Hey guys,

This is my first attempt at rooting some cuttings and I'm not sure what's going wrong. They've been in pots for about a month. There are no signs of any roots. Some started to sprout some leaves but they have just withered and died back. The ones that are left show no signs of mould. I have them in a clear plastic box under a cfl lamp. What should I do? Am I being impatient?

I guarantee they all rotted below soil. Start next batch in moist peat moss. These are all gonners

When I was new, I killed many cuttings, biggest mistake is that, " Do not water cuttings", They are very easy to overwater them and then its root rooten ( melted) out.

I prefer per-root them in Coir in shoebox at warmer spot indoor with stable Temperature near 80F, it is in-expensive and I do it at End of March  because I do not have a Winter setup to growing them.

You need to find the best methods work for you with highest sucessful rate.

You can see that the soil is much too wet from the moss on top of the growing medium.If you use the search facility of the forum that will show the many methods that have been used by members. Personally I have only taken cuttings in the growing season and I simply put them in the greenhouse out of direct sunlight into a container with water covering about a third to a half of the length of the cutting. Once I see fine white roots showing I pot into a very light open compost with added perlite. Apart from an initial watering in, I leave them until active signs of growth are showing before giving an occasional water. Some people recommend changing the initial rooting water daily but I only do so if the water starts to look nasty.
I don't mind if people say this is a rubbish method, but it works well enough for me.

I'm sorry to say the other commenters may be correct,I would gently tap one out to see what's going on under the surface but when the leaves die like that it's usually rot.If you scratch the bark that was under the surface and it's brown underneath instead of green or the bark just rubs away that's rot.You could try saving the wood above the rot by cutting it away but it's rarely successful as the rot moves up the cutting killing the tissues.

Your box looks very humid.I tend to remove some moisture if it starts to get that wet just with some paper towel or something.

What mix are you using?(coir/perlite %)

Take them out of the light.  Put them in a mixture that is DAMP, Put them in a humid area, leave them alone.  There are too many people rooting cuttings using tried and true methods to ignore their process/success.  Duplicate success, don't improvise.  I went from 40% success to 97-98% by doing what others are doing.

The peat moss looks so wet I'd bet the bark under the soil has started to decompose.
Throw the soil away; sterilize the cups and add clean peat moss/perlite and soak initially. 
Place plastic bags over the pots. Heat/humidity is needed more than light at this stage, so if you have a
heating pad, place it under the cups. I agree: do what others are saying & doing. Be patient!
It's a learning process.

Thanks for the advice guy's. I only watered each plant once when I first placed them in the cups. I'll pull them out and see whats going on.

Update! So i took them all out and as expected there's no roots. I cut them and underneath there is some green so I'm hoping there still viable. I'll try a different soil mix and put them in a less humid box. Fingers crossed.

Im glad to hear they haven't rotted,until cuttings root sometimes they drop leaves as there aren't any roots to support the new growth.Figs can be fiddly,too much humidity and the wood can rot and the leaves will droop, not enough and the leaves can droop lol.Mould,fungus or bacteria can also wreak havoc.

For that reason I use horticultural grade perlite and CocoCoir as both are quite sterile.I started out with just adding some perlite,experimented with 100% perlite but settled on roughly 50/50 mix.It really depends on a number of factors what mix will work for you-how damp the coir or compost is(I don't use as it's got too much bacteria and fungus potential) is,how fine the perlite,how well draining the pots or cups are,whether you add air holes on the sides as well as the bottom,whether you use a bottom heat mat or some other source(I use the radiator),whether you use lights(I don't),how humid you allow the box to get(humid is good,sitting water is not) -there's no magic formula because everyone has slightly different methods and environment,I'm sure you will settle on what works best for you.

If you are confident that the woood hasn't rotted I would disinfect them,either with a weak bleach solution or something else, use clean cups with holes for air and drainage on the bottom and side,a lighted more high perlite mix and put them back in a humidity bin(as this is your chosen method).I would probably give the box a clean as well with some disinfectant or something to be safe.

If all he above fails i blame the cuttings lol.

