Axier, Thank you for the link to Hartmann and Kester's Plant Propagation book. That is a great find!

A more complete publication of the one by Sun & Bassuk that you linked from Cornell above is:
http://journal.ashspublications.org/content/118/5/638.full.pdf

My experience with IBA plus NAA is more variable than what some of the others are reporting. Attached is a picture where I used Dip 'n Grow at the 10x dilution. I lightly wounded the cuttings and placed each in the diluted IBA for 60 seconds. I allowed the cutting to dry for a few minutes and then placed in Root Riot cubes. The tray has been incubated at room temperature (~22oC/72oF) out of direct sun light for 12 days now. The 3 columns of cuttings on the left are Conadria (15 total) and the 4 columns on the right are Panachee (20 total). All the cuttings were obtained from the NCGR/USDA at Davis, CA. A number of things are readily observed. First, the Conadria are rooting more rapidly than the Panachee. Second, upon careful examination, 100% of these cuttings are showing rooting and 100% are showing bud break. This indicates to me that there is likely cultivar to cultivar variation in response to rooting homones. It also indicates that bud break in fig cuttings is not necessarily inhibited by IBA + NAA. Unfortunately, I did not have enough cuttings to do a no IBA + NAA control. 

These are cuttings provided to me to run an experiment on the impact salicylic acid may have on FMD. According to Howard Garrison at NCGR, these were left over cuttings stored in their cooler. The lengths and diameters of the cuttings from both cultivars were very similar. I processed them immediately upon receipt and started the rooting process, which brings me to an anecdotal observation. Over the course of the first few months of this year, I collected cuttings from a number of sources. Some of which I started rooting immediately while others I stored in my kitchen refrigerator sealed in plastic bags with a moist paper towel. That machine cycles and has cold pockets. My observation is the longer I stored a cutting in my refrigerator, the poorer it rooted and the poorer the bud break on rooted cuttings. Treatment with IBA + NAA appeared to help rooting even on these cuttings but did not improve bud break. I have a modest collection of well rooted cuttings that I am waiting to see if they will ever bud. I need to ask what the temp setting is for the cooler at NCGR. I assume it is a typical lab piece of equipment with great air flow, good temp control and no cycling for moisture control.

All of this is to say, my take is that there are a number of variables that can contribute to successful rooting and bud break. Hopefully, everyone's success will increase as we continue to exchange information and compare notes.

Good luck with your rooting!

DWD2,
Thanks for posting the link.

Hopefully you will be able to compare the hormone treated to untreated controls in the future, for a more comprehensive evaluation.

Your observations of refrigerated cuttings are similar to mine. My cuttings were stored in plastic bags with a small amount of dry Long fiber sphagnum moss (shredded). I still have stored cuttings that were taken in October and November of last year, They root in approximately the same amount of time as they did when they were first cut, if they are first re-hydrated for 3-7 days. The re-hydration process is simply placing them in a bag with overly wet long fibered sphagnum moss. This can be done in the refrigerator or at 75 deg. F., it has worked both ways. Once the lenticels swell, they are then placed in the normal sphagnum moss rooting procedure. If you root without pre-rooting the re-hydration procedure should still work.

I've been communicating with another forum member about my successes and failures also with all of my cuttings being treated with Dip n' Grow or IBA only.  I've had great success with some varieties and terrible success with others, though sources were usually different also.  I somewhat wondered if the freshness of the cuttings or, perhaps, vigor of the plant from which the cuttings were taken were responsible.  For instance, Valle Negra, Genovese Nero, and Ronde de Bordeaux have done very well for me while CdD Grise and Marseilles Black did poorly (2-4 cuttings of each).

Thank you for the updates.
I used IBA Hortus, it is only 20 % IBA, not NAA hormone nor other substances like Clonex.
Of course, I diluted it to get the different solutions.
I think that one of the keys is the ppm of IBA, and in the case of Clonex, maybe the presence of other substances.
It is true that the hormones help for rooting figs, in some cases spectacularly, in others not.
But fig is easy for rooting, it is not a difficult plant like kiwi. Hormones are dispensable.
In my case, I won't use hormones with figs anymore.
This year has been the worst rooting batch ever for me.

