After seeing what tapla wrote on post#12  on the Topic : "Repelling Fungus Gnats with dryer sheets" regarding sterile and very porous mixes for rooting cuttings , I decided to try Napa Floor Dry.
I screened to get out any dust(there wasn't much)and soaked it overnight.
I've been using it to pot cuttings that have been in sphagnum moss boxes once they show anything more than 1/4" of root starting.
It is too soon to say how it is working for me, but I wondered if anyone here has used  this or a similar material for rooting.
Tapla had suggested : screened perlite, screened Turface , crushed granite , pumice . I am using the Napa floor Dry as a Turface substitute .
One question I have is how often do you find you need to water this kind of medium ?
Tapla , do you have a favorite medium or mix of this kind that you use normally for Ficus carica cuttings ?
Thanks for any help,
Kerry

For 2 seasons I have used ordinary top soil/compost that I kept outside for rooted cuttings. I mixed these soil into my perlite like 30:70. I have had no Gnats. I am not sure whether the cold outside kill the eggs. The top soil/compost are bought from a recycling site around mid spring. I had a bad case of Gnats from bagged soil purchased from Walmart in 2009.

I may give a little water to my newly rooted cuttings once in 2 weeks. I used a moisture meter the last 2 seasons.

Hi Paully ,
I am just experimenting with spare cuttings in this "sterile" medium to see how it does.
My regular  mix for the first stage of rooting is similar to yours 8 parts coarse perlite to 2 parts potting mix. Like you say , water is only required in that mix only every couple of weeks at the early stages.

What moisture meter are you using ?

I water maybe once a week when using perlite/turface, less if the pot is in a plastic bin.

Ed ,
Are you using a mix of Turface and perlite ?
What proportions are working best for you ?
Thanks

I use 2/3 perlite and 1/3 turface.  Used to use 100% perlite but it would dry out faster. 

I was able to get a couple of bags of Turface MVP to try as well .
I'll try your perlite/Turface mix too Ed.
Still too early to say how the NAPA floor Dry is working.
Tapla , If you run across this tread , could you fill us in on your favorite mix for F.carica rooting ?
Thanks ,
Kerry

Ed ,or others who are using a similar porous mix for cuttings, how soon do you pot up the cuttings after they show roots ? Do you leave them to develop loads of roots in this mix before moving to the next step ?
What is your next step , one gallon pots ?
Thanks ,
Kerry

I start them in 32 ounce cups and wait until they get lots of roots before going to 1 or 2 gallon pots.  However this year 80 % of my cuttings have been started in sp. moss. I use the same principle either way.

At this point I can say that the regular mix of 8 parts perlite to 2 parts potting mix has worked better for me to root cuttings than the "sterile mixes".
It was interesting to try the sterile mixes anyway.
Wish everyone a great fig season ,
Kerry

My mix is 50/50 perlite/generic new potting mix. I've had very good success. I don't do the baggie method and avoid bare-root transplanting. In the past whenever I've used straight perlite for anything plant related, results weren't very good.

I never water unrooted cuttings, but do regularly mist any leaves that have formed. Roots seem to form better in barely moist media.

I did get a few fungus gnats, but they were no big deal. They don't usually go after living tissues, just organic matter.

Kerry, I did a little experiment myself with three mixes. I did not put cuttings in the mixes, I just wanted to see how they would hold water. Mix # 1 was pure floor dry. Mix # 2 was 50/50 floor dry and good quality potting soil. Mix # 3 was pure high quality potting soil.
 
I soaked the three cups of mix until each was saturated and I then put them next to each other outside where they would be affected by wind and sunlight. Mix # 1 went dry on the second day. Mix # 2 lasted 1 day longer. Mix # 3 held water the longest, 4 days.

I now root my cuttings in either paper towels or sphagnum with good result from both, but I'm starting to lean towards the sphagnum. I then move them to inverted cups with 2 parts bark fines, 1 part peat, 1 part composted manure. I've had excellent results, better than anything else I've tried. I check my rooted cuttings every other day as long as they are in closed bins I need not water. Once the roots and leaves are established enough to leave the bin, I put them in a shaded area protected from the wind and usually have to water around the forth day. When the rooted trees are ready to move to 1 gallon pots, I use the same mix and keep them in the same location until they are really growing then I move them a partial sunny spot for the rest of the year. I usually water them from 4 to 6 days.

I know it's not quite what you asked for but I thought I give you my results with floor dry. I did try a few cutting in Mix # 2, but I couldn't keep up with the water. If I missed one day they were toast. My new mix is much more forgiving.
"gene"

i also use what gina uses. 50/50 perlite and seeding soil mix out of bag. they have worked great for me.

i keep the cuttings in a bag for about 3 weeks or when i see bud breaking or root. then it goes into peat pot then into a 16 oz cup. not sure what difference it makes, but it works.

pete

Unlike most of you, I don't grow a lot of figs - just a few to say I do and so I am familiar with how they respond. Figs aren't any different than other deciduous trees in their wants, and fig cuttings are very easy in comparison to some of the other woody/deciduous material I root from cuttings. My favored method of rooting dormant cuttings is to take them from low on the south side of the tree. I bundle equal length cuttings together with their proximal ends butt cut and the distal end cut on a diagonal - so there is no chance of reversing polarity. I bury the cuttings vertically before the ground freezes, with the proximal end up and about 3-4" below the soil surface in a sunny, well-drained spot. They remain buried for the winter. When fig or mulberry trees start to move in spring, I lift the cuttings & plant out or pot up. This is no fuss, no muss, so easy.

