Mai, it may be because I live in the Northeast and the air is extremely dry here this time of the season, but I find the moisture level to be extremely different from bag to bag of sealed potting mix.  The two bags I bought this weekend were 10lbs different, which is more than 1 gallon of water.  I posted a video on the bagging and cup methods and in it I weigh the two bags if you would like to see what I mean:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tquvgwXw0UE

Yes I agree with Meg about the book Mai. I self published a book of heirloom recipes and old family pictures paired with stories of the antics of my 6th generation Arizona family. It too was a labor of love. I am so glad I did it. I have sold almost all of the copies and am going to do it again. I am sure your book would be so well received Mai. If there is anything I can do to support you in this, please let me know. I hope you are having a queenly time in London with your granddaughter. Enjoy some scones, Devon cream and jam for me! Warmly, Jodi

I think you have a good point. My bag is only 14lbs which is 25.5 lbs (~3 gallons) lighter than your heaviest one. 10 lbs (~1 gal) lighter than your light one.

I'll probably end up adding over a gallon of water to my bag to get it "moist."

[QUOTE=lolita1234]...Soil in the bag (moist ) that you just buy from the store  , not dry not wet
Save the unused soil for next batch by keeping the original bag well tied so the soil inside always moist when needed[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=johnnyq627]....I find the moisture level to be extremely different from bag to bag of sealed potting mix.  The two bags I bought this weekend were 10lbs different, which is more than 1 gallon of water.[/QUOTE]

Be careful with the water . Better dry than wet  

boy i am learning quickly about to wet, killed off two of my cuttings that were leafing out. It is very upsetting losing cuttings as a newbie :(

8 years ago I used to make cloners for sale on Ebay, but since I found out that the bagging method (that is used to root plumeria and other stuff back in 2007) was faster, cheaper, cleaner, less space involved  I decided to get rid off all of the cloners . I still have whole bunch of pumps and hydroponic accessories that I packed them in 3 huge boxes when I moved to Oregon in August 2015

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a133/hongkhackimmai/ccd778bb-7a38-405c-ab5f-ada11931b336_zpscwbjwzer.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a133/hongkhackimmai/aeroponics%20system/14caccc3-7beb-4c53-bc2f-95075780163e_zpsy4ivze4x.jpg[/IMG]


[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a133/hongkhackimmai/aeroponics%20system/aeroponics3-1.jpg[/IMG]


[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a133/hongkhackimmai/aeroponics%20system/8bfdcbf0-b433-47a0-805f-04aaeae2385e_zpsi7h7u2c3.jpg[/IMG]


My old time

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a133/hongkhackimmai/aeroponics%20system/calamondin8-1.jpg[/IMG]




[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a133/hongkhackimmai/aeroponics%20system/hydroponics-1.jpg[/IMG]


[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a133/hongkhackimmai/aeroponics%20system/hydroponics1-1.jpg[/IMG]

How my fragile rooted cuttings survived when I was out of the country more than 2 weeks ?

They all are potted and stayed in bags as shown below    

 [IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a133/hongkhackimmai/2165949d-bac7-46ec-b0a8-9be380220187_zpsmt5lvzyk.jpg[/IMG]

I used umbrella or florist bags that give my plants more space to grow and plenty of humidity needed . The advantages of using these bags are you can hang them anywhere without worrying about watering them daily .




[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a133/hongkhackimmai/75337e92-58ee-4af0-ae8b-f87d436ac02c_zpss3byg16h.jpg[/IMG]

The bag on the right holds a cutting that has been buried in sand. You can see trace of sand on the stem . I was hurried at the time because I had to pack my luggage to fly away the next day , so I had no time to remove that sand




More pictures to come

How about some pictures of your single node Ponte Tresa plants you were able to root.

Mai, I just love how you document your techniques.  Great Job and thanks for sharing!

I am currently doing this method on MBVS and RdB!  To me it seems like one of the easiest methods on the forum.  Not sure how well cloners work but I'd be willing to try them also.

