I acquired about 100 cuttings last winter and rooted them in cups which were in plastic tubs to keep the humidity constant and elevated.  This worked decently, but what happens when a fig lover takes a trip?!?  What if the wood stove burns down and the temperature gets too cold?  Or too hot?  These are serious problems if you want to do hundreds of cuttings.

So, thanks mainly to Charlie, I learned that if you placed cuttings under 4-6 inches of wood chips outside during about the coldest part of the year, they would be provided with a slightly damp, cool (but not freezing environment), and as the year warms up and April or so slips around, a very decent percentage of the cuttings will be rooted and have shoots popping up.  So, what a great way to root cuttings!  No micro-managed temperature and humidity control, little if any watering (at least during the cool months), and better root growth than in pots.

But in my rural location I don't have easy access to wood chips.  But I can make lots of pure biochar, which is just charcoal with the "fines" or small pieces included- unlike the large hardwood charcoal pieces some people burn in their barbecue grill.  And charcoal has some very interesting chemical and biological aspects that I think can very much help in the fig propagation process.  I invite you to take the time to learn a little more about the science of charcoal at:  http://www.charcoalremedies.com/charcoal_science

However, in non-technical language, biochar looks like black coarse perlite in that it's hard, porous, and fairly lightweight.  And relating to the microscopic world, charcoal seems to trap bad microbes, bad chemicals, etc.  It works almost like an antibiotic on wounds- stopping infections, and in cases of poisoning- tying up the bad stuff until it can get out.  So, I'm hoping that these properties might help prevent cuttings from molding and rotting.

So, on September 27 I put 5 brownish-green to very green cuttings from one of my sacrificial trees (CA Brown Turkey) under about 6 inches of biochar to see what will happen.  Here are some pictures taken today (Oct 7), and I'll try to keep you updated.  If they start putting up shoots and then it gets too cold, I'll bring them indoors.  Now, if I started them in December or onward, they wouldn't be putting up shoots until about the time they could handle the temperatures anyways.       [Notice the serious bud growth.]

Sounds like  a great idea. Please keep us informed. I might try something similar myself with some local cuttings just to see what happens. I'm in 7A so should be somewhat similar results.

Hi Eric
Lots of us really appreciate rooting experiments, we are always looking for new and fun ways to propagate.Every year it seems that someone comes up with something new.
Good luck and do keep us posted

Very cool experiment Eric! 

Very much looking forward to seeing how this works out for you Eric!  Did you make the biochar yourself and if so what tree species and what method did you use?  Is it fairly hydrophilic or hydrophobic?  Thank you.

My pleasure everyone :)  Yes, Greg, I make a lot of biochar myself, and this happens to be unsorted (size) charcoal from a pine tree service job I recently did.  Of course hardwood charcoal is more highly regarded for various reasons, but I happen to believe that any charcoal is better than no charcoal.  In my opinion it must be hydrophilic because it absorbs water so well that it's almost like a black hole.

If anyone wants to learn how to make charcoal, you can email me at ericrose82 at gmail.com.  I've tried quite a few methods promoted online, and personally feel that most of the methods don't produce serious amounts of charcoal for your labor.

Here's was charcoal making method #2 :)  Now, this just seems like child's play..
 

Very nice Eric!  I've decided to go with the open fire pit method.  I get no noticeable ash and all the wood is converted.  The pit pictured below creates a yard of biochar in about 4 hours.  

I start with a small teepee style fire and then keep adding wood as the inner wood is converted to char but not to ash.  The idea is to maintain a "flame cap" that consumes all the oxygen burning the pyrolysis gases that are generated so that the char produced is protected from burning.  The pit helps as does choosing a non-windy day.  I maintain the teepee structure so that the ends aim to the center.  This keeps the pyrolysis gases aimed to the center where they burn so the fire isn't smoky.  The smaller the wood the faster the conversion.  Large pieces don't always char completely so I've learned to split them smaller.  Ending with small diameter wood helps ensure that all gets enough heat to be fully converted. 

I really like the pit method for its cheapness, high conversion, and I just really like sitting by a fire.  Having said that, at this size (about 5 foot diameter) it gets pretty hot so I sit back a ways.  Looking forward to doing this in the winter.  Smaller fires should work fine too.  I'm just running larger to get rid of some waste wood while generating lots of biochar for experiments.  A lot of my char is used with composting to eliminate smells and capture more nutrients.  Also a lot going into potted fig media blends.
    
       

Greg, too bad you don't live closer- looks like we're almost on the same page :)  I have two methods of making charcoal that I love.  Both have similarities to what you're doing, but one uses basically split firewood size (and a little smaller) in a large [underground] pit.  I get two small fires going in the bottom and add wood until the pit is filled to the top.  I wait until the flames and/or smoke die down almost to nothing (indicating the volatile release is basically over).  Then I mostly cover with sheets of metal and wait for the smoke to slow again.  Then I completely cover and wait until the next day to open.  This method uses no water and, like yours, produces hardly any ash.

The second method uses brush and limbs instead of the larger wood.  I'm in a multi-year land clearing process on our homestead, and I start a small fire on the ground, and we start throwing on brush (whether green or brown).  After about two hours of throwing on brush as fast as one to three people can, we take a hose or water in buckets (about 60-150 gallons) and douse the charcoal to make sure it's out.  On our place the charcoal is mainly from Hickory and Oak.

We have used it in the orchard, composting, and potting mixes.  I'm now starting the process of hauling slabwood from a local mill to convert into charcoal for use in what hopefully will be extensive propagation if my little experiment goes well.

Yeah, Oklahoma is a bit of a haul from Maine :)

It's too bad more folks don't do this.  Biochar/agricultural charcoal can be a bit pricey if you want a lot, but it's so easy to make your own in large quantities.  I started a Nero 600M cutting in 100% biochar in the same way that Tyler is mentioning using perlite for, but just switching the biochar for the perlite.  Same results regarding no fungus gnats, but may have an added benefit regarding suppressing rot....have to do some testing to confirm.  There was a post a while back from France regarding the use of charcoal powder put on the cut ends to eliminate rot.

This winter I'm planning to cover some of my inground figs with biochar as it's very insulative.  I'm hoping the voles avoid it.  We'll see.

Ramping up for serious burning!  Praise God.
 
 
 
 

Looks like a family project! :)

Wow, that's a nice pile of wood!  Is that free scrap for the hauling?  Thanks for fighting the good fight Eric....and sharing your efforts here.

Thanks Charlie and Greg :)  Yes, it takes all of us, but I do the lion's share..  Logging is almost the one and only industry out here in the wilderness, and yes, right now the wood is free.  -ER

Update:  Cuttings are healthy, same color as when placed in the biochar, have shoots up to 1 inch long, and a little bit of roots starting to grow.  This variety is quick to put out shoots and leaves, but slow to root..

Here's a picture of two of the cuttings.  Almost no rot.  Almost every node is growing a shoot, but little rooting.  That's what I expected with this variety though.

 
Here is a little tree started from a cutting this year with my first fig!  Same variety as the cuttings in the biochar experiment.