I know this has been discussed in some form previously on the forum but I wasn't successful searching for it.  Unlike the majority of my cuttings that I have propagated this year, there are a handful started in February that have good healthy roots but so far have not leafed out.  They have been in front of a south facing window for weeks and a couple have been recently been moved outdoors to get even more light exposure (not sure how much this matters).  I started fertilizing all of my figs after they exhibited extensive root growth using a weak solution of foliage pro.  I haven't noticed any burning with my other figs - they seemed to respond to the fertilizer and look healthy in general. I have potted up a couple of the non-leafed out cuttings to one gallon pots hoping that might jump start them.  I read in another thread about using epsom salts (magnesium sulfate).  I may give this a try.  My mix for 1 gallon pots has Espoma garden lime mixed in; however, the media I use for cups does not.  Does anyone have any other ideas?

Steve

don't do anything.. the roots will support the tree. Let it take its time. you can move to a sunnier location > I have a plant of Sal's from last  october.. roots and more roots, but no leaves. the cutting looks healthy, I give it a bottle without bottom to give me humidity and ocasioally I water it from the bottom, just a little. It seems alive...

Grasa - from last October?!  You are patient.  Being patient and making sure they get moderate amounts of water is probably all you can really do but I was hoping someone might have a trick or two up their sleeve.

does it have a node? if so, it should put out a leaf sooner or later. my Socorro Black took 4 months to put on a leaf, and it took one of my puppies fraction of a sec to chew it up.

Most if not all have at least one node above the soil level.  There may be one in which all the nodes are below soil level.  Previously I have seen such cuttings send up a shoot an inch or so away from the cutting itself, presumably from a buried node.

Just be patience.  Much better to have roots and no leaves, then to have leaves and no roots, or to have neither.  As long as roots are alive and not brown/mushy.

Not trying to be negative, but I hope this is not the situation, the cuttings were rotting from the bottom end. Last year I experimented (after reading a topic here) with growing fig roots, I got a quart container full of health roots and nothing else.
Good Luck.

Pete S., that's an interesting thought.  I did use rooting hormone on most, if not all, of my cuttings.  Actually, I think one of the cuttings that is refusing to develop leaves did not get rooting hormone.  For the ones I transferred to 1 gallon pots I didn't notice an obvious rot.  I also didn't notice that they formed any more roots than the cuttings that formed leaves.  I'll keep my fingers crossed that once the warmer temperatures arrive outside this will spur them to action.

i have the same situation after accidently breaking off 3 mini leaves off, going to transplant it soon since ive been putting it off for almost 1 month now

Create humidity. Get a plastic bag, spray the inside with water and cover the scion.
When there is no moisture showing inside the bag, spray again. Water the roots
only when they dry out.

If it has node and node is not damaged rotten, it should sprout. It doesn't need light until leaf out, keep it out of sun for now, which help the root development and reduce water lose.

i'm on the opposite side,
nice little leaves
but low roots

Shootersm - I have a few like that too but so far the roots have come along well enough to support the precocious leaves.

TomahaGuy - I've thought about doing that; maybe I should.  The reason I've hesitated is that 90% of my cuttings have not needed any humidity (above ambient) to form leaves.  Being a hobby fig grower it is hard to know what limits some particular cuttings - humidity, nutrients, pH, temperature etc?  Maybe I'll try it with one cutting and see how it goes.

Jimmy - I'm pretty sure the nodes are not damaged.

Just curious if and when it finally leafed out. If you can remember from almost 2 years ago:)

Troy, I think most (but probably not all) did finally leaf out.  I have definitely had 3-4 over the past couple years that had root development but never developed leaves but this is rare.  I also remember some that did finally show a green bud and then were fine.

That's good to hear. I have one right now that is loaded with roots, but no sign of leafing out anytime soon.

My St. Anthony cutting put out so many roots that it looked like it was trying to escape out of the top of the pot. I added a little more potting mix to cover the roots (still alive) and moved it outside, hoping the warmth of the sun would coax some new growth out of it. The entire cutting is buried (only because it rooted along the ENTIRE cutting), but there is less than an inch of potting mix covering the top of the cutting. Making sure it stays moist, adding plastic wrap and a rubber band over the top on days where it isn't raining...keeping my fingers crossed! I rooted it in mid February I think and hope there is still hope for this little tree!

I'm wondering if I should pot it up from a one to three gallon container, so I could check on the roots again and give them more room to grow outwards and downwards without adding anymore potting mix on top of the cutting?

I have the same problem with some of my cuttings in clear plastic cups. Tons of great roots! No leaves. Plenty of nodes on top and cup covers to keep in the humidity. Actually roots continue to grow on top instead of leaves. Should I take off the plastic cups to reduce humidity and discourage the roots? Shall I move to a really bright location? They get light but not direct sunlight. Or do I just wait it out (this has been going on for about 1 month so far)? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Leolech12 if its only been a month I wouldn't do anything different at this point. I had one cutting that did this for 5 months and just recently pushed out growth. After the first 2 months I took it out of the humidity bin thinking under my grow lights might induce leafing. after another 2 months of nothing I put it back in the humidity bin and within a month it leafed out. If the cutting still looks healthy personally I'd leave it.
Tyler

If the St Anthony has so many roots that it filled up the cup then I would up-pot and put in a bright area.

I have had figs that have rooted and refused to grow leaves or shoots for months.  Eventually most did grow but I lost a few since it took so long and the cutting dried out mostly do to neglect. 

Ironically, my problem right now is a fig that has had one small leaf and no visible roots (i.e. roots that have reached the wall of the mini-SIP) for at least 8 weeks.  About a month ago it started to break open a new bud and then stalled.  I now have it in dappled shade outdoors so maybe that will help.

I wanted to add to this thread what I have observed anecdotally this year.  Once again, I have had several cuttings started that have exhibited roots but no leaves.  These were direct potted back in October.  Most of the time they have had an upside down cup with 1-3 small holes over the top of the cutting to increase humidity.  To make a long story short, what seems to be working the best to get them to break bud is to keep them in direct sun in front of a south facing window as much as possible.  Increasing humidity has not helped and seems to have been somewhat detrimental.  One cutting that has had roots since late October is just now breaking bud in front of the window!  I'm happy because that cutting travelled a very long way with me.

I have heard this called a blind eye, where the bud doesn't grow.  Try putting in in a sheltered cold area till summer breaks and then bring it out and maybe that might force the bud or cause it to put out a new shoot...I'm new to figs so not real sure.  Maybe for giggles you could graft onto this rootstock it would be whatever you grafted to it. 

Hi,
Last March or April, I had one cutting with 2'' under dirt and 3'' or 4'' over the dirt. ( I had no space left to put it in the ground. Instead of tossing it, I put it in that pot).
The part over the dirt did die-back and I thought: the stick was dead from the start ... can't always win ...
But I put it in the tomato GH in May and I left it in the tomato greenhouse till June. When I decided to throw it away, I saw a thick weed popping out of the dirt near to the cutting.
I felt it was ok to let that fig tree grow in that pot.
Since then, a second shoot appeared in August at dirt level.
I don't know what for a strain it is, but I can recognize a bud for a figlet when I see it, especially when the buds appear two by two at each node ...
 Here she is by October : 
Those root-shoots  couldn't harden off well before the winter, so when leafless , I took the pot to my balcony.
So far, the plant has no die-back, and the terminal buds have thickened a bit already.

So to summarize it, when you don't see shoots on the stems, they might pop out from under the dirt. Those take a bit longer because they have to crawl through 2'' of dirt. Of course 2'' of stem under the dirt left me with some buried nodes and opportunities for that.
On the left, the dead stick.