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No luck with cuttings.

Started cuttings back in April and had no success.Tried just putting them in potting soil and tried wrapping them in a damp paper towel and putting them in a plastic bag and keeping them in a warm dark place.They just got moldy.Could the cutting be no good?Not the first time in trying to start cutting.Any help?

My best success is with moist sphagnum moss in a tupperware container. Around a five weeks ago I discovered that a struggling Green Ischia TC tree had been sent to me with root knot nematodes; so I cut it off above the soil, made two six inch cuttings, cleaned them with alcohol, and used the sphagnum method to root them. I set it on top of the fridge and opened it briefly each day to check conditions inside. Both had good roots inside a week. Worked much better for me than papertowel/newspaper or just rooting in water. I went straight to potting soil, and the trees are ready to pot up to larger containers now.

How did you start cuttings in sphagnum moss by planting them up rite or laying them horizontal.

I laid them horizontal and buried them in the moss.

Thanks.I have them in water now for about a month.I have been changing once a week with no sign of growth.I will try your method.If I have no room on top of my fridge can I put them in my attic which is a little warmer.

Spaghnum moss works best for me too.

Make sure that your sphagnum is soaked first and rung out very, very well. I usually place a folded paper towel inside the bag and check it very other day. If it's wet, replace with dry paper towel. I do that for a couple weeks to make sure the cuttings aren't too wet inside the moss.  
Good luck !

Should I cover them completely or lay them on top of moss.

Me three. Cover them completely. The one downfall to this method is root entanglement so keep a good eye. I wonder if sterilization removes good bacteria also, but the moss has it's own anti-fungal properties. If they rot in the Green moss (not sphagnum moss in large cube) then they weren't going to make it anyway.

Luck is another component.

quality of the cutting is also another component.

I send cuttings all over the country and even to my fig friend in Brazil, and they root and grow at much better rate than mine.

I grow lots of plants with success. figs are tricky to me. All my rooting methods combined amount to 90% mortality. I am a failure at it.  I also tried all methods.   what seems to work is hot weather and neglect. Shove them in the soil, cover with a bottomless with lid cracked open, so very hot air can scape, put it in some filtered sunlight (under another plant) so, it does not 'cook' the cutting. Forget about it.. and you will see growth.

it can be very frustrating... there are also those enemies: Gnats. Almost invisible larvae that seems to find their way in the most tied spaces.

I wish you luck... just don't give up...

Hi Alan,
Welcome to the forum.

Rooting figtrees is easier than rooting other fruit-trees but sometimes is tricky.
For instance here, this year the spring was dry and hot... easy to guess that lots of cuttings rooted the old way failed - that is direct in dirt and water sometimes.
So for now, I have them in pots in a greenhouse for keeping more humidity in the air... So far results are better.

At this time of the year, I would target taking a branch and putting it in water for a month and then in the dirt or in a greenhouse .
If you have access to a big figtree go ahead and keep the efforts on !

Thanks for the help.I tried 3 different methods with cuttings I got in march.They all got mold,which I removed.I now have them in water for the last 4 weeks.Are they still able to root or they dead.

Alan
If you do a search on propagation methods here on the forum you will find a wealth of information on the subject. Many different methods out there for dormant and green cuttings. There are different methods for each.
I use the sphagnum moss and tupperware for dormant cuttings and I pot green cuttings in mushroom compost, in a plastic bag in the shade. 
Those are my go to methods, but use the search mechanism and there will be more info.
This is an extremely popular subject

I agree with Coop. You'll find a million different opinions around here about the best way to root cuttings. I've tried a few over the past few years and settled on this method: http://www.threefoldfarm.org/blog/simple-fig-propagation

Several others use it with very good success and I had over 90% success this year.

Thanks.Learning how to nav this website.

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