Two months ago I bought two dozen or so cuttings from two members of this forum. I was pretty excited to add some more varieties to my pair of in ground trees. The cuttings looked good. I placed them in water. After waiting 5 weeks one cutting had 2-3 tiny white nodes while all other cuttings had not changed on bit with the exception of two growing a little mold. I was starting to get a little discouraged and started looking for other methods. I tried throwing them into wet moss and waited 4 more weeks. Zero results. Cuttings looked the same as the day I got them sans the two that were blackening from mold. I then throw them back in water and set them in a window sill and wait. After 3 days my wife puts them outside on a table in my screened in covered porch because they were "in her way". I put them back in the kitchen window and within a day they are back on the table in the covered porch. After about a week outside I start to see small leaves forming, although this didn't mean roots were forming I was happy to see the cuttings do something. A few days later I pull out a few cuttings and see that they are almost all calloused over with white nodes and some even have little water roots shooting out. Thanks to my wife being really annoyed with my new hobby she put my cuttings in a spot where they finally started rooting. Funny how things work out some times.

Congrats Kevin,its all a learning curve,i started out rooting in water,now i never do it,there are plenty of rooting methods to try,you just need to work out what works best for your humidity/heat/light levels and what suits you in terms of how much care and attention you can give the rooted cuttings.

If I was you I would keep your eyes peeled for fig trees growing where you live and if you can get cuttings(folks don't usually mind,especially if it's a big ol' tree) do it,they are free and you can try different methods without it costing a thing.

methods to appease the wife are a little harder to come by I'm afraid,it ain't boozing,womanising or gambling so there's much worse you could be doing with your time and money!

I just threw all of the cuttings in individual soil filled solo cups. Fingers crossed for success.

Kevin,

After trying different methods where my success rate was usually under 50%, now i stick with covering half of the cutting with parafilm so that it doesn't loose too much moisture and place it in a small 1-2L pot with a very light and soft soil mix. I use a knife to scrape the end of the cutting until i see green (near the last node) and bury almost 2/3 of the cutting.

I go very easy on the mix moisture level during the first 2 months (that's seems to be essential) and place the container in a shaded place outside (i usually start in February when the nights do not have freezing temperatures in my zone). The area is under a pine tree (that explains all the pine leaves that fall in the pots) and it's protected from rain.

The cuttings don't seem to mind the ocasional cold night, but they do take their time to root (usually more than 1 month and a half) but the upside is that i almost have no failures. By my last count, of the 85 containers (each with 1 cutting of a different variety) that i started last February i only have 3 cuttings that are only now beginning to develop. The others are developing and growing quite well, and most will be needing up potting soon. Being outside, having access to shaded sunlight and light wind (no problems with gnats being outside) and using a good soil mixture seems to do the trick, even for difficult to root varieties. 

I started using this method when i saw that the cuttings of my trees that i pruned and placed directly into the pot of young fig trees, rooted without problems after a couple of months (like those in the next photo), while the one's that i watched like a hawk and babysit all the time inside, had lots of problems or failed.


 

I just started a new batch with the remaining cuttings i still had in the fridge.

Jaime, do you get rain on the cuttings you place outside? If so is that extra water a problem? Do you use rooting hormone?

I have 6  MBVS cuttings that have not made a single root after a month indoors at 70-80 F, just like your method with parafilm on top half. I'm looking for reasons this has not worked and alternate ways of rooting them. They came from a reliable source and still show green when bark is scraped.

CJ I use the same method as Jaime with excellent results. You do not need to use rooting hormone, but it is optional if you choose. My method is slightly different. I wrap the cutting with parafilm keeping just a few nodes above soil. Stick into pre-wetted soil and place in a dark area. As soon as the buds starts leafing I move to full sunlight. This has a few benefits. Even with extreme heat and full sun I have never seen scorching because the leaves come into the world without getting babied. Also the blast of sun has an effect on the growth hormones and will slow the leaf growth and encourage roots to form. My thinking is that the dark encourages root growth, and then the full sun starts pulling moisture through the cutting and encourages root growth again. The stall lasts about 2 weeks after placing outdoors. This time is just critical to maintain even moisture.

My time from rooting start to full sun is ~3 weeks. All 10 of my cuttings are growing nicely even with the 90s we have been having.

livetaswin06,

I am not so brave to place them in full sun, so early. They are unattended for most of the week, so i can't replace the moisture the mix would loose, if they were in full sun. I might try it with a few though, if i were here all week.
Although being in the shade, they are not babied with additional moisture, as we usually do inside, so the leaves adapt quite quickly to being outdoors and toughen up. Even the green color is healthier compared to those i used to grow indoors. I believe that is one of the greatest advantages. 

Conrad,
I have a clear plastic above some of the pots and others are under a couple of old wooden tables i have under the tree, so they don't get rain. That would be a severe problem and would cause failure. I lost several cuttings last year because of rotten roots from the rain.
This week the rain accumulated on the plastic and the water was falling through a small hole, on the same spot, for 2 days. When i arrived, the mix on a couple of pots was completely soaked. I moved them to full sun to dry out. If they were left like that, for a few more days, those cuttings would be probably lost.

 Some of the cuttings i have rooting (some were started in late February, others in mid March)

 






Edit - I forgot. When i am mixing the soil to put in each pot (i make my own mix) i place the cuttings in a cup, for a few minutes, with some diluted hormone (in this case quite diluted Clonex)

Hope they do well Kevin. Please post pics of your results when available.

All soap or detergent is antibacterial. The addition of the word on the label is a recent marketing gimick.

Thera was a time when I didnt wash cuttings and I ran into problems. Mold and gnats. I personally use regular dish soap and a stiff nail brush and no bleach.

This is a really good instructable