[QUOTE=sbmohan]Hello Mai, Thanks for posting the bag rooting technique. I was very skeptical and hesitant to try out your technique, but decided to try it out. I tried 4 of my cuttings following your method and all of the 4 rooted in about 4 weeks and they are now starting to push buds. It is 5th week now. I tried doing it on a larger batch, and this time, just 10 days into the process most of them are starting to push buds but no visible sign of roots. Is this normal since the first batch I tried leafed out after the roots were formed, while the second batch is already leafing out with in 10 days? Should I worry or just let them do their thing and give them more time? One subtle difference is, the first batch was soaked in water for about 8 hours, while the second batch got a soak for about 13 hours. I left them longer before I bagged them. Any advice will be very helpful. Sincerely appreciate any feedback you can provide. Regards, Mohan from NC.[/QUOTE]


Hello Mohan B,
different variety acts different way .
10 days is too early to judge . Please give them more time and they will root . Remember that the first 4 cuttings rooted in/about 4 weeks . if too much humidity happens, then use a toothpick to punch 2,3  more holes.   

Keep in mind that disturbance is number 1 killer . So please do not open the outside bag often when the rooting process is going on ...

[QUOTE=don_sanders].... I'll probably end up adding over a gallon of water to my bag to get it "moist." [/QUOTE]


This is the result :


[QUOTE=don_sanders;n72672]I tried to follow everything but I must be missing something. I put paper around the bottom but perhaps not enough. Maybe that was one of the keys. Most of the moisture seemed to be rising. They were receiving light through the window and I had added more holes to lower the humidity.

I went ahead and tried checking a couple of the vigorous rooters. I didn't notice any progress. In the end, I went ahead and moved them all to moss.

3% look like they started to root but those roots dried up. 6% rotted but I think those were bad cuttings to begin with. The rest didn't seem to have any changes. No initials or roots yet even with the clonex.

I don't think I gave it long enough to really test this method but I don't want these to fail while I figure this out. I'll have to give it a try again when I have some spare cuttings.[/QUOTE]




Conclusion :
Your soil was too wet when you bagged the cuttings !
When you just bought the bag of soil from the store to your home, it is ready to use for bagging . If you add more water, you make it ... wet . By adding 1 G of water to the bag, your judgment of moisture is .... incorrect .
Your cuttings wont root if the soil is wet. Fig does not like wet feet


..

I didn't actually add that gallon of water.

That quote was me speculating how much I would need to add the moisture level of another poster's store bought bag of moisture control potting soil.

My bag was only 14lbs which was 25.5 lbs (~3 gallons) lighter than his heaviest one. 10 lbs (~1 gal) lighter than his light one. If mine was to wet, his was definitely to wet straight from the store.

The level of moisture can vary considerably from the store.

Here is a pic of the soil that I used. It may have been too wet but seemed pretty dry. Didn't clump or stick to my hands. I wanted to add more water but fought the urge with the warnings about being too moist.

Sorry, Don, if you did not add any water .

Mai, Here is the first batch 5 weeks old and rooted. They are starting bud out. The second batch is only about 12 days old and they are already budding out. The difference is, the first batch was soaked for 8 hours and the second larger batch was soaked close to 15 hours, but again the cuttings are all different varieties. One things I like about this method is the potting mix already has right level of fertilizer and I don't have to worry about Fertigating them anytime soon, which is one of the reason I loose my cuttings due to excess moisture. Also, no gnats. That is awesome.

Your bags look great, Mohan !
Your success is my joy .
I am happy today , and I keep counting my blessings from the Fig God (see my Atavar ?) .
Write to me if anyone has a problem with my bagging techniques. I will do by best to analyze the situation to help

Hi Mai Mai,
I do have a problem after following your method. All the cuttings have been soaked in water more than 2 days. After bagging them, I open the big bag for a few minutes every two days. There's mist in the big bag and small soil bags as well. However the cuttings seem drying out. Here are some pics attached. There were several cuttings which had little leaf out but now all wilted. I don't understand did I make it too wet or too dry? Thank you for your advice!

Two more pictures. One has the wilted leaf. The other looks dry too.

you forgot to erase this one Lolita

Johnparav,
You should respect all the people who are coming to this thread for their needs .    