If I'm working dormant cuttings taken in early spring, may favored method is to put a layer (1-2") of coarse material on the bottom of a container. I have 1/4" Haydite and crushed granite for this. The cutting's proximal end rests on this coarse material. I then mix a little Turface (or calcined DE) with some of the coarse material and layer that in the container to fix the cutting in place. Then, I add another inch or two or 3 of a mix of Turface and smaller granite (grower size or #2 cherrystone - perlite would be fine). Everything is sterile. The layering ensures the proximal end of the cutting is never 'immersed' in perched water because it ensures water can't perch; this, due to the gradual change in size gradient. I avoid container soils and bark for anything difficult to root. The reason you guys get away with using container soils as a rooting media isn't because it's a good choice, it's because carica is so genetically vigorous and quick to root that it usually roots in spite of the choice of rooting mediums. I don't fertilize until I know the cutting has rooted. Bottom heat is very helpful up to soil temperatures of about 70*. It's best if air temps are lower than soil temperatures by 10* or more, too.

I was actually the one who introduced the baggie method of rooting to the figgies at GW many years ago, as a mediocre way for those who were trying to root cuttings w/o success. Someone picked it up and ran with it, introducing a number of meaningless steps and hoops to unnecessarily jump through for reasons that escape understanding. The only time I ever used it was if I had cuttings of tropical ficus I wanted to root, but wasn't too excited one way or another if they succeeded or not. I could bag the cuttings & hang them in the shade & forget about them for a week or two - it was just a time saving thing for me.

Al 

My  mix is 1 part perlite, one part vermiculite, and enough ground coir to make it look 'right'. It's not very precise, but I've never lost a cutting.

In plants, 'proximal' is nearer to the junction where roots transition to shoots; 'distal' means further from that transition point. Plants age differently than people (ontogenetically vs chronologically) and the tissues closest to the root/stem union retain their original and genetically endowed juvenile vigor; so when you take cuttings from wood closer to the root/shoot union, you get juvenile, and thus more vigorous wood. Wood taken from the south side of the tree should have more exposure to sun (above the equator), and should therefore have more stored energy, one of the most important factors that enter into the probability of successful rooting.

When you temporarily plant the cuttings upside down, the warmth of the sun is similar to applying bottom heat; and the added coolness found deeper in the soil helps to inhibit bud development. In a perfect world, a functional root system would precede bud development.

Al

Just to be clear - the upside down planting is just a temporary thing. The added warmth near the surface promotes callus formation on the proximal cut and root initiation while the cooler temps deeper in the soil suppress vegetative growth. When you see figs or mulberries moving in the landscape, it's time to dig the cuttings up and reorient them in pots or in the landscape with the proper polarity - root end down.

Al

Very interesting that you bury them Al. I have had problems getting roots to form in pure perlite, maybe there is some sort of symbiosis with microorganisms that yours receive over winter but ours are lacking because they have never contacted organic matter? Hort charcoal in a very small percent of the mix seemed to help out perlite though.

The 'burying part' isn't something I'd consider a key element at all. It's just the lazy man's way of keeping cuttings viable until it's time for them to root. You could do the same thing by burying them in damp sand until spring, but people have tried that in their refrigerator and run into problems. I use that method on a lot of hardwood cuttings. I've done it with apple, pear, maple, hornbeam, zelcova, elm, Jap snowbell, and probably others I don't immediately remember. It's just easy and relatively foolproof, even if it doesn't come with claims of >100% success.

Perlite is an excellent medium for rooting cuttings. One of the problems you might have encountered is a too small particle size. Coarse perlite is best, and if you can't find it, screening out the fines is a big plus. You don't want the cutting end to be in water - it needs to be able to exchange gasses freely.

If I was starting cuttings in a more conventional way, I would start with a layer of something very coarse. In this case, it's a mix of Haydite (like crushed brick) & extra coarse crushed granite.

Then, I would set the cutting on top of the coarse mix or nestle it into the coarse material a half inch or so.

Then, I would mix just a little of the finer material with the coarse so the transition in size doesn't cause water to perch in the finer medium. I did that here, even if you can't tell. It wasn't necessary because the material on top is the gritty mix and the water wouldn't have perched, but for those using fine material, it's an important step. If I just added potting soil on top of the large particles, water would perch in the potting soil. After I added a little of the fine/coarse mix, I would fill enough to cover about 3 nodes with the finer material. NOTE, that what I call finer material is still VERY coarse in relation to potting soils.

The only thing I would have done differently if the cutting was important to me would be excluding the bark from the gritty mix. Even though I've never had a problem rooting in the gritty mix, I'm sure there are rot pathogens on/in the bark, just as there are in potting soils; except there are probably far greater populations in potting soils than on the bark.

Remember that cuttings need plenty of oxygen to metabolize the energy stored in the cutting. W/o oxygen, your cuttings will fail just as surely as if they lacked water, so think airy and damp - not rich, black, and wet.

Al