I became the proud father of my first fig cutting on 10/19/15 and since then my mailbox has been spitting out more left and right.  So while working through the learning curve I have ended up having a bunch of what for lack of a better phrase would be "Stupid Questions" that I am having trouble finding answers for.  Ive read the sticky posts, ive read the entire list of definitions etc etc.  So here goes, maybe some of you might chime in with some answers, and maybe it might help others that have similar questions.  Thanks in advance :)

1. Roots, does rooting need to take place in total darkness? Is this one of the biggest keys to getting bright while healthy looking roots?

2. When I see photos on facebook groups of rooted figs for sale in other countries that look incredibly healthy they are packed in BLACK looking fine dirt.  They all look so healthy and theres no visible perlite, no sandy grit etc, is this just compost?  Is a mix of perlite, peat, and sand really the best medium to root / start growing in?

3. At what point do figs really need to be up potted? From everything ive read it seems like figs like to be a little bit root bound so I dont want to get them into a bigger pot before they need to be. (going from a clear solo cup to a 1 gallon pot)  

4. Trees I see at home depot and also for sale on peoples sites all seem to be perfectly straight vertically... do I need to trim and train these cuttings to grow straight up and have no branches?  Right now I have cuttings that are almost all branching, do I let them grow or cut / shape now?

1. The answer is complicated, ambient light itself will not hurt roots in a humid environment that are not covered but strong light can cause them to dry out and excessive condensation to form.

2. I'd like to know also.

3. Ideally you want to move them up after the rootball is firm enough to stay intact, and before the roots are making full circles around the cup. In opaque containers I wait a week or 2 after roots are growing out the bottom of the container. In fabric containers I feel the firmness of the rootball and also look for roots out the bottom.

4. Trees that are grown to ship are trained into a single stem to take up less space. You don't have to keep them as single stem plants for any particular reason but you don't want so many growths that they end up crowding each other out. Growths that have apical dominance will make thicker stems and larger leaves. When trees are small they can only support a few growths that have apical dominance at most and usually one or two growths will naturally emerge as dominant and the others will be stunted until the tree has more energy. If you want to help induce apical dominance without pruning and allow the little guys to keep all their leaves you can pinch the tips of some of the lower shoots until nature takes over like described in the previous sentence.

Thank you for those answers!

1. Darkness is recommended to prevent early bud break before roots form. Keep in mind that you don't want light shining on your roots. 

2. Well drained soil-less mediums are recommended, but not mandatory. 

3. Wait until your 16-18 oz cup is filled with roots. "Like a plug." The longer you wait the better.

4. Brent explained this excellently.

The other question I forgot to add. I'm building a green house and obviously rooting and growing these cuttings when they should be dormant. How does this effect their first season of growth dies it mess them up or do they just adjust once in pots or in ground? I assume I won't really get any real fruit in year 1 from these cuttings but I can't wrap my mind around will they be 3 months off their normal cycle or does it just elongate the growing period. This is likely the stupidest of the bunch but I'm half asleep so I am adding it :) thank you Ross for adding to the answers.

I read a local gov article that said 1 part sand 1 part perlite and 1 part peat. I up potted 2 in that tonight and it seemed really heavy. Well keep researching the mix piece.

Louneo I usually root indoors in winter and move transitioned young plants in 1-gal containers into my greenhouse around April 1st. Normally, I notice that growth will pause at some point, and young plants with viruses or nutrition issues will usually go through a period where growth pauses in spring. As summer develops, growth will resume. A young plant can grow 3-5 feet in its first year. Keep adding timely fertilizer and micronutrients. Before the end of summer I up-pot again into a 3-gal container. I always leave 1 or more figs on a first year plant to verify that it is true to type. There are a lot of mistakes made, intentionally or not, in the transmission of cuttings. Better to know sooner than later if you have a dud. The fruit quality may not be the best but that is not the point.

What kind of sand are we talking? Play sand you see in kid's sandboxes is very heavy and not well draining. In my opinion play sand is probably the worst soil to use for a young root system.

Ross, most definitely Home Depots best play sand :(   If I get adventurous I may see what I can do to get them out of that mix and into something else.  They are larger branches that I typically have been trying to root (about 12-15" with a Y) so they went straight into 1 Gallon containers of this heavy mix.  Im just excited to be screwing everything up that I can, so I am learning more lessons than most :)  Thank you, I will be on the lookout for other sand.

Thanks for asking, ( I listened )

Lou,

You can always bare root your plant with a chopstick if you wanted to change the soil. I'm not sure if that's the best idea though with cuttings (you'd have to be very careful not to break or destroy any roots). See this thread: http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/barerooting-repotting-a-fig-tree-video-7466941?highlight=bare+rooting&pid=1289918394

Perlite, Coco Coir, Peat Moss, Vermiculite, Sphagnum Moss are the types of rooting medium you're looking for. They're light, well draining & contain bigger pieces which promotes air flow. Also, these soil medias have anti-microbial properties, like coir and sphagnum moss that inhibit mold and others like perlite and peat moss, which are inert and somewhat hostile to gnats and other pests.

My mix from the start has been a variation of what I use for my Grow bag garden mix.  

The grow bag garden mix is setup for wicking and is as follows:
2 five gallon buckets full peat moss
1 five gallon bucket well rotted horse manure or compost or worm castings
1 and 1/2 cup garden lime
1 large coffee can full of perlite
1 handful of epsom salts

However I have upped the perlite to about 50% of the mixture, lowered the composted horse manure to 1 gallon and have dropped the garden lime since I was unsure what PH figs liked.  All of my cuttings seem to be doing well in this mixture right now.  I had read the other day that equal parts peat, sand, perlite, was where I wanted to be so I bought sand to try it and obviously that didnt go well.

I appreciate the explanation on the antimicrobial and warding off pests, that was something I hadnt known.  

Im still relying on their will to live, to outweigh my mistakes :)   As for the video, the ones I just had in the sand mix and removed from the sand mix were straight out of a vertical rooting container.  One had maybe 12 1.5" roots and the other had about 20 2" roots.  Definitely not a rooting system yet.  I successfully took them out and moved them into a different mix, losing only 5-10% of the roots on each.  I think I got lucky.

Thank you!  And @Ross I appreciate your ingredients list, please dont take me mentioning mine as being closed minded.  I was simply using what I had on hand from growing this past summers garden.  Im 100% open to amending or creating a new mix for fix rooting / growing.  So I appreciate it.  I just wanted to make sure my message didnt come across as "this is how im doing it, and how im going to continue doing it." because thats now how it was meant.  Im a sponge trying soak up the info and figure it all out is all :)

Also I buy my Perlite by the 4CuFt bags at a time so I have plenty on hand, I started trying to root in only perlite but then I figured it was a bad thing and started to use my mix.  I root in horizontal bins with the cuttings buried under 2" of mix on top of 2" of mix.  I pull them out when I can see roots on the bottom or the top.  I can swap this to perlite I guess since its not really the nutrients they are after anyhow.

If I want to get a small plant out of it's current home I submerge it in a tub of warm water preferably at least 4x the size of what it's leaving. I gently swish the soil around while holding the plant or use a gentle spray or even wave my hand under water at the root ball until the roots are not sticking to any soil, or not much.  Then I let the roots drip and repot.  The roots are often less likely to break with the plant upside down.  I always cradle the roots so they don't move with respect to the stem.

Luoneo, you really have some great questions!
Rcantor, thank you (and others) for all the great details. I am taking note!!