My cuttings start out so strong,  I use a little dip n grow then place them in moss. The roots grow out nice and strong, i place them in cups and the roots fill the cup quickly as well as put out nice foliage. I have them in clear plastic bins with lots of humidity but air them out daily and just when things look good some lose their leaves, others die completely. I use a nice loose mix and try to keep it only as damp as the moss I start the cuttings in so I really dont know whats wrong, I have noticed what may be gnats. Thery're small flies basically, but still wtf? I was a lot less careful with my first batch and theyre now huge plants doing quite well. Any advice would be awesome, thank you.

Fungus gnats, oh I loath them.

gnats can be a real problem. You can pull out the plant and check root. If you see gnats, then you can apply mosquito dunk. It works great for me.

They lay eggs in the moist soil and the transparrent worms feast on the roots.

 I believe there was a thread that talked about die back on cuttings that used rooting hormones. some grew roots but never any leaves and while other did what your did. I'm going through something similar. I have a few cuttings that are rooting nicely, but will not produce any leaves. 

I'll check that out, normally when i up pot i dont see anything but then again the roots are encased in the soil. Are the worms very tiny? How do I avoid/get rid  of these obnoxious things? What are some obvious signs of this gnat and do they normaly completely kill the plant?

Let your soil dry out some before the next watering. That might dehydrate the worms and kill them if they need moist soil. 

In the future when cupping them, I have read putting an inch of sand at the top will keep them from laying eggs there. Somthing I am going to try. I lost many a fig this past winter due to them.

Dave, that sounds great thanks. and congrats on your steady growing fig collection, you have quite a few more varieties than when I first joined.

The soil is already infected with eggs. You kill the worms and new ones rehatch and it starts all over again. I saved an rdb with dryersheets on the soil as a screen to keep the gnats away. I have never tried the misquito dunks but have heard great things about them. There was somthing else mentioned in an older post, but it escapes me at the moment.

Bad pest.

Don't worry if cutting put out roots and no leaves. Roots are more important. And I use dip and grow too. Fungus gnats are what you have. Good luck. I'm sure the pros will chime in on this before long.

I would like to see these awesome roots you speak of. I just like roots, favorite part of the plant. 

Jarret, i have no idea how to post pics or i'd happily show ya, anyway now they're gnat food.

Indeed my collection has grown a lot do to the giving nature of the fellow members and am happy to say this fall I will be able to help others collections grow as well.

Is it possible to save them by removing them from the old gnat infested soil into new clean soil without disturbing much of the roots? 

So obviously dont reuse the soil either right? Hows the mosquito dunk work?

Lukie29,
Do a forum search for "fungus gnats" It has been discussed in detail earlier this year. Mosquito dunks only kill the larvae (worms), You have to kill the adults, with spray or traps.
There has also been discussions on Hormone concentrations and fig cuttings, Less is more (better).

Good Luck

The dunks have bacteria that are toxic to mosquito lava and kills them within hours. I might work on gnats too but I'm not sure. Others will have to comfirm that. 

Use fresh soil. Last time I switched out because of that I let the old soil dry completely in the sun before reusing later. Or cook it in the oven to sterilize it or even hot water to kill anything in it. It's up to you.  

I got gnats in a batch of cuttings earlier this year and used a hydrogen peroxide dilution to kill them in the cups. I used a lot stronger formula than suggested on here but it worked. Knats dead, cuttings alive.

Shhhhh....full strength. Now I'm gonna get yelled at by the hydrogen peroxide police. hehe I was just desperate and wanted to make sure I got the little buggers before they got my figlets. I used a spray bottle and applied it to the dirt in the cups.

Mosiquito dunk is suppose to stop gnats comes in pellets thats mixed with water.

That sounds like it would be better Martin. Added plus for down here, it kills mosquitos!

Do you literally dunk the roots? or is it a spray? and about the peroxide, you sprayed that in the soil in which the figs were planted? if so how much

I sprayed the peroxide into the soil, pretty much all over it and enough to get down a little ways. I think if I would have known about the dunks I would have used them, it seems safer IMO

Lukie29,

I used a solution of Gnatrol WDG every time I watered the cuttings.  Bought it on Amazon and it comes as a brown powder-like material.  Add to water according to the directions then water the cuttings.  Also for those flying targets or those that landed on a leaf I used this spray in the photo below.  Got the spray at Lowes.

I lost a few cuttings this winter but it was from overwatering rather than fungus gnats.  I saw many of the symptoms you described.  Cutting would do well when started but after up potting to a 1 gallon nursery pot I lost the cutting within a month.  I'd look at the cutting and the roots were almost nox-existent at that point and the bark easily came off the cutting.  I believe the bark was rotting from too much water.