Attached below are the MSDS for Clonex and Dip N Grow. Clonex uses only IBA, while Dip N Grow uses IBA and NAA. The only additional ingredient listed in Clonex is an ingredient to make it jell. Also attached is the PPM document for Dip N Grow for comparisons of concentrations (dilution).

From our collective observations it seems that the best overall success is achieved at an IBA concentration at or below 1000 PPM relative to the caliper of the cutting, 10X for 1 inch and larger cuttings...down to 20X for green and pencil thin cuttings.

Dip N Grow's generally recommended Dilutions (X) are as follows:

Dilution= IBA/NAA PPM
0X=10,000/5,000 PPM
5X=2,000/1,000 PPM
10X=1,000/500 PPM
15X=750/375 PPM
20X=500/250 PPM

Does anyone know the actual PPM (parts per million) of IBA in Clonex?
I would like to compare it to the recommended PPM dilution of Dip N Grow.

According to this sheet:

http://hydrodynamicsintl.com/HydrodynamicsImages/GTClonexRootingCompoundMSDS.pdf

0,3 % IBA, so, 3000 ppm IBA.

Higher than I thought!

Pete,

My two cents.  The first batch of figs I ever did was 23 varieties at the same time 3 cuttings of each variety.  I rolled them in newspaper then in bags one variety to a bag.  I used no hormone.  The cuttings took a month ++ to root and I lost some to mold but I would say 60% of those that made it to the cups survived.  If I had used moss instead of newspaper I think I would have been around 80%

After hearing all the people talking up dip n grow I tried it on the second and third batches of cuttings, about 40 varieties in total.  Used the dip n grow at 10X and was amazed that in some as little as 10 days roots that were massive.  I cupped the cuttings up as the roots came and there they sat many rotting without sprouting and some still green but no sprouts weeks later.  I would say my success percentage on the second two batches is around 30%.  I won't be using hormones on the cuttings in the future.  

WillsC, the same as me with IBA.

I use chinosol (oxyquinoline) fungicide and paper towels for the rooting bag, never rotten cuttings or mold.
The only problem without IBA is a longer wait, but finally, with patience, most cuttings root and sprout healthy.

OT:

I knew chinosol, years ago, while reading Lon Rombough book "The Grape Grower: A Guide to Organic Viticulture", an excellent book.

I use chinosol to store cuttings and to root cuttings in bags, with excellent result.

This is what Lon Rombough says of Chinosol:

"It is a chemical used in medicine as a topical

Axier, ... Thanks for the info.

WillsC, ... Your experience was similar to mine. There was a high failure rate at higher concentrations of Hormone. I use the long fibered sphagnum moss in bag method and have an almost 100% pre-rooting rate with or without hormone. The difference as I have stated is a 2-3 week faster rooting with hormone. This time difference increases to 3-4 weeks when rooting large caliper cuttings.

The experiments with lower concentrations demonstrated that there may be a happy median, where Hormone concentration actually aids in the rooting and development of the cutting. Large diameter cuttings (1 inch and larger) actually root and grow much faster with hormone than without, making a producing plant faster than using smaller caliper ( 1/4 to 1/2 inch) cuttings.

From observations, reducing the concentration for the appropriately sized cutting caliper and type (lignified, partially lignified or green) will actually aid in producing faster growth.

BTW, I'm not promoting rooting hormones, Just stating my observations....

The result of using IBA 0.5 %   

I’m new at rooting fig cuttings, but have had good success with rooting grapes, roses, and plumeria in the past. Last fall, the friendly people at my local hydroponics store gave me a free sample of Rootech, a rooting hormone which is .55% Indole-3 Butyric Acid. With Dip and Grow, it all has to be used up within a short time period. Rootech is already mixed and can be used as needed.

      With one batch of cuttings from eBay, I treated half with the Rootech and left half untreated. This picture shows the varieties grouped together in twos, threes, and fours with the hormone treated cuttings on the left. There was some lag of sprouting with the Rootech cuttings compared with some untreated with some of the varieties. They have quickly caught up in size with the untreated, AND have healthy roots, unlike the untreated.  All but one of the untreated either have few if any visible roots or have not sprouted out at all. They could all die when I move them up to pots, but for now, I think I’m going to use Rootech on all my cuttings in the future.