When I lose a cutting I always examine it once its removed from the soil. I check to see what went wrong. Usually the wood has decayed, its slimy, and just falls right off. All organic matter eventually breaks down, especially in a moist environment.

So my question is: How does a fig cutting survive at all? Do the roots somehow feed the cutting and that is what prevents it from breaking down in this moist soil environment? Does this original and relatively small amount of plant tissue decayed away over the years? Or does that original subsurface plant tissue survive and exist for the rest of the fig trees life?

the cutting requires air and water. if too much water in the soil, it will cut off the air and it wil start to rot since the root can not process both air and the water. it's a balance act. you need good soil mix in order to drain the water away, yet have enough for the roots, and provide space for the air.

the strong ones survive :)

i've seen strong ones doing down really fast. once i had a shipment of figs that i have been looking for for sometime. they came in very nice. then in a day or two, they started growing mold, then sooner than i could do much about anything, they all rotted. i think it was frozen over the transit and once thawed, there was no way to save it. then there was one node wonder. started out great, then barks came off.. but it had a green bud that opened.. then it just went down and wouldn't come back up. noticed that the soil for whatever reason was not draining right.

if soil holds water, it's good indication you will have dead cuttings. once they grow little older, the bit of moisture seems to have less impact.

It seems plain old garden dirt outside is perfect for cuttings.  For hundreds of years, people have put cuttings in the ground under the tree, and they sprout.  God puts the perfect balance in the soil.  It's harder to achieve that perfect balance artificially for sure!  Prior to joining this forum, I read some advice online about putting a cutting horizontally in the ground with 1/2" soil over... partial shade recommended, and sure enough... I got a Panachee!  Not a lot of room here to do that, but the new house has tons of room, so I'll probably return to that method.

Same thing with seeds.  The tree drops them, and they sprout.  No reading of package, carefully making a 1/8" deep trench and putting seeds 1" apart...  Nature has a way of germinating them which reminds me.........  New house has 3 tiny baby Japanese Maple trees under moma, and I am gifting them to local buddies IF I can dig them out with no disturbance.

Suzi

This is my understanding of the process.  I'm sure the person who told me dumbed it down a whole lot for me.  While I appreciate this, you might want to do some further research...

The meristematic cells in the cutting go through a metamorphosis of sorts.  On the tree the limbs container Shoot Apical Meristem.  When you take the cutting and put it in a growing media, the cutting must generate Root Apical Meristem in order for the roots to grow (that is why we wait weeks to see roots).  The "wood" above and below the basal flare are different.  As the cutting starts to grow roots, it is also changing it's nature to accommodate being in a constantly wet environment.  Before and during the conversion process, the outer layer is susceptible to excess moisture and attacks.  This is why it is generally recommended not to plant a tree below the basal flare.  The goal is to have this conversion process in place before the cutting uses all of it's stored energy.

Yeah, life (and propagation of life) is amazing.  That life persists rather than necrosis and rot setting in immediately (as it eventually does)... well, go ahead and describe the processes in detail or at a gross level.  Do it at a molecular level, or do it at a cellular level, or a whole plant level, or pick your own religious version about the role of individual organisms and the world of all organisms, or look at a community level, or a planet level, or something bigger, or a philosophical level about identity and universality, or (etc.).  Any way you choose, it's still amazing and fascinating.  For me, it's just as fascinating that roots of a living tree don't rot as it is that roots can form from scion.  (At least, they mostly don't rot until after the tree is dead... which it eventually is. And that is still just part of a larger circle).  I know lots of the explanations and descriptions of what is occurring (and I'm sure others know many more of those explanations and descriptions), but regardless of the level of detail I choose to examine, it's all rather fascinating.

Mike   central NY state, zone 5

Thanks James, that was an excellent explanation. I can't help but want to understand the growing process on a deeper level. I feel like the more I understand what exactly is happening, the better my odds of growing successfully.