So I have a number of cuttings that have root growth but no visible buds and no sign of buds on their way.  Is it possible that the buds could all be killed off by freezing temps or whatever and have 0 potential for top growth in the future but grow extravagant roots systems that will eventually die without top growth?  Or is it a situation where... if it can grow roots, it will grow limbs? 

Similarly, if you see the nodes where a bud would appear and it seems like a bud was there at one time and now it's just a crater, can it ever produce growth out of there again?
Timothy

Timothy,

Many times I have put rooted cuttings with NO leaves or shoots into potting soil in cups and suddenly from deep in the cup a shoot will work it's way up the side and leaf out on top, an inch from the main cutting.  If there are roots, there will be leaves!!  Not to worry!

In ground, people have pruned their trees back to almost nothing, and when the weather warms, new shoots appear from odd places. 

I'd say "Good luck," but you don't need it!  You have roots!  Leaves will surely follow!

Suzi

if it roots, and if it has node, it will put on the bud sooner or later. or at least that's my experience. my one surviving Socorro Black cutting rooted fine. but didn't put on the leave until it fatten up a little.. that was about 4-5 months after it was moved to 1 gal. 

also had fat one node Kathleen's Black that rooted fine with no sign of bud that decided to break out in green about few weeks later. 

Great! Thanks for the replies.  How about when it has a node where there was once a bud that died out.  Will it ever produce a new bud from the same node?  I tend to think yes because they do that every year, don't they?  Thoughts?

I've had a few cuttings root but never leaf out. Very few, but it happens.

A shoot usually will grow however. Even if the buds have been damaged or killed, living cells within the stem can begin to divide and will form a new 'bud' and take over the function of the damaged/destroyed ones. It just takes longer, but if there are enough stored carbs, it likely will happen. Just not always.

Timmy,
Thank Goodness It's Friday!
In my short experience I've seen a tiny green bud finally work it's way out of the side of a 'pit' where there was once a fig, but if it already had a branch/bud grown on that node before, I can only refer to Pete's post above in hopes that Life will still "find a way" :)

Also, I've had a few cuttings that rooted like crazy in a Perlite-filled 16 oz cup (in humidity bin) but wouldn't push out buds. So finally I just decided to transplant them up to 1-gallons with a light Perlite/Potting Soil mixture (& then they also move up from humidity bin into the mini-greenhouse in the kitchen near a south-facing window)

And soon enough *most* of them finally felt the room to grow and they started producing green buds as well! Perhaps also due to change in heat/humidity/indirect sunlight when moving locations after transplant(?)
I know *ideally* we want to wait until there are good roots and good leaves to move up to 1-gallons but when it's been a while and the root ball is TOTALLY knarly in there, it might be worth a shot. I tend to move them all up once there's serious root action filling the Perlite cup. Once in a while there's a 'dud' that has damaged nodes or something else failed :(
Have Fun!!!

Thanks everyone!

Timothy,
  I'm curious if you used rooting hormones on the cuttings.
  There were a few really good postings/threads last year showing that a strong application of rooting hormones could have a negative affect.  Basically the cutting goes into overdrive and continues creating root cells and never switches over into "leafout" mode.  (This is bad paraphrasing of other people's really good observations/experiments, but you get the idea.)
Jim

Nope, no hormones used.
Hormones (roots) plus cinnamon (leaves) equals figs on steroids?

Yes. Could be too much energy went to roots, but more likely that the buds had been damaged (frost, freeze, mold, bugs, etc. etc.)

I've had a couple of cuttings with substantial roots and nodes that did not end up leafing.

I fertilize with houseplant strength fertilizer as soon as I transplant rooted cuttings.  That way I know the plant has what it needs and I've done all I can do to make it thrive.

I had three that took three months to get buds and leaves after having plenty of roots...drove me crazy... then I had the leaves without roots and learned to love  the others...