hi guys,,,I hate to say it ,, but I lost all my cuttings, they all drooped and died,,,,

yes.

rub/push at the bark - all of the bark below the soil line.  if the outer layers peel away, rot killed them (probably too much water).

bend the cutting.  is it rubbery, or stiff?  does it break or bend?

take a razor and cut the cutting in half.  the inside "pith" at the core of the cutting should look bleach white, spongey and firm like styrofoam.  it shouldn't be shriveled or loose, tan or brown.

look at the roots.  are they dark brown and/or black and tiny, shrivelled, hair-thin?  are they tough, or mushy?  do they resist pulling, or just pull apart with no pressure?

smell the soil and cutting below the soil.  what does it smell like?  just curious.

I went back to your other post.

Prep has alot to do with success. I wonder if the roots dried out and weren't able to absorb moisture anymore. Not having them in a bin or closed container from the beginning, didn't allow a humid evironment for them to stay alive.

I would bet that the cutting may have dried out. When I had my cuttings in water, there was growth but the humidity was about 55% in the room. Once they rooted and went in bins, the roots and leaves grew at similar rates.

Good call, Dom, I didn't bother to look back througgh the process used.

What if its looks look bleach white? Will it grow.

I have one that I cut, in the pot and its white. Occasionally water it.

Thanks

Alot of those who have done this for awhile will say to go by the moisture on the inside of the cup. I have found that with the high humidity I work with, sometimes the soil mix is actually dry and the moisture migrated to the outside. A moisture probe can be essential to success if concerned. Here's a pic of a successfully transplanted cutting pre-1 gallon pot.

I started them out on a shelf in room that was   70 degree and dry, so that was a no,no, then I went out and bought some bins with covers and put a cup of water in each bin to raise humidity to 50-70.--maybe too late

@Jason....the series of questions you asked, what are the "doing good" answers??

Cutting assessment:
bend: is it rubbery/bends, or stiff/breaks?  

Slice cutting: take a razor and cut the cutting in half. 
Pith: is the core of the cutting bleach white, styrofoam like(spongy,firm) OR is shriveled/loose, tan/brown? 

Roots:
are they dark brown and/or black and tiny, shrivelled, hair-thin? 
are they tough, or mushy? 
do they resist pulling, or just pull apart with no pressure?

Smell: what does the soil and cutting in the soil smell like?

Thanks, knowing the "right" answers will help many of us, I suspect...Sara

I'm not going to answer for Jason.

But to me the most important thing to remember is that high humidity will allow leaves to grow but that is not an indication of good root grow. This is why the use of a clear container is esssential.

For emample- I had a Brooklyn Dark in water. Leaves began to grow and then roots appeared. I placed in a soil mix. Leaves grew nice and large and the roots grew for awhile. Then they just stopped. Everything. No drooping leaves but the roots seemed to turn brown and scrawny. Lots of what i like to call spider web roots. They were thin and fine, Never big and thick like spaghetti.

I moved it out with a few others with nice roots. The thing flopped in 3 days. No humidity to support the leafs and no roots for the cutting to be suppoted by nutrients from soil.

The cutting should have:

Pith Pale white- will darken on top as dries out and closes off-if cut in half will still be white

Cutting will be stiff- dead if brittle or mushy or soft

The second any gowth turns mush or turns brown pinch off- stops spreading- can be caused by too high humidity- will encorage early branching as well

Roots-Think spaghetti- lots of spaghetti- will slowly start to turn brown as they harden off- you also want lots of lateral roots- extensions off of the roots-but too much water in cup could turn them mushy

The key to remember is that you need to have enough roots to transfer how a cutting stays alive. A cutting will put out leaves to draw humidity out of the air to stay alive. If it doen't put out roots, then your cutting will not survive.

I am new to rooting this year and I have had a good deal of success for a first timer. Search this site and others. You will learn a lot but just entering one or two words in the search engine.  I spent 2 months reading forum topics over and over to formulate a plan.

Then I took my time detailing alot of it out. I tried in water, in bags, buried horizontally in soil. Trial and error. Water worked the best and then into soil mix in Clear totes.

@Sara

listen to what Dom has typed.

with that said ....

the questions i asked were to isolate cause of death or indications.

usually if a cutting is rubbery, it's wet, if it breaks, it's dry.  with that said, i've noticed the rotted cuttings typically can be bent into several circles if you really want to (almost like rubber), and the outer layer just develops cracks, it's really weird.

if you have a cutting to spare, cut it in half between the nodes.  the "pith" in the center should be white and spongey, almost like styrofoam.  if it's any color other than snow white, and it's any texture other than fresh whipped cream, then there's probably a problem (death).  it should smoosh with the touch and not return to fluffiness.  it's pretty miraculous that way. 

for roots, see post #12 in this thread:  http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=5137807

about the pulling apart tidbit on roots, a healthy root shouldn't break with light pressure, whereas a rotten root will break with no tugging at all.  however, a dead and dry root can be pretty damned tough. that's a tough one to explain with words, more of an experiencial thing.

for smells .... curiousity more than anything.  a healthy tree/cutting roots smells like cocounut milk to me, very, very sweet smell.  dead cuttings smell somewhat sour to me.  i'm a freak though, what some people call a "super smeller", so you may not experience the same things as me with smell.  Figs usually smell like one of two things on the top:  cat urine or coconut milk, and they usually smell like coconut milk under the soil.

i would never indicate i have the "right answers" to anything.  i'm only sharing my experience, which could be a truckload of manure, or may be on-point.  it's important to remember that observations are not fact they're just observations.  a lot of what i share is simply observation, which can be a learning tool for many.

