Darcy,

Be careful with water: plants without leaves use a lot less water than plants with leaves. The temptation is to water them the same, and then you can end up rotting the roots on the leafless plants.

Congrats.

Jon, thanks for the info.  I will water the sticks less than the others.

I though I would revive this thread!

For what it's worth, I phoned Howard Garrison at UCD last week and he made a suggestion that sounded logical to my inexperienced brain. He said it can sometimes be a good idea to apply bottom heat to cuttings while the top end sticks up into much cooler air; the idea being that by cooling the top of the cutting it will retard leaf growth, giving the heated bottom enough time to establish roots. Has anybody else tried this? If so, what kind of results did you get?

Ken,

It is a well known technique. The problem is the cost of the mat and the cost of the electricity. Not too much if you only have a few twigs, but ramps up quickly if you have more than a few.

Ken,

I rigged an Igloo ice chest with a heating mat in the bottom

and I ran some coat hangers from end to end like a clothes line to hold my baggied cuttings with good results last year.
I might add I only had about 12 cuttings!!!!!!!!!!
I know Dan has said negative things about heating pads for rooting cuttings, but it worked for me.

That's my 000.2 cents worth.

Hmmm this sounds interesting, so for this you would leave the cups on the heating mat without a cup covering the top correct? I too have had great success with rooting with the heat mat it seems to root allot quicker too but once roots can be seen and you leave it on there too long they die fairly quick thats another thing I learned this year.

Nelson,

I hung my baggied cuttings about 4" above the heating mat

then when I cupped them up I left them on the mat for maybe a week
to kinda kick start the root growth, then I left them in the Igloo

off of the heat mat until I saw good roots, then I put them on my mantle thing on my computer desk with a cup on top for a dome.

As ya'll know I talk in circles most time, hope ya get the drift of what I'm trying to say?

Ok so when you cup them up and put it back on the mat you had no dome right?

Right, but I moved them within a week, and that is when they got the dome

Ahhh now were cooking. Thanks Cecil will give it a try

Cecil ,
please show him the pictures of that cooler, i thought you did a wonderful job last season with your scion and your setup was simple yet very impressive and worked well dont be shy about it !

I had some disagreements in past about heat and rooting cuttings, i always thought that a little heat definitely helped the rooting process, thats why I stick with that way. 

Hi Martin,

I looked and the post and pictures are lone gone!

I think I deleted the thread and pictures, and I have got rid of that computer so I can't retrieve that Post

Sorry about that!

Thanks for the compliment though.

Thanks, Everybody, for the info on rooting with bottom heat. It sounds like it would be worth a try on some cuttings, so I'll see if I can rig something up. For just a few cuttings, would a heating pad like you'd use for a sore back, set on its lowest setting, be about the right temperature?

 Take a look at http://www.hydro-gardens.com they have propagation mats, a little more safe. I have used one of theirs for 8 years and it is still in good shape. Just looking they have a 22 X 14 for 42.95 plus the thermostatic control. Good luck!

Thanks, Jstall, that sounds like a better approach.

I have beginers luck I suppose with the Black Maderia, knock on wood.  It has rooted and I only have one cutting so I was happy so far, but no shoot growth yet.  It was the third one to show roots, DiRedo and Panachee being first and about the same time as local italian fig that I am told is an ever bearing.

Chivas,

Be very, very nice to it. I get a lot of cuttings of BM that root, but are dead a year later. Just seem not to thrive. I have taken to overwintering them before I sell them, because they are so sensitive, seemingly.

Pit,
      Any specific tips for her to stay happy?  Specific medium she likes better or likes to dry or stay moist but not soaked, heavy fertilizer or light?  Would it be advisable to keep it alive during winter to keep her growing under a high powered light?

They just are more fussy and/or difficult. Even air-layers took much longer to root than other varieties I have done. It took all winter in the green-house to really get them up and going. All I was trying to say was that they are tempermental, in my experience.

Don't think FMV is the issue, they show few if any signs of FMV.

Maybe it's just one of the susceptible few, but I'm guessing my UCD Black Madeira has a major case of FMV. But, other than distorted leaves and patchy pigment, it seems quite healthy and vigorous, and I'm optimistic it will outgrow the symptoms, or at least that its fruit production won't be affected much. It will go into the ground soon, which I'm also hoping will give it a boost.

Has anyone sourced out one w/o FMV? Seems like everyone has the same problem. Same sources?

Dominick. Good luck.