[QUOTE=rhymehong]Hi Mai Mai, I do have a problem after following your method. All the cuttings have been soaked in water more than 2 days. After bagging them, I open the big bag for a few minutes every two days. There's mist in the big bag and small soil bags as well. However the cuttings seem drying out. Here are some pics attached. There were several cuttings which had little leaf out but now all wilted. I don't understand did I make it too wet or too dry? Thank you for your advice![/QUOTE]

If the cuttings get that dry, it means that humidity is somehow not enough . The leaves get wilted for same reason . 
I keep reminding people that disturbance is number 1 killer . Maybe you open the bag too often or too long ????

After reading about what you did , you are the last one that should be lecturing about respect .
You can erase all the threads you want . The cats out of the bag .
Don't worry I won't waste any more time on you .

John

I like the fact that your method seems to do well while you are out of town. What's the longest you left your cuttings unattended?

Johnparav, I don't know why you said that. For whatever reason, Mai shared her knowledge and success, and helped a lot of people who loves figs and gardening, just like you. She deserves respect and appreciation.

[QUOTE=tennesseefig]I like the fact that your method seems to do well while you are out of town. What's the longest you left your cuttings unattended? [/QUOTE]

Tennesseefig,
my rooted cuttings were home alone for 16 days without my attention .
When I was back, some of the roots were overgrown and turned brown . That is fine . Today it is 72 F at my town, so I bring them outside and plant them in 1 G pots

Will post pictures tomorrow

Rhymehong 

You don't know why I said that because Mai erased 2 threads that she started with close to 150 posts from many members . 
She erased those threads because there was information there pertaining to unscrupulous actions on her part , showing what she is really about .
And now she is pretending like nothing ever happened .
There are quite a few people on this forum that try to build up a good reputation by being helpful with their final goal being to profit at any cost .
But alas the threads have been erased because she doesn't want you to be informed .
You are also a recent member so welcome , but be careful who you trust , because when big money is involved watch out .

John

[QUOTE=rhymehong]Hi Mai Mai, I do have a problem after following your method. All the cuttings have been soaked in water more than 2 days. After bagging them, I open the big bag for a few minutes every two days. There's mist in the big bag and small soil bags as well. However the cuttings seem drying out. Here are some pics attached. There were several cuttings which had little leaf out but now all wilted. I don't understand did I make it too wet or too dry? Thank you for your advice![/QUOTE]


Hi rhymehong,
I kept thinking about your case overnight and tried to figure out the problems .
Were your cuttings fresh when you bagged them ?

If the soil is dry (that is okay) but the cutting is not fresh then the cutting is not able to breath normally -----> condensation will be very poor causing low humidity ---->  cutting is struggling to root  
If the cutting is able to leaf out but due to low humidity ---> leaves wilt

As I can see now your cuttings are very dehydrated . Please take the cutting out of the small bag to observe the condition of the cutting at its bottom end .

If it becomes soft or mushy (it can be, due to being in the closed bag too long without getting any air--> suffocation), you cut off that part until you reach the hard part .
Else, you scratch the stem to see if it is still green or not ----? Yes ? ---> there is hope
No ? then the cutting is gone

I hope that your cuttings are still green because they are still in dormant state . However, they might be very dehydrated for some reasons that we do not know .


Since the cuttings are very dehydrated , if I soak them in water (room temperature) the cuttings are like pieces of dry wood, it will take them a long  time to absorb the water by themselves . Same thing will happen if you try to root them with different methods . The chance will be 20-50 % or it will take an eternity for them to be back to life

If I am in your shoes , I will do something (that might scare you or others) like this ---> I will take a tall cup of water, microwave it for 1 minute . The water will be hot hot but touchable,not boiling water. Immerse all the cuttings in that hot water to wake them up . Along the way, they will absorb the water faster 

After that initial try, the next day you turn the cutting up side down (tip down, bottom up) and let it stay in that position for 6 hours . Then turn it again back to its normal position . You will see that the tip turns green with a happy face . 
Why we have to do that ? (question first, answer next hehehe, that is my way (trademark ?) LOL  
Just because the dry cutting is like a very dehydrated person ----> so dehydrated that he/she could not do a thing !
Yes, the cutting does need your help
Change the water - room temperature- every 2 days until you see some white bumps , then bag them up again .
I can assure you that the hot water wont kill the cuttings)


That is what I can think that far . It is up to you to decide .
Good luck to you . May God bless your good heart ...
Mai


Note : this hot water treatment should be used with dehydrated cuttings only, not for cuttings that have been stored in plastic bags for a certain period of time

Mai's method of bag rooting and waking up cuttings has always worked for me.I have rooted some of my most treasured cuttings this way.Thank you Mai for sharing your method with us.

