anyone know of any such protection to prevent those gnats from having initial dive into the soil?  I found myself today dumping all the soil, to find that the small roots were all GONE.  I trimmed the cutting and put it back in the rooting chamber, hopefully will root again...
but thought if there was such fine netting,  to protect the cutting in its initial stage of rooting, the roots would be stronger and handle the attack with more power.  this is heartbreaking and I am about to give up. I don't want to root cuttings of figs for bugs!  I thought they recover, but 3 days later, I see the creatures again, they appear to be living on the safer soap I sprayed.

not sure what to do!

BT!  Get the stuff!  You will be gnat free!  Go to the big box stores and buy a small bottle (will last years) of Bacillus thuringiensis,  The brand I use is Thuricide.  It kills those tomato worms that eat your precious grape leaves, and it's the most valuable product I own, other than Merit.  Safe for plants producing foods.

Suzi 

Also it is fine to use on cabbage, lettuce, and other things that we eat.  Kills the gnats and larvae, but NOT you!

panti hose

That won't do a thing, if the gnats have already laid eggs in the soil, and they are quick to do this in damp soil.  All the panty hose will do, is trap the newly hatched adults in there, and you got huge problems now!   Another thing is to put an inch of crushed granite or sand on top of the soil, and they will not lay eggs in that!  Too much work! 

Also, you can heat water to 110 degrees and pour that in the soil.   That will kill the larvae but not the roots.

Suzi

In my experience, these things feed and multiply on fungus before they go for roots.  So your cutting may already be rotten.  Once they are around in large quantities, it's probably impossible to get rid of them, because their eggs will be everywhere.  They may kill a few cuttings, but it is certainly possible for a cutting to survive even if they are chewing on the roots.  Just depends on if the cutting is strong enough to survive some root loss until it becomes stronger and gets leaves, etc. 

I had thousands of them flying around in my basement last year, and still most of my cuttings in that environment survived.  I think they probably killed about 1 out of 3 of my cuttings.  The shame is that they cuttings that die are probably the ones that are hardest to root, which also tend to be the rarest and most sought after, for the same reason.

i used softsoap and water mix and got rid of them before. or maybe that was somthing else. i just like panti hose, im wierd like that. i use panti hose for compost tea, and in wine making. its like duct take 1000 uses

Rob, they do not fly around much.. they are running in the soil, deep inside. I did not see the out, until I opened the cup and spreaded the soil to see what was happening..then I saw them, size of fruit flies, but black winged. and run very fast..only after disturbed, some flew... they act like ants, very fast ants...

I am scared of poisons, for myself, my child and the many pets I have.. I really do not want to poison the air anymore than it is poisoned. (I do not have health insurance, nor visit a doctor in the past 15 years!  Figs may not be good for me, if I have to opt to poison their preyers,aka black flies)

Grasa,

Based on how you describe them, it sounds like fungus gnats to me.  They don't fly much unless they are disturbed. And they definitely will crawl into the soil.  That is where they lay their eggs. 

The immature larva will crawl around the soil, or on the cutting, munching away.  They are mostly white, with tiny black head.  The adults are black.  I don't think the eggs are visible with the naked eye.

If you see little tiny white worms with little tiny black heads, this is a sure sign you have fungus gnats.

Good luck with them.  You can try some of the other suggestions.  I agree with you, I wouldn't start messing around with poisons either.

thats it the white things in the soil. soft soap and water 1/3 soap warm water. water the soil with it after 3 treatments or so they will be gone. or thats they way it worked for me. think the soap messes with thier reproduction systems. but thats the bug i was thinking of little fruit looking flies with tiny white crawly things in the soil.

I am reading that sprinkling cinnamom kills the fungs its larvae feeds, and some report the population went down with it.  anyone here did cinnamon for this purpose?

I also use soap. Just a few drops in the water you use to water your plants with will kill the eggs and larvae. I think that if you have a big problem with them your soil may be to wet.