Oh how I wish what I know now, I knew then!! 

To give a short re-cap to the new members, I had acquired some cuttings to root from several people about 6-8 months ago or so.  I put them in perlite (I think!!) and potting mix combo, and I had some in baggies with paper towels.  Well, as it turned out I ruined, killed them and I have felt terrible about it!  To waste fig cuttings!!

Anyway, here we are 6 months later and 6 months smarter ( I hope! ) and I have learned a few things.  Especially one VERY important thing I did not know before.....  I did not know the cutting develops calluses prior to roots developing!!  I was wondering what those white bumps, tumors or whatever they are were!  IF I had known what they were back in the day ( 6 months ago ) I may have had some success with rooting by knowing what to look for! 

Now I know!  There was no bliss in my ignorance. lol

I hope in a few months to have a post titled "Confessions from a cutting rooter" !  I admit I am a bit apprehensive about starting the rooting process - especially since I just found out today that Jan. we are going to be  VERY busy at work!!   That was part of my problem last time, got tied up with work. 

They don't seem to care about my figs, I don't understand it.

JoAnn,
    I have killed more cuttings than anybody I know. Too much moisture, too little moisture, not enough heat, too much heat, mold, rot, and anything else you can think of that will bring on death. But...gradually I am coming to the place where I am rooting more than I am killing.  I learned a lot on this Forum, and I use various combinations of what I learned to come up with a method that "works for me".  Trial and error was the key for me. (which means a lot of dead cuttings along the way). Best of luck with your rooting efforts.
   PS:  I am just finding out now that many of the so called "dead cuttings" were able to be revived by drying them off, scraping off the mold, cutting off the rotted sections, and starting over again. I have learned that fig trees, even in the "cutting" stage are a lot more resilient than I ever thought.

joann, and vince,

i'm a serial green cutting killer. so far, i only managed to kill green cuttings. i have just finished killing two green cuttings last night. oh.. they were doing so good, until few days ago. they start developing that winkle towards the top of the cutting. this will lead to the cutting completely drying up and dying. i was hoping that if i leave them in the bag little longer, it will not dry up. but i guess that only developed further issue. the winkles spread more towards the bottom and i know it will go to the fig heaven.

i wonder if they have a shrine for dead fig cuttings in japan. i heard they have one for microbes.

Unfortunately I have lost a few myself. Chalk it up to learning. I guess

I guess we all will kill some. I dumped two very important cuttings in the burial ground last night.

FIGICIDE, FLORACIDE, not my fault, must be gremlins, LOL

Jo, try putting some cuttings in a vase of rain water, place under some fluorescent lighting and roots will grow in a few short weeks. Change the water weekly. One thing I have noticed is to make sure to trim the cutting close to the bud/leaf node or the bark tends to rot below the node.

I took some cutting last month and have good root growth to date. Come spring I will pot up and the plants will take hold. I've been doing it this way for several years now.

Rich

To date I have never had any success rooting a fig cutting.  And I have no trouble starting seeds and cuttings of other plants.  I am going to try two methods learned here on the forum....fingers crossed.  Great resource of information here.

Diane,
    Best of luck with your fig rooting efforts.  The thrill you get when you open up that bag one day and see those roots looking back at you is sooooo exciting.  I hope it happens for you soon. Maybe a Holiday present !!

In my experience, intervention can often harm a cutting.  For example cutting off callouses.  Or, checking and messing with a cutting daily to see if it's rooting yet, then when you go to transplant it into a pot, knocking off a bunch of roots.  Or keeping the sphagnum too moist, or not moist enough. 

That's why I just moisten some potting mix, wait 24 hours for any excess moisture to drain off or evaporate, stick it in a 1 gallon pot, then stick the cutting in the pot with one or two nodes exposed, then cover with a plastic bag to retain moisture.  Put it in a warm spot (~75%) with or without light.  In this way the cutting can be left for at least a week, maybe 2 or 3, before anything needs to be done to it.  Once there is significant roots and leaves, place it under a light. 

That's it.  Figs evolved to be propagated this way, so why get in the way of nature?

Yes, there are many other methods that I and others have used successfully.  But, if you're having trouble with cuttings, why not try a couple this way and see if it works for you?

Amazing, all these true confessions, shows our sensitive side, LOL.  Among friends, no fear, LOL

23deg here this am.