Grant

I have a little set of rules I try to use before I open my mouth or use my send button.  I ask myself "Is it true?"  "Is it necessary?"  AND  "Is it kind?"  My thanks to all the generous, tolerant, wise people that have shared their experiences for the benefit of others, including Mai and so many others.  Remember the heart of the figs and let there be peace in the fig forums, so there can be more peace in the world.  Have a blessed nite all.  

Someone once said, "he who is without sin, cast the first stone". If Mai wants to continue contributing to the forum in a positive, helpful way, I have nothing against it.

Ignorance is bliss i guess . She's counting on that .
I prefer to be informed .

John

What do you need to be informed in this thread ???? Who do you think you are to demand me to ask for your permission when i am giving away my time and sharing my knowledge to people ? If you want to destroy this thread because of your narrow mind, then you are doing a wrong thing to the public. My bagging method has drawn more than 3,600 viewers at ourfigs and almost 2000 viewers at this forum
Are you having some psycho problems ???

Your bagging technique is a very interesting thread, many members have been helped, especially the new members.

Jodi and Figgysid, I like your way of thinking. Mai's method has been a great help to me and I am personally grateful for her time and effort.  I can see that she did it with good intention and it took some time to put it all on here.  Thank you, Mai.

This bag method goes way back in  here on Figs4fun    http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/rooting-in-a-bag-new-style-4551910?trail=50&highlight=bag+rooting+techniques

Dave, i never saw what Jon did before. I did not get my bagging method idea from Jon or anybody else. I joined this forum sometime in September and i did not have time to read everything in this forum or other forum. I even do not know who Jon is and what his nick is ! Same thing with the other forum
My bagging method started since 2007 with plumeria, and at the time noone did the bag rooting.

So if Jon did come up with the idea of bag rooting, that is just an interesting coincidence, i guess

Thanks for bringing this up, Dave. I saw that post when I first came on this forum and I think Jon did a great job with showing photos of the bag-rooting method...as he does with everything on this forum.  It's an great forum.  And, I know also, that there are variations of the bag-rooting method.  I was trying to express that Mai's postings were helpful as she answered questions for everyone and posted often. Mai's post became an interactive learning experience that was interesting to see develop daily.  This was especially good for members like myself who are new at fig growing and have constant questions.  I learn something new from all posts  every time I'm on here!

[QUOTE=lolita1234]What do you need to be informed in this thread ???? Who do you think you are to demand me to ask for your permission when i am giving away my time and sharing my knowledge to people ? If you want to destroy this thread because of your narrow mind, then you are doing a wrong thing to the public. My bagging method has drawn more than 3,600 viewers at ourfigs and almost 2000 viewers at this forum Are you having some psycho problems ???[/QUOTE]

Why did you erase those other 2 threads Mai ?
Maybe you can explain why close to 150 comments needed to be  wiped out .
Should we ask KK2210 to repost what you are trying to hide from everyone ?
KK2210 alleged that while you started a thread claiming how terrible it was that people were destroying the poor Ponte Teresa tree for cuttings , that you were actually the one who was advising at least 1 if not 2 others to go to the tree and cut it up so you can corner the market . KK2210 posted text messages between you and he , where you were coaching him on what to do . Then the two threads that contained the texts suddenly disappeared . What hypocrisy to tell others to leave the tree alone while you were the one doing the damage.
Your actions speak much louder than you words .

Thank you Jodi, I like that.


[QUOTE=Jodi]I have a little set of rules I try to use before I open my mouth or use my send button.  I ask myself "Is it true?"  "Is it necessary?"  AND  "Is it kind?"  My thanks to all the generous, tolerant, wise people that have shared their experiences for the benefit of others, including Mai and so many others.  Remember the heart of the figs and let there be peace in the fig forums, so there can be more peace in the world.  Have a blessed nite all.  [/QUOTE]

Good rule to follow Jodi, everyone should follow your ways of words.

