my cuttings in the cups have gotten to a point where they need water. in the past, i'll just spray some water on top using sink spray thing. however, there is a chance that will cause too much water to be given to the cutting. and sometimes, water will not penetrate the soil mix too well. 

i heard some people using spray bottle to just mist. 

how do you water your cuttings at cup stage? i think i have 2 or 3 weeks before i really need to water them. 

other option is to move them to 1 gal and water them well on one of the days when day temp is over 50 and sunny. 

Don't know what caused it but I had some nice looking cuttings with tiny growth so I mist sprayed with water that had been sitting for 2 days. 
A couple of days later the end of the branch died and the tip turned black.  I am still hoping the fig will recover but the black seems to be travelling down the stem.

too much moisture is rotting your tip. cut that black part off and hope new growth will come out way below. or at least that's what i did in the past. i figure if the tip is rotting, it will not put on new growth there. no reason ot let the death travel down to the cutting itself. 

I have a 10 cc syringe (sans needle of course) that I use to dispense water into mini-SIPs (via the straw).  I've started using this to water conventional cups also as it makes it easy to be consistent from cup to cup and makes it more difficult to overwater.

Pete,

I mix up a small quantity of Gnatrol WDG and water.  2 or 3 teaspoons per 32 oz deli container, depending on how dry each is.

steve, i haven't seen gnats yet. but i think that might be prudent. one of the cutting last yr showed gnat larvae when i pulled it out after it died. not sure where the gnat came from. 

i'm thinking about two different way to water the cuttings in cup. one is to bottom feed them so i won't disturb the cutting too much. other way is to poke holes half way into the cup with tooth pick and spoon feed the water. still have few weeks to figure out the best way. 

I am skipping the cups this year altogether, very happy about the decision, so far, out of 30 or so have not lost a single one. I do rooting in a baggie-> porous soil in a sip or 1 gal pot.

Pete, I water strictly from the bottom with Gnatrol mixture. Sit the cups in a bin
for 3-5 mins and allow to soak up about 1/3 up the cup. That is assuming you have
holes in bottom and 1/2 way up the side.

I water when the soil at top layer is dry. no scientific method yet , but trying to adopt a syringe method like rewton. i use a cup on cup method as a miny greenhouse and just prick the top with the needle .

I use the Home Depot spary bottle. It's big, has measurements of all sorts on the bottle, and the adjustment works great. I like it to be inbetween mist and stream. That way I only use about 4-5 sprays every few days when they get to the  open air stage to keep the medium at the right moisture level. At some point they will need daily watering, and by then I have switched over to a turkey baster. Also, I never wet the foliage if I can help it, only the growing medium. One exception, I do spray the foliage down on all sides after I do an up pot.

I'm with Greenfig, skipping cups for now on, I water as little as possible, someone said its better under than over,....I would think this may promote root growth stretching out to look for water, not sure...???

in fig paradise like CA, i'm sure putting a cutting directly in 1 gal might work, but it hasn't worked for me. by rooting in stages, i know what's going on and i have more control. better success rate. maybe in next 10 yrs, my rooting skill will mature enough for me to root just by sticking a cutting in some dirt.

I'm with Newnandawg and water from the bottom.  I tried the spray bottle and it just didn't work well for me.

I also find that they respond well and thrive with rain water.