So, this being my first attempt at rooting cuttings i thought it would be nice to give an update and share my experience to date.
To begin, I started by placing my cuttings in moist sphagnum moss inside clear plastic shoe boxes placed in a warm location. I kept some of the shoe boxes on top the fridge (about 72 deg.F) and some on a heat mat set at 80 deg. F. Both worked fine with roots first appearing in about 10 days for both.
Once roots or root initials appeard I moved the cuttings to 16 oz. clear plastic cups with plenty of drain holes drilled in them. The mix i used consisted of 1/2 in. pine bark nuggets which i screened over a no. 10 sieve (2 mm) to remove fines and perlite blended 1:1. I then placed the cuttings on a heat mat set to 80 deg. F. and put them under a grow light.
One lesson learned - The mix 1:1 mix seemed to work fine with some of the cuttings but not so well for others. It seemed to be to coarse making it difficult to maintain the correct moisture on the heat mat. Some of the roots in this mix looked thin and weak and ultimatly died back. As soon as i noticed this i repotted the struggling cuttings in a new mix of well draining good quality potting soil cut 1:1 with the original mix. Most responded well and are recovering. Moving forward i plan to use a this mix of approx. 2:1:1 potting soil, perlite, and bark respectively.
A few of the cuttings that didnt yet have roots after approx. 3 weeks in the moss i potted anyway (esentially Richs method). These are now showing roots on side of the cups.
So far i have lost 1 cutting to the coarse mix mistake. Hopefully the rest will make it - got my fingers crossed.
Here is the approx order, by variety, that the cuttings rooted for me:
1. Atreano - about 1 week
2. Italian honey - anout 10 days to 2 weeks
3. Brunswick - about 2 weeks to 18 days
4. Frank's Carini, sweet george, mission, kadota,and calimyrna - about 3 weeks plus some still still hanging in there, alive but rootless.
I attached some photos to show root development to date. You can also see the difference between the two soil mixes.
Thanks to all of you who where kind enough to share cuttings! Much appreciated.
Hope this is helpful to the other new folks out there.
Theo