i never really thought about this before. i typically take hardwood cutting off my tree around christmas and new yr. typically, they come out fine, root and thrive. 

but i'm noticing something strange on my trees. the new branches that are coming out in early spring and ones that were there, in some tree, in late fall are not hardened. they look.. other than hardened. they are in dark tan color and looks more like straws than fig branches. 

they are not dead, they are growing leaves and putting on new buds. 

i took some off to see what they look like inside and they look "dehydrated". they mold easily and doesn't do well. 

i'm assuming that the branches are growing in rapid past and didn't have time to mature or have all the plumbings going. when taken off the tree, they are not able to support themselves and go down quick. 

anyone have seen this before? i'm noticing this on my JH Adriatic and Ronde dB. 

i would assume by the end of the season, some of these will be hardened and will be possible to root them. but as of now.. they look funny.

Hi bullet08,
Is it a root shoot ? Or normal branch that comes out of a trunk ?

Last year my "dalmatie" made a root sucker that looked like a straw - but -I guess- because it was in a shaded position, the root shoot all of a sudden started rotting from the terminal bud back to half of the size, and then came winter.
So I set my winter protection over the trunk and the shoot. Came spring, it was still green, and last weekend while cleaning, I took it off and put it directly in a pot with dirt. So for now it is alive and I cut it in the dirt to get it with a root.

jdsfrance, these are new growth, branch on the tree. not suckers. it's like this on only those two trees.

Pete, the ones here that mature fast under sun and don't require to be protected do very well for rooting, just 2 weeks ago I took a branch from Burbank, where I used to go and eat Vista figs, the branch had started to grow already and had a breba on it too, I cut it anyway because it was the only suited one, brought home cut it up to cutting sizes for my zip-lock. I took the leaves for tea and discarded the breba. I already see some pre-rooting white spots on them, no mold or rot. I also saved the top green fresh grown part and put in cut of water to root, first the tips with tiny leaves went down then, but now they are all woken up, I think even that part will root.
*What I am saying is that , maybe, the reason the last grown shoots are a bit weaker because of the way they survive your winter. I hear you guys , when store them in garages, don't even water them or keep watering to minimum ...?
By the way, I thought your original question would be "when would be best time to harvest cuttings for rooting".
What I am noticing is that when cuttings harvested right before break of dormancy they grow roots so fast, because the levels of growth hormone reach their peak for dormancy break process. This is a very important point to consider for rooting success.

Photos?

no pix today. it went up to 90 today and didn't really feel like taking pix. it's just crazy how the weather works now days.. we skipped nice 70 weather and went straight to 90. 

Mine are showing a copper color at the end too. This is it on my Chicago Hardy. It has one small breba and is just starting to leaf out. Not sure if the copper parts will leaf out but the copper part looks like it is alive (but barely).

Copper = dead, sorry. You can see the line and it will become more obvious as the live parts swell and the dead parts dry up. Prune back to an outward facing bud.

Pete get off the computer and take some pictures when its 90 its not too hot to water or pick the figs. ; )
We want pictures We want pictures We want pictures

Barnhardt  -usually but not always thats a sign the that area has dried up and is dead.
Iv'e seen that in past on some of ours and seen it work its way down further waiting to see if it will
come back which is very bad sign.

I guess I'll go prune now.

Hopefully no more days below 10 degrees for a few years while mine get established. All 10 of my first year in ground trees made it, but most do have some copper tones at the top. Even the ones that were in a cage full of leaves.

copper colordoes not equal death. both JHA and RdB are growing like champ. i'll try to take some pix later. i think it's extremely fast growth without sun. they are very leggie. typically i see pale green/yellow. maybe exposure to sun is changing color while hardening. 

Barnhardt  personally what i do is wait until they are fully leafed out before i cut anything.

it's fig. it ain't dead until it's bone dry and really dead. if it's dead, you will notice it drying up. if it's not dried up, wait.

Dead tissue Pete, not the plant. The copper tips are dead, the buds will crumble right away and the cambium is jerky. 

here are the pix. forgot which one is which. now they are more of pale green than straw or other color. they are putting more leave on top and seems to be fine.