great...a bad typo...of course I meant one six INCH cutting.

I would clean it real good with bleach and toothbrush and also nip off a few 1-in cuttings and try to get them to root with papertowels. I posted pics.

Then, I would root the remaining 4" piece with good ol' paper towels.

If done right, you could have 3 trees! Email me Henry if you need help.

loslunasfarms has a good idea in making three cuttings out of one, and I would go one step farther and use two different methods. My own preference is the 'horizontal method', using the Sterilite containers.

I have actually given cuttings to other people to "spread my risk", you might want to consider that also. Especially, if the cuttings are rare or almost irreplaceable.

Hlyell
Since it is the case of "chance is purely sentimental" as you mentioned, don't forget the power of a prayer or two before and/or after you start any rooting process. You may choose to skip the prayer if you have many cuttings, I guess.

Henry, Small cuttings do root, but larger cuttings seem to have a better success rate. Just my 2 cents.

I appreciate the comments so far. I have put this cutting (along with a couple other "singles") in the frig for now. As soon as the cuttings I have right now in various stages of rooting have been moved to small pots I will give this one a shot. I actually wrapped this cutting up and put it in the frig without actually scrutinizing its size. It might actually have enough nodes to cut it in half or do something like Jose suggested. Jose, I saw your pictures, but I was wondering...this summer I put a two-node cutting in a bag, and it rooted easily. I moved it to a clear cup, and it continued to fill the cup with white roots. However, it never leafed out. I guess that's why I'd be concerned about one or two node cuttings. Have you had one of these one or two node cuttings leaf out yet?

The one node that is buried has not leafed out, but I have no worries. I have heard some of the old-timers (wink) say that they grew new fig tree by burying the entire cutting. I think that the used to plant orchards that way.

They will get a leaf, the pics that I posted also show a one-node cutting with a good leaf-out. I have also heard that it might be a good idea to point the nodes to the "open" side of the cup.

I can go as far as think as Lou stating that he had one cutting root one upside down by accident!

BTW, Henry, what finally happend to your two-node cutting?

Henry,

By far, my best success has been with horizontal cuttings in perlite. Only the bottom half of the cutting is in contact with the perlite. The top half is exposed to a humid atmosphere (I put the containers in a large, sealed, transparent storage container with some water in the bottom to create humidity.)

-Steve

Jose,
My two node cutting that rooted so well eventually died. I think I rooted it sometime late in the summer. When I moved it from the cup to a small pot it just never leafed out. After everything had gone dormant I took a look at it, and it had died.

So, Henry, I have to ask,

Do you think it died from the rooting itself being week or from external stuff.. Overwatering, insects, underwatering, etc, etc???

I have no reason to think it died because it was a 2 node cutting. There is a good chance it died from root rot. I had left it with some other cuttings. Another one in the bunch also died after rooting. However, it was in the cup in my little "greenhouse" rooting like crazy for 4-5 weeks without showing any sign of pushing out a leaf.