Read that grafting thread.

Suzi

I was trying to root a few similar looking Black Mission cuttings last summer too. All died, also were covered in lichen .
The cuttings taken in December all rooted readily though, have not lost a single one!

I would call the nursery and ask to put a potted fig aside for you as well as try to root in a paper towel first where you may have a better moisture control.

Good luck!

You have to wash your cutting in 10% bleach water. All cuttings. Makes a big difference. Leave in bleach water 30 seconds then quick rinse. As far as coir. Put cuttings in zip lock with coir that is almost dry. When you close zip lock it will slightly condensate should look loose like coffie grounds. Not wet coffee grounds. Richie

I would try single node cutting propagation.

Hi cyberfarmer,
To be honest, it looks too dry, but judging on pics is hard .

Lychen is a liven form and needs water, so it more than likely absorbed the water out of the cutting.
I would put that cutting in a bottle full of water leaving a third of length out of the water and change the water every two days and see if the cutting wants to green up.

Was that cutting stored in a fridge ?
Good luck !

How hot was the water?  I'd cut it at the bend so you have 2 relatively straight cuttings.  Send me the smaller one to root and you try a different method since coir has failed twice.

I tried to investigate the origin of Steve's Black Ischia, and based on my inquiries, there is NO evidence that this Black Ischia is descended from UCD rootstock. This was confirmed by Jon Verdic. Nontheless, a tasty fig is still a tasty fig.

Before you waste any time on it I'd make sure it's still viable.  try to bend it a bit to make sure it's not totally dried out, and rub your finger along it to see if the bark peels off (if so, it's already on it's way to mushville). 

Can you rub the lichen off with your fingernail? 

Other thoughts:
Cut it in half at the bend.  Looks like the top half has much less lichen.  Put one of them straight in the ground whenever temperature is right (which probably soon for you in CA).  Put the other all the way in a pot or cup with only one or two nodes exposed.  Use good potting mix that is gnat free.  I have started using the HP Pro-mix this year and have really liked it. 

I don't like putting things in sealed bags.  Too often leads to decay problems.  OK for a few days (like during shipping) but in long term not good.  Whether it's coco coir, paper towel, sphagnum, whatever, I think some amount of air exchange is important.  I use plastic bins that don't seal tight.  Or if I use ziploc I will cut the corners off and put a couple holes here and there. 

I'm no expert and i do not know where this fig comes from but there is a island just north of Naples named Ischia, many immigrants here in Ct. from that area.

Black Ischia was easy for me to root......but once established the tree is a slow grower. The 2 trees at UCD are true dwarf trees. Neither are over 8 feet. Here's a tip!

Once you are able to get the cutttings to root and are ready to pot up, give the tree liquid hormone weekly. It will show FMV but it won't be as bad as Calvert.

Of the 5 UCD  BI cuttings I was able to root a year ago, and move into 5 gallon containers, 2 weaker ones have actually died. And that never happens with plants regularly watered here. They just are not very strong.

It's well worth the trouble however - they really do taste good. Top notch. I'm sorry I wasted 2 years growing not the real thing.

I thought the trees at Davis are practically dead,barely hanging on to life. I thought somebody posted pictures.

The trees at UCD are not dead.  They just have bad FMV.  The pics you're probably talking about are the ones I posted.  Jon and I were there in 2014 and there were plenty of figs on.  But many were not ripe enough to pick.  I took a lot more pics....just haven't posted them yet.  I'm presently water marking them to keep the scammers from stealing my pics.

Looking at the cutting photo and reading through what Dennis posted about the tree being a natural dwarf it is very possible that the Sliddel unk could very well be a black Ischia!
Any thoughts?

Thank you for clarifying.

Cyberfarmer
I hope there is happy ending for thread after your latest observation.
Good luck.

Dennis

When you say liquid hormone, do you mean for example Dip n'grow, which I use on cuttings with a 10x dilution? Or some lighter dilution? Or a different liquid hormone?

Thanks.

Plant food, swamp tea, or some other root stimulator.