Thank you Meg, Blackfoot and Waynea.  For me my experience in this forum has only been one of generosity, wisdom and genuine human kindness.  I have said several times and it is still true, I am absolutely blown away by the old fashioned "neighbors talking over the garden wall" sharing here of these amazing and wise plants and their stories.  I think the figs are the wise ones, we are just trying to be as enlightened!  Here's to everyone having their best fig year ever in 2016!  Go figs. ;-)

I have developed this bag technique since 2007 , and I would like to share some of the pictures of my work

 
Hundreds of the plumeria cuttings were stacked on the shelves in garage during winter time








Hundreds of them were moved to the light in another area when the cuttings start to leaf out
In a 10 x 10 room, you can root more than 5,000 cuttings . You hang them in baskets , you stack them on step ladders. You put them on tables, the tallest first then the smaller on top of the bags (of the previous ones)  and so on ....  the smallest on the very top ---> layers of rooting bags . You also make layers on the floor too ....

  

































During winter time it will break your back to move all the 35, 45, 55 G pots to the shelter  . You can remove the trees out of their pots , trim the root ball as much as you can and BAG THEM UP ! No watering during winter time, just poke some holes for some air.
I can assure you that the trees will not die . Believe me . Figs are tough . The trees will rest in their bag about 45 days then start to produce new tiny roots . And so on ... until Spring arrives, then pot them up so they can thrive to their fullest force.  




   
If I am not an expert in bag rooting, how could I be able to answer all people's questions ????






















With this picture you can see how the soil is . What I mean by dry is this dry . NO WATER SHOULD BE ADDED TO THE BAG OF SOIL THAT YOU HAVE FRESHLY BOUGHT FROM THE STORE  


If you readers follow my instructions exactly as I have posted, your chance of success is very high. If you make any modification, you might not get the result as expected

Greetings To All,

I've been a member since 12/8/15, started to try and root cuttings on 11/5/15.  My first introduction into adding figs to my summer gardening and planting hobby began a few months earlier when I bought some locally grown figs from a fellow member I meet through craigslist.  Through our discussions and his guidance, I decided to enter into propagation in order to take away some cabin fever I develop over the winter months.  My first attempts at rooting were using the damp moss technique back in October.  I cut off about a half dozen cuttings from my potted figs (Brown Turkey, Black Mission and Bensonhurst - 2 each). Over the course of 2 to 3 weeks, they all rotted.  Starting on 11/5/15 I placed 15 cuttings in clear plastic cups using a 50/50 mixture of vermiculite and perlite.   Eight rooted and seven rotted.  I potted the eight but because they rooted so early, it is a huge question what if any have survived a basement confinement even though I tried to do all the right things with lights and all, but that's another story.  Starting 11/23/15 through 11/30/15 I cupped 50 more cuttings but this time used ProMix as a rooting medium.  This time I had 31 root and the rest rotted.  Again, I question how many will survived the winter basement confinement.

Both times I analyzed what went wrong and what changes needed to be made.  I talked some more to my local contact and a great piece of advice was to join this forum.  I have to say, this has been the biggest help in getting me get up to speed.  So I read the threads carefully to see what was tried, what did not work and what had good results.  After another month and getting through the holidays, I had gathered another 85 cuttings.  Most were low cost Ebay specials of mostly unknown varieties.  My goal was to figure out rooting techniques, not necessarily acquiring specific varieties and especially not anything rare.  Until my skill set at rooting gets better and by a lot, it would be foolish to waste money as a gamble.  Out of the 85, over 50 rooted and have been potted.   Most of them are flourishing strongly which was due to uncovering them from their storage containers for several hours each day.  The one thing I did this time was to un-cup any cutting that did not show roots in 2 weeks after cupping.  I cleaned the cuttings, inspected them and re cupped in new and less moist soil.  I think that helped a lot although the information I gained from inspecting gave me a huge insight to what was happening and to see if rotting was a big issue; which in a lot of cases, still was.  This was going to be my last cutting group for this winter but the failure rate just gnawed at me.  In this forum I finally came across Mai's article on the plastic bagging technique.  A lot of things I learned from my failures, posts on this forum and especially Mai's take on her rooting method made a light bulb go off in my head.

