I've noticed in reading various posts over the past few weeks about different references to things that indicate people have various preferences but sometimes such comments have been vague or unclear.  I'd like for some of the seasoned folks to share their thoughts on the type of dormant cuttings they prefer to work with.  Please avoid joking about the latest hot variety ("Any cutting of 'Maltese Falcon'!!!).  Please cover such things as the following:

Tip cuttings
Skinny vs. Thick cuttings (how thick?)
Spacing of nodes
Number of nodes
Length (maybe a factor of the preceding two)
Cutting taken from growth of the most recent year
Cutting that includes prior season growth
Cutting made within the past week
Cutting washed and/or sanitized before storage
Whatever else

Thanks!

Just me, Harvey, but it doesn't seem to matter if it's a tip or a central branch cutting.  Some tips rot, and I've found shoots from cuttings taken from the middle of the branch send out stronger shoots, and seem to do better.  I truly hate long cuttings because they don't fit in my double cups when they root!  I sanitize everything myself, so that's not important.  If they are truly dormant, they don't need to be cut within the past week.

I've gotten old wood cuttings and fresh wood, and they both root the same.

JMHO

Suzi

Year or 2 year old cuttings are good. Best time to take cuttings for rooting is from mid to late winter. I find they root easier. Learn this from a reputable nursery owner in RI. Makes no difference whether it is tip or branch. Cuttings with 3 to 4 nodes at intervals not more than 2" are excellent. Pencil size thickness is good. NOTE - I have a fig friend that is good in rooting one node cuttings. Sure like to know more about one node rooting. Would be experimenting this season with DK & Osborne Prolific cuttings

I have not bother to sanitaze cuttings anymore for the last 2 seasons. Best rooting medium has been spaghnum moss.

One that grows roots, quickly, transplants easily and grows like crazy thereafter.

I personally prefer last year growth or current year growth with lignified wood, Pencil+ thickness, 8"+ length, minimum 3 nodes (more nodes make me happy) , freshly cut or with good storage history (avoiding freeze & thaw in the fridge or too damp storage media when veges storage drawer is not cool enough).
Between the tip cuttings and md-cuttings I have been changing my preferences trying to find out which one will shoot slower to give better chance for rooting. I have successes and failures with both situations.
When I receive cuttings, I remove the tiny fig embryos appearing on the cuttings. Also, I leave the shoot embryos on the top few (2 or 3) nodes and remove similar shoots from the bottom nodes. (I would like to know any disadvantage of doing this).

If propagating from my own tree, I wait in spring until I just notice sign of bud swelling before I take cuttings.

Edit: When a good cutting of a good variety becomes easily available that makes it close to ideal cutting.

Tip cuttings: Doesn't matter much.
Skinny vs. Thick cuttings (how thick?): Thick cuttings. Thicker than a Pencil.
Spacing of nodes: Close
Number of nodes: 1-6.
Length (maybe a factor of the preceding two): 1 inch +
Cutting taken from growth of the most recent year: Older wood.
Cutting that includes prior season growth: Doesn't matter.
Cutting made within the past week: Doesn't matter. I've rooted cuttings that were stored in fridge for 10 months.
Cutting washed and/or sanitized before storage: Yes.


Navid.

I have done tip cuttings and mid cuttings. from what i have found like suzi said it seems that mid cuttings send out stronger shoots, and they seem to grow more rapid. i really like them about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch. the more nodes the better. but score all my cuttings anyway on one side when putting in to root. it seems they really push roots out well at the score point as if it where a node. but this is just me i have better luck with fatter cuttings.

Last week I visited NortheastNewbie's garden where he was kind enough to share some of his knowledge and cuttings.  He explained to me that his ideal cuttings have many short tight nodes--from previous year's fall/late summer growth--because they develop a stronger root network since the nodes send out roots.  This made good sense to me for what it's worth!

I agree with Dave. The more nodes the better = more places for a shoot to start. Also a big fat cutting has more chances of survival IMO. It stands to reason that a larger cutting has more energy reserves to spare thus may it be more forgiving of our fumbling attempts to get it to root ;) .

