Last winter I pruned a fig tree and placed numerous cuttings into two large pots filled with soil.  I had the pots in a shady area in my backyard.  I kept the soil moist but did nothing else.  The pots were not covered.

Here is a photo of one of those pots in early April when some of the cuttings started to wake up.
 

Early this morning I dug up all the cuttings in the two pots.  Here are the results.
     

There were 35 cuttings.  5 of them produced good roots and leaves.  1 of them produced a small leaf and small roots (not sure if it will make it).  4 of them (the ones that are double potted) had roots but have not been able to sustain leaves yet.  25 of them died.

This method of propagation was very easy.  I stuck the cuttings in soil and kept the soil damp... nothing else.  However it had a low success rate.  Indoors with a humidity dome I usually have about 50% success.

I will probably start doing this every winter when I prune the trees.  I will have a few hundred cuttings in soil and I'll probably end up with a few dozen trees in the spring.  The success rate is low, but the process is extremely simple and easy to manage.

Very cool Joe.   Thanks for the pics and your observations.

I have had cuttings I had given up on develop roots and begin to sprout after being tossed into my compost pile and forgotten about.   Not the preferred method of course, but it sure is low maintenance. 

Fig trees are pretty tough.  I still think its amazing that we can get a new tree from a little piece of branch.

Joe, I bet by simply adding a tented plastic cover over the pot for humidity, the success rate could probably be doubled, especially in dry Arizona.

Joe

Nice system to deal with an abundant supply of cutting surplus

As media I fill a 20 litre  plastic bucket with soil and decaying  leaves from underneath of big carob trees.
This makes a dark, soft and well aerated rich compost ideal for the more reluctant sticks of all sorts . Must avoid direct exposure to sun light.
Inexpensive and efficient !! - Climate helps !

Francisco

Francisco,

What kind of soil are you using? 

I tried a similar approach last year but added about %30 of the fresh mulch (chipped wood) after the guys took down a tree.
The pot was in a shade Feb-Oct. The cuttings were sitting and doing nothing for a really long time. I do not have the dates recorded but I think the first leaves appeared some time in July, the last cutting started growing a year later. My success was 3 out of 4 in a 5 gal low bucket. This method does not give you an instant gratification for sure.

i had two cuttings left in the fridge, so i just stuck them in the ground in my garden. if you
had that success, i'm hopeful.

thanks, joe.

I have rooted like this. If you wait until it gets warm, rather than planting in winter, the success rate will skyrocket. My guess is that so many failed due to the cold, moist conditions. I would estimate that I have rooted in the 90-plus percentile in spring and summer. And no gnats in my nose and mouth. I'll never do baggies and cups again.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.  I'll have to tweak my setup next year and hopefully I can get a higher success rate.  I really prefer rooting cuttings outside since I don't have much spare room inside my house.

Igor,

The carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua), with evergreen pinnate leaves grows extensively along practically all of the Med basin countries. Old trees are very big and it's quite usual to have trees producing up to a ton of fruit (pods) and a great quantity of leaves.

Year after year fallen leaves and pods, decay , mixing with soil underneath the tree and this combination  makes a typical dark compost which for ages people has been using as preferred 'in house' media to root all sorts of flowers,plants, trees in a practically inexpensive way, and promptly available.

I can assure you that planting freshly cut dormant fig wood with sufficient live buds in this moist compost (*) the chances are  that they all root in 4 to 6 weeks .

(*) cuttings always fully buried, with 2" loose soil on top
A good timing for such planting would be (for instance,next season) Feb 20th/2015, wood pruned at Feb New Moon.
The terminal bud to be cut off.

Generally speaking this would also be the traditional way to root new figs direct in the ground, the cutting to be a selected branch approx 1 inch thick and 30 to 40 inch in length, laid in an arc, tip pointing upwards and fully covered with loose soil.
Farmers would dig the hole for the new tree, the previous fall (October) and apply some manure.

Francisco

I don't do mine that way, Joe.  I find a place under a partially shady tree.  I cut out a 2" circle as big as the diameter as the biggest cutting and put the marker (varietal name) in the middle.  I sprinkle the ground in the circle with cinnamon.  Then I arrange the cuttings in spokes around the marker horizontally.  I then sprinkle the cuttings with cinnamon, and toss loose dirt over.  I water them a couple times a week.  Success rate might not be so great, but one or two will root and grow, as opposed to all rooting and losing them to fungus gnats. 

I know I'm not a scientist.  I'm a lover of the old ways used for centuries.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it!! 

After I lost over 100 really good varieties to fungus gnats, I no longer root anything in the house, in sphagnum, or artificially.  If they die in the ground, I'll never know, but if they look healthy and take a dive, that is killer!!

Suzi

Have you seen the GW thread "Fig Fever in Europe"? (Google-able) Interesting Hungarian method of rooting masses of fig scion in sand berms. (scroll down quite a bit in the mentioned thread). Interesting technique if you have a bunch of scions.

Rick, that is a great thread!  I don't go to the fig forum there much because we have so many other fruit trees and plants, so this is my fig forum on the main!  The sand berm would be easy for me because our entire land is made of decomposing granite.  I can show you rocks that decompose before your eyes.  It's all well drained sand, so we dig in a lot of compost, and use manure tea too.

Suzi

Thanks for the info. That's how I root a lot of my cuttings in CA. It's naturally foggy all the time and I'd say 70% root there. Thought it wood be too cold and dry here to try that here.