Ha - not my mood, though after finding last night's delicious dinner in tuperware STILL ON THE KITCHEN COUNTER I am a bit irritated.... ;) BUT, I'm wondering if the cuttings should be in a dark place to root? I have them in a bag with newspaper, but they're next to my desk so I can obsessively check them. I've seen a lot of posts where people have stored them away, and I'm not sure if that's so they stop obsessing or b/c they need darkness?

I would say yes. From my experience, when the cuttings are in the dark, the roots appear sooner than the leaves, and you definitely want that.

Yes.. rooting should be in dark.  I cover my rooting boxes with a thick dark bath towel.

Great! Just stuck them in a drawer in my desk (so i can still obsessively check them). :)

Sorry about your dinner!  Almost like when you get a doggie bag at a restaurant and forget to take it with you.

It's kind of hard to find a dark warm place.  I currently have mine in the media cabinet next to the wine cooler.  It's nice and warm and dark in there.  BUT I have to remind myself to check obsessively.  Guilty of skipping a day or two ;-)

People find it hard to understand that here in California it's not always warm, but it is our winter, and cooler than cuttings like for rooting.

Suzi

Pantry works great for me.
I think darkness discourages leaving, so it's better to have roots first, although, leaves vill push anyway...al least slower? ;)

I can't say it really matters whether or not light affects rooting but every cutting I have ever started received some light. My success in rooting has been extremely good, knock on wood. Whether started in moss, newspaper or cubes they all received some light. My reasoning is that if buds start swelling they need some light to help produce energy. I'm not growing mushrooms. That energy aids the cutting in producing roots. If there is no light and the cutting starts growing leaves, all the stored food is being wasted in the new pale, stringy growth trying to reach sunlight. Giving them light has to be controlled though. You can't put them into direct sun which would bake them. When I'm saying they receive light I'm talking about indirect bright light. If the spot I have them in gets direct sun I simply cover the bin with a blanket on the sunny side so as to not over heat the cuttings. This year I started 100 cuttings and so far all but 7 have sprouted roots. Right or wrong, that's my take on it but in the end you need to do what you're comfortable with.

all that matters is the result ;)

i like my figs to have bright personality. i keep them on top of my desk. they don't seem to mind too much.

Hi Jujigirl,
I keep them in darkness and moist for them to - hopefully- grow roots before budding out .
But, I do check every two days for three reasons - one is to air the cuttings, next is to remove mold and figlets if any and the last is to check if they bud out.
When they leaf out, they need light .
That said, the temp is important for them to break dormancy and go rooting - so you need to keep them moist between 18°C and 25°C and this temp needs to be almost constant .
In a drawer, they might not get enough heat ... Just my 3 cents .
Don't check them too often... Their roots are shy :)

thank you all! when you moisten a paper towel, do you use warm water? I would think that might help, and I know i do that when trying to grow seeds in those little seed pot greenhouses.