By the way. I really like the scoring the cutting idea. I've yet to try it but certainly plan to do so.

Tip cuttings - I've had better luck with cuttings without the terminal bud. I like to sink the cutting into the mix so the uppermost healthy bud is right at soil level.

Skinny vs. Thick cuttings (how thick?)- pencil thick or larger.

Spacing of nodes - closer together, but unless it's from one of my own trees, there is rarely a choice.

Number of nodes - the more the merrier, but I have had good success with single nodes, but prefer at least two, with three even better.

Length (maybe a factor of the preceding two) - Depends on how fresh and thick it is. About 4 inches is usually good enough, 5-6 inches is probably better - it depends on the length of the original cutting, it's health, age and thickness whether I cut it in half or not.

Cutting taken from growth of the most recent year - greenwood can work, but I prefer lignified.

Cutting that includes prior season growth- doesn't matter to me

Cutting made within the past week - I prefer fresh as possible, but have gotten refrigerated ones to work, but with a lower success rate.

Cutting washed and/or sanitized before storage - Others do, but I do that only rarely. Only when there is visible mold when I get a cutting. Sometimes that happens in the mail or with a cutting that has been stored.

Thanks for all of the contributions thus farm, I find it interesting and helpful.  I hope to see more thoughts and maybe also what you've done in cases where you didn't like something about a cutting you were trying to root.

One thing that lead me to start this post were some of the things that I had read that I don't remember reading before and then recalling a comment a friend made about eight years ago when I rooted my first cuttings.  First, I saw one member who was offering cuttings say "sorry, no more tip cuttings available."  I wondered what that was about and thought that those are usually skinny and I've preferred fat cuttings.  Sierra might be too fat, possibly, since all cuttings seem close to an inch thick or larger even near the tip.  I also read one person post that second year wood was harder to root but produced stronger roots when it did root.  I wonder if the bark is thicker and it's just harder for the roots to emerge.  Maybe scoring like what Dave has shown would help with that, but I'm just speculating.  Eight years ago when I first started with some figs a friend offered me some but said it would be slim pickings since he had already pruned most of his new wood off and that he'd maybe have to give me some wood from the prior year.  I'm thinking now that he meant that it was easier to root wood grown the most recent season but I didn't have any troubles with what he gave me.

I'm a little surprised that people like cuttings with closely-spaced buds.  I think I like that on the lower portion of my cuttings since roots do seem to emerge from nodes first (unless scored).  But too many buds near the top (even if slightly below soil) might lead to too many shoots on a cutting with a small developing root system.  Maybe removal of some shoots could be done to combat any problem this would cause.

The contents of this post has been removed by the author on 12/15/12.

George, I think he wanted to avoid responses like 'The best cutting is <insert super rare, desirable variety here>' because that's not the type of answer he's looking for.  He doesn't want to know what variety of cutting makes it desirable but what physical characteristics make a cutting of any variety easier to root.

As for me


Tip cuttings                                                 Don't care but the tip may die and that's ok.
Skinny vs. Thick cuttings (how thick?)           Any 1/4" or bigger
Spacing of nodes                                         The tighter the better
Number of nodes                                         The more the better
Length (maybe a factor of the preceding two)  Anything over 5"
Cutting taken from growth of the most recent year    first or second year.  The second year cuttings take longer to root but they're not harder to root.  When they root they rapidly produce a big tree.  I've had 3rd year cuttings root easily but never produce shoots.

Cutting that includes prior season growth       Either way
Cutting made within the past week                better than a long time ago
Cutting washed and/or sanitized before storage   not usually imprtant as long as it's stored without too much moisture


I think there's a pattern emerging here  :)

George, yes, Bob has it exactly right.  I wanted to try to gather information on what types of cuttings people have found to work best, etc.  On the other hand, I'd love to have a cutting of Maltese Beauty.  I'd like it to be 3' long with 20 nodes, ranging in thickness of anywhere between 3/4" and 1/4"....I'm not picky!  Let me know if you need my address.  Okay, I'd take something much shorter if necessary!

Thank you both R&H for the good accepted response...