I am not a "fig guru".  i will leave that to a few of the older, veteran members here.

The roots are mushy and break easy--too much water--starts off great - then goodbye.

That's tough to just outright say, who knows how coarse your perlite or vermiculite is, what minerals you have in your water, how much humidity you have (low humidity=faster evaporation of water), there are a thousand factors. 

Everyone has their method.  If you're wondering if it is too much water, I'd recommend that you buy a moisture meter (aka moisture gauge), most usually have a scale of 1-10 to define how moist is "too moist".  I believe I've read folks around here using them aim to have a '6' at all times.

For me I bought a 40 lb bag of perlite. I wanted just the coarser rocks so as not to soak up too much water. Took the colander out of my salad spinner and shook out as much dust and pebbles as possible before mixing with soil. Just by doing that I have lost close to 1/2 just filtering out the larger stones. Getting rid of the dust is very important for drainage and air. Too much dust and the water has no where to go. It sits up against the cutting and mush.

You are better off introducing the medium to the cutting. You want it loose, so I would add water to medium wet but not too wet, and then fluff around the cutting. For me, alot of people do not recommend vermiculite, too much water retention. If you have coarse stones they are irregular shaped, so no dust won't allow the spaces to feel up and get blocked. Water then can't filter out the bottom. It's a pain, but you have to filter out the dust. It can make for concrete around the cutting. No water will pass through. You want moisture around the cutting, not water.

Here is a picture of a moisture gauge, courtesy of Cecil:  http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/file?id=1112213

Just got that gauge on ebay- works well!

I would say works about 80%.

I know its stupid but I think its better to stick my finger in the soil and feel for moisture. Hasn't steered me wrong yet. But the meter is good when you have a ton of cups to check.

I'm a manual guy also, Dom.  Never bought or used a gauge myself, I just go by what feels right and what I've been doing my whole life with plants.

I used to tell everyone to pick up the cup and feel how heavy it was - "if you need a gauge, fill a cup with dry soil, fill a cup with saturated soil, then mix half of each together, and feel that cup... the 50/50 mixed cup is about as wet and heavy as you ever want your cups to be". 

I've come to realize that process/concept makes complete and total sense to others who naturally do it, but still seems to confuse or bewilder a lot of folks who are just starting out and have never had to do it. 

Gman.

IMO, a 50/50 vermiculite/perlite rooting mix holds too much water.  Cut way back on the amount of vermiculite you are using. Perlite holds much less water than does vermiculite. Personally, I prefer to use UPM cut with perlite. You do not need to add much water to your bin (I don't add any). The moisture from the rooting cups inside of the bin alone are enough to keep the humidity level high on the inside of the bin. Be sure to place your rooting cups on a wire rack......for better air transfer through the rooting zone. That is IMPORTANT. Place the lid on the bin mostly covered.....just a tiny opening in the corner attained by placing the lid on a slight angle. This will prevent moisture "condensation" onto the tiny leaves and emerging roots which WILL CAUSE DAMAGE. Condensation is much more damaging to roots than tap water......especially when it has a chance to absorb carbon dioxide that is created as new roots are forming.

Take a look at the picture that Dom has posted. Those are perfect roots. Notice you will not see any brown roots. That is because his rooting method did not allow any moisture to CONDENSE on the inside walls of his cup container where it could make contact with those new roots. Notice that there are no water droplets on the sides of his cups. When nice fat spaghetti roots come in contact with CONDENSATE......they get damaged and turn brown.

Condensation is a temperature related thing.......It can only form where a temperature differential exists. Avoid swings in temperature and CONDENSATION CANNOT FORM and therefore you will minimize damage to your newly forming roots and to your newly opening buds. IMO, it is very helpful to root at a near constant room temperature simply because damaging condensation cannot form under that condition.

Here is an example of what Dan is speaking of - notice the condensate in the bag (I overwatered initially).  Notice how the roots are browning on the edges, as opposed to Dom's roots above.  I am not happy with this level of damage to the roots, but I think they will be OK in the long run:

Yep, I've made my share of "mistakes" too.  However, that kind of mistake simply cannot be tolerated when you are rooting "single node" fig cuttings. That's why I have been stressing for quite some time the importance of rooting at a near constant room temperature. It avoids damaging condensation. This information is not important to most people. However, it is a rooting variable that one can easily control if one is not satisfied with their rooting success rate.  I strive for 100% success....but that is just me. My eye is fixed on developing a reliable single node fig rooting method...........

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

I will add,

Lot's of good information,,I sawed off the bottom of the cups of the 2 cuttings I have left,, lets see if that helps them dry out a bit.. Love those spagetti roots Dom showed  - and that rooting in the plastic bag from satlelitehead,,  what kind of bags are they?

See:  http://figs4fun.com/basics_Rooting.html

For further clarificaton and education on bad affects of carbon dioxide, I've added this edit to my earlier post............


"EDIT..........think of those brown roots as roots that have been ACID BURNED. That is exactly what is happening. Carbon dioxide plus "condensate" equals ACID!! Carbon dioxide gas forms when the cuttings (or new plant) uses internal stored energy (sugars and starches) and combines it with oxygen from the air to create new roots. That carbon dioxide gas is harmful if allowed to collect in the rooting zone.  It will burn newly formed roots. Acidity will not affect roots as much once the roots have hardened off. The rooting mix needs to be able to "breathe" to prevent this from occurring. Proper venting (airy mix, holes in cups, cups on rack, etc.) allows carbon dioxide gas to escape from the rooting zone so that no acid is created in the rooting zone."