This may all sound a bit surgical,I have also had success just sticking the cuttings in a pot outside in summer,but inside we create a perfect environment for problems unless we're careful-wood and soil for organic matter,bacteria and fungus+warmth+humidity.I learnt the hard way,now I try to keep everything as sterile as possible.

My No.1 tip,find local trees if you can,take cuttings,kill as many as you have to to get your method perfected

Ok, I'm going do all of that. I have coir and perlite and I'll disinfect them as well. Thanks again

Irish,

I'm happy to send you a bunch of cuttings so you can try again.

Practice a few times and you'll find it takes a huge difference.

If interested u will have to send me $8 for shipping.

I suggest you go to figaholics and watch Harvey on his little video as he shows us a very successful way to root.

If interested PM. If not my feelings are not hurt.

MGG

As someone else said, I'd skip the CF light and store in a low light area until you see roots forming.  Light causes the plant to form leaves and you want all the energy concentrated on roots.  Also light can heat up an enclosed area.  You want the cuttings around 70 degrees F.

I have the best success in rooting cuttings using the method: plastic bag with damp newspaper on top of the refrigerator.  75-80%
Unfortunately, my success decreases when I transfer the rooted cuttings to a sealed tub with ambient light.  Leaves sprout, I crack the top of the tub and the leaves wither and cuttings die.  Success: 20%

I'm also trying cuttings for the first time but mine are the exact opposite. I used water bottles with holes punched in them covered with plastic baggies. My mix is probably a 60/40 perlite and peat moss. After 7 weeks I've got crazy root development. All can be seen thru the bottle and to the bottom. The issue I'm having is I'm getting very little to no green buds or leaf development . About 7 out of the 10 have started buds and or leaves and one of them looks like it might have been too moist because the bud end turned brown and has stopped growing. I'm keeping them in the basement under a grow lamp, have only watered them once. I'm at the stage now where I'm not sure which direction to go so for experimentation's sake I removed the baggie on one of them, left the baggies on the others and poked some air holes in a couple baggies. I also wrapped one in grafting tape to see what method works best . Typically when is it safe to remove the humidity dome /baggies ? I don't want to rot them or dry them out.

Thanks for sharing.Were all learning from each other's experiences-one of the great things about this forum.

Itoo struggle with this question but from painful experience I have learned that the most important thing with removing from a humid environment is to do so gradually.Once leaves form in a humid environment they are only accustomed to humidity,you need to adjust them gradually or the leaves will dehydrate rapidly in ambient humidity(especially if your house is dry due to heating units or central air etc.

As I use a box I start leaving the box open for like 5-10 minutes at first,then gradually extend that to like an hour over a week(there's no real formula,I just put the lid back on when they start to droop a bit).

For you,using baggies I suppose making progressively more holes in the baggies to increase air exchange and gradually reduce humidity would be the way to go?.

As to why you get lots of roots and less green growth,I don't know,I'd be interested to hear people's opinion on why that's happening and how you could change up your set up to balance it more.I tend to have the opposite problem.

I can't comment on the influence of the lights but it could be heat/humidity?,have you measured the soil temperatures or moisture levels?did you use rooting hormone?,fertiliser?.Also the variety can make a big difference,some seem to be prone to be roots then shoots,some shoots then roots and most are somewhere in between

I was recently in same position with starting cuttings and found these threads quite helpful: 
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=6692131
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/how-do-you-water-your-cuttings-without-killing-them-8921664?pid=1299954079
Keep in mind its summer in the states here when I used this method. Beat of luck!

 Practice is how you will learn  

1st rule, Practice on cuttings that are inexpensive. Learned the hard way (crystal ice, morena and Palau) dead...
2nd rule, cuttings too close to the bottom of your cup will allow rot which will you can identify when the leaf growth suddenly goes limp (that was a Longue D'Aout) and the skin on the cuttting becomes soft and the guts ooze from the bottom
3rd rule, any time you feel water needs to come to the rescue at any stage may actually do more harm than good, water sparingly
4th rule (not trying to boast being an expert but learning from my own mistakes here) owning less figs will ultimately provide greater joy since I have acquired over 40 varieties and find myself obsessed with those I don't own versus those I do.
Finally, thank you to the forum as I have learned a great deal from veterans and newbies alike.