Rich, your water method contradicts everything I learned so far... hum, my fig cuttings do not like too much water...so that total body immersion would be death sentence for them! How did you do that?   what kind of figs are those water  loving ones? I need to plant a farm of them here in Seattle to soak up the 100% rain weather we have..there will be plenty of rain water here for them.

This past September was my first time dealing with cuttings and I was very successful, having all 24 take root.  I'm in the 2nd stage, where I've lost 6, but I feel I did good for a newbie.  What helped me was reading as many methods as possible and watching every rooting video on Youtube I could find.  You just have to know when to stop researching, as you may become confused with TOO much info.  But I do this with anything I want to learn...by taking 30 different ways of doing something and summarizing what I think works best for me.  That's why my internet bill costs more than my TV bill.  Money way better spent!

I've had rooting problems all along...part of which are due to our variable climate [40 degrees/day temperature swings are common], aggravated by our dependence on a woodstove for heat.

This autumn we finally we installed a new furnace I have not had to time to root more than a few cuttings. Actually I haven't rooted ANY cuttings yet...because they are in the refrigerator, saran-wrapped with the ends dipped in wax. I will try to root them when the weather starts warming up.

Diane,

Don't give up, you will find what works best for you.  My suggestion would be to try at least two or three methods at once on one type of cutting.  I am just rooting my first set of cuttings from generous members here on the forum.  I would say I have 12 types rooting (sorry, I'm too lazy to go make an official count).  I'd also say that 10 are doing well so far rooting in a 60/40 perlite/potting soil mix in 32 oz deli containers in my heating mat containing clear RubberMaid container (~76F) near a south facing window.  So there are two types not doing well in the deli cups, but are rooting better although taking longer in damp spaghnum moss in the dark at a somewhat uncontrolled room temperature (75-66F).  If I had relied soley on damp moss I may have given up by now thinking rooting was too difficult to do.

It's nice to know I am in good company!!  With all of the successes I have read about and seen pictures of, I was starting to get a complex about this stuff.  I have a pretty good green thumb when I have the time and apply it.  It's nice to know I am not alone with not succeeding at rooting.

I'm not giving up on it!!  I do have several cuttings in the fridge - it's a combination of paralysis from analysis and I've been very busy at work - I hate that four letter word especially when it interferes with the time I want to spend doing what I want to do;)

Rich - water - hmmm.  I did do that with a few of them, they did root, then I made the fatal mistake by not potting them.  I  read (I think here) that "water roots" are not good roots for potting, or something like that.   So.... I got the bright idea to try and switch them to a sp moss rooting system because they would be better!!  Uh huh - well - maybe not.  Maybe "bad" or "inferior" roots are better then a DEAD CUTTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bottom line on this is I WILL SUCCEED!!!!!  I am not going to let an 8" stick get the best of me - no way!  They will root - they will grow - they will thrive - and they will be happy!! 

And so will I ;-)

Amen  JoAnn.

Paul and Irene,
    I noticed you mentioned using a wood burning stove for heat.  Actually, our wood burning stove is our "ace in the hole" when it comes to rooting cuttings, especially the ones that are hard to root. We place them in bags and containers behind the stove (far enough away to prevent any problems), and the heat that comes off the stove seems to really accelerate the rooting process.  The only thing that we have to do is to spray down the spagnum moss once or twice throughout the process because it dries out pretty quickly.  But the roots on the really tough cuttings can't seem to resist the heat, and within a week to ten days they start poking out.  I had a Portuguese Purple that I could not get to root no matter what I tried, and within three days behind the stove I had several roots about 1/2" long( and in my excitement to get the cutting out of the bag I promptly tore them off.... :((   ........Oh well "one step forward and two steps back").

Vince - did you try it again with that cutting?

Yes JoAnn, as a matter of fact I'm trying a new rooting technique that I learned right here on the Forum.  I'm soaking the cuttings in a diluted solution of Dip N Grow, and then sticking the bottom end of the cutting into cubes of Rock Wool that have been saturated in the same solution.  Then they go into a 32oz deli cup three cuttings at a time(that's all that will fit). Then I am placing a himidity dome on top and some warm heat on the bottom.  The reason I am trying this is that it is supposed to push roots within 7 to 10 days. That's what caught my attention.  I just did it tonight before I posted this reply, so "time will tell".