I believe the reason for so many failures and especially rotting failures came from three specific things: humidity too high, temperature too high and medium too wet; everything rot loves.  I believe Mai's method will address all those issues.  On 3/4/15 I took the 45 new cuttings a received over the prior month and did the plastic bag method.  This time I made the potting medium just damp enough that one could tell it was not dry.  Compared to how moist I had my medium before, I would have considered this medium dry, but it isn't.  Although I did place the bags in a covered container, this time NO heat mats were used.  Another thing I like about this method was the saving of space and potting medium.  I can easily place ALL 45 bags in one storage container whereas before, with cups, only 19 could be placed in the storage container.  The clear plastic cover has a small 2" computer fan mounted on top that runs every 4 hours for 15 minutes to keep air flowing and humidity down.  The DC voltage has been lowered to keep the rpm down.  I have a wireless temperature/humidity unit in the container so I can constantly monitor the numbers.  The humidity hovers between 50% to 80% depending on the fan running, whereas it was not uncommon to hit 100%, the temperature hangs round 68 to 73 degrees whereas it use to be around 80 to 85 degrees and the moisture in the form of dew or water droplets is virtually non-existent.  Roots and I mean strong roots have form on 2 cuttings so far.  This is far less than before but that was expected since I have reduced humidity and temperature.   This is fine as long as rotting is eliminated and besides, time is not a priority.  A day ago I took half the cuttings out of their bags (I know that is a no-no, but I had to see for myself) to inspect them.  The main thing I was checking for was rot development.  I am very happy to say there was NONE.  Nubs were forming but no roots so far.  I will now leave them alone.  I am writing this at this time because I have a very high degree of confidence that everything is going great and according to plan.  One final thing, no rooting hormone was used.  I have not seen any difference using it in my previous tests. 

This is my first post and I know I’m a newbee to this figs thing but I find them so fascinating.  Then I was treated to a right off the tree ripe fig and I was hooked.  WOW!  What a flavor treat, and I thought Fig Newtons were good.  Anyway, I, in no way, am making a point that this is what anyone should follow.  I post this as information only and anyone can take what he or she wants out of it or not.  I only hope that it may give some insight and helpfulness to someone.  I certainly want to thank everyone on this forum as I have found so much helpful information from everyone posting.  There is no doubt my skill set increased greatly because of all of you.  Thank you.     

Ron, Your observation regarding humidity, temperature and soil  moisture are spot on. Thanks for taking time and posting your experience and experiment precisely.

I would like to amend my post above to make sure I give credit where credit is due.

I stated above that a local contact was a great help in getting me started and in fact is the key person who introduced figs by way of a local craigslist ad for his figs.  I did not say who that person was because I did not know his handle on this forum and I could not say just Bill since there are several here.

I want it known that the reason I got into figs and the reason I'm on this forum is credited to BIGBADBILL.  I just received a message from Bill today, thus, I learned is forum name.  

My first figs were some of Bill's potted varieties.  He gave us a sample of a couple ripe figs which my wife and I never had before.  My thought of figs was in a Newton, and I like them.  But now they have real competition for my eating pleasures.  Bill spent quite a bit of time showing us his operation, explaining various varieties and flavor differences and propagation via rooting.  Loaded with that information, We went home and I surfed the web reading about figs, rooting and even growing in zone 6b.  I was always under the impression that figs came from the arid desert regions and especially NOT from areas that had SNOW.  I also learned that the chances were great that I would not have to wait many, many years to harvest figs as my long term projects are not more than a year or two out anymore.   So, as they say, the rest is history.

Again, Thanks Bill - BIGBADBILL.  I'm glad to be here and it made winter much more tolerable this year.   


 

[QUOTE=lolita1234]If the big (of soil) is freshly bought from the store, the soil is moist enough to use  . But if the top end of the bag is open for quite some time, then the soil is dry due to evaporation . In this case, you just spray a little bit of water to make it moist but not wet 

When the plastic bag (for rooting) is tied with a rubber band, perspiration (of the cutting stem) makes the soil look wet but in the reality it is not .   [/QUOTE]

I think also the VOLUME of dry mix matters (I am using the same MG moisture control mix), which is a function of the size bag used. I began using the Mai bag technique, but opted to buy a bigger bag (4" x 6"), thinking this would give an even bigger root ball and i could transfer directly to a trade gallon container. What happened was the cuttings began to be dessicated by the volume of dry mix. Yes, the bag showed moisture droplets, but i eventually figured out--after about three + weeks of NO roots evident--that maybe nothing was happening. When I pulled  out a sampling of different sizes and varieties of cuttings, all had no activity, for good or bad. The cuttings were perfectly preserved, if a little dry above the rubber-banded neck. So, a little rehydration, a scissoring down the top of the bag, a removal of some of the volume of the mix, another light application of Dip n Grow...and back to the bag with the cutting. It's been just about three weeks, and some are starting to show roots. Of the 21 I originally started this way beginning in early February, two just succumbed to rot in the last couple days. Most are still in that awkward "are they doing anything?" phase without roots

I strongly counsel using the slimmer size/volume bag that Mai uses for this reason. Even if I encounter additional fails among the cuttings currently of unknown status, I chalk it up to my having previously dried out the cuttings in an excess volume of near-bone dry mix that seems to have actively drawn moisture away from the cutting

As a noob, my go-to for root-starting has evolved to the orchid moss sphagnum start--either loose in plastic shoeboxes or within ziploc bags--then up-potting to the 3-cup setup. At that point, the rooted cuttings continue to reside within humidity bins until there is significant top growth, and then moved to the windowbox. That's the choke point--the window setup will accommodate only 32 of the 24 oz. 3-cup setups at a time. Currently, I will only have STARTED all of the 182 cuttings I procured this year by mid-April as a consequence (I started with the first 41 cuttings just before Christmas). Mai's/The Bag Technique would allow for at least twice as many starts in the same space, and therefore twice as fast throughput overall. And the missus would get her space back to display the various Mexican Day of the Dead paraphernalia she seems to enjoy looking at while "slaving away" at the sink. I'm the one who does the dishes, and I say I'd rather look at baby fig plants! I don't say that out loud of course. But I think it--boldly!

I've hedged my bets by trialing the bag technique only with those varieties for which I have in excess of three cuttings. For reasons of time and space, I really hope the balance of the bag starts--now totaling 31 cuttings of about 10 different varieties, some just started the last couple weeks--have a high success percentage. Intuitively, it seems like it should work just as well as the loose sphagnum setup

Hello. This is my first post and I would like to thank you for that great informations you share with us. I started your method and would like to look at picture in attachment. What is your comment about leaves? Is that normal? Cuttings are 4 days old.
Thank you

This was really informative.thank you.

[QUOTE=Grega]Hello. This is my first post and I would like to thank you for that great informations you share with us. I started your method and would like to look at picture in attachment. What is your comment about leaves? Is that normal? Cuttings are 4 days old. Thank you [/QUOTE]

Existing leaves from a cutting should be pruned off prior to rooting.

I tried this method for the first time this year.  I'm pretty impressed.  I'm trying different methods to find the most reliable methods that requires the least hassle and space.  This method doesn't have the least hassle, but it takes little space and seems very reliable.

The main change I made was to wrap the tops of the cuttings (the entire part outside of the bag) parafilm or buddy tape (used for grafting).  This allows the scion to retain its moisture without needing to use humidity chambers.  Also, there is no need to baby the newly established plant after rooting to help it adjust to lower humidity when potting it up.  

I put the cuttings in their bags in a spot in the house with decent, indirect light, and normal room temperature (60-70 F).  I'm sure they root more slowly at those temps than warmer ones, but they root nevertheless.

I found some handy bags that hold one cup of potting mix.  The are sold as "portion control snack bags" and are 3.5" x 6" inches.  (They were at my local Target.)

I used a bagged, soilless cactus mix (E.B. Stone) and added no water.  There was enough moisture in it straight out of the bag that condensation would form on the inside of the rooting bag, but it looked pretty dry.

In summary, wrap the top portion of the cutting in parafilm, fill a bag with potting mix, stick the cutting in, close the bag with a rubber band, and viola, you're done!  Wait till you see roots and leaves.