Can't tell you what you are doing wrong, but I am always suspect of roots which form when the cutting is in water. I have read others who have said that roots started in water seem to be different, and often do not make it when the cutting is placed in potting medium.

I don't let mine dry to the touch and they do fine. Maybe those small sensitive roots can't handle the loss of moisture? I test my plasic cups by their weight in my hand, not by a touch of the soil. The lighter a cup feels the more water I add until feels like it has the right balance of moisture.

Thank yall very much. I will try watering a little more frequently and start cuttings in soil from now on. I appreciate your time

it sounds like that some how your fig rotted at the bottom it your roots died of too much water...if you have pics show them

Though roots form readily and often seemingly more quickly on many plants propagated in water, the roots produced are quite different from those produced in a soil-like, highly aerated medium (perlite - fine gravel - seed starting mix, e.g.). Physiologically, you will find these roots to be much more brittle than normal roots due to a much higher percentage of aerenchyma (a tissue with a greater percentage of intercellular air spaces than normal parenchyma). If you wish to eventually plant your rooted cuttings in soil, it is probably best not to root them in water because of the frequent difficulty in transplanting them to soil. The "water-formed" roots often break during transplant & those that don't break are very poor at water absorption and often die. The effect is equivalent to beginning the cutting process over again with a cutting in which vitality has likely been reduced.

If you do a side by side comparison of cuttings rooted in water & cuttings rooted in soil, the cuttings in soil will always (for an extremely high percentage of plants) have a leg up in development on those moved from water to a soil medium for the reasons outlined above.

It sounds like you have other issues going on though - aside from having started them in water. There is lots of information about what types of rooting media work well, how damp to keep it, how much light, what temperature, etc. I would suggest you read up on it & get a good understanding about what is likely to work best. It will probably save you considerable frustration in the long run.

Al

Jorjaboy,

I don't think you have gotten enough information in this thread. Rooting in soil may work for you, but it is certainly not the norm for most members of this forum. Many start the rooting process in ziplock bags (moving to cups when roots appear), some root directly into cups with various mixtures of perlite, vermiculite, peat, soil, sand, etc., and some of us do root directly into soil (outside in the spring) in areas where it is humid enough to do so. My point is that you should search this forum for past threads about rooting methods. Rooting in 100% soil during the winter (inside) is probably not a good idea - at least compared to other alternatives. There is LOTS of information here in past threads about this.

Henry

Thank you Henry and Al. Next time I will just root them in soil and a leave them outside. Is it safe to leave them outside if I pot new cuttings up and it is already cold outside (30-40 deg. F)? I did some of what I think to be brown turkey figs, directly in potting soil and seem to have had better results than the glass of water method with the giant fig and brunswick. Americanfigboy, I think maybe I did the opposite because I was waiting til the pots were extremely light before I watered them again. If the problem occurs with one of my remaining figs I will learn to post pics and do so. I thought that I had done a sufficient amount of research prior to attempting to root these cuttings but, apparently I was sorely mistaken. Thanks for yalls help.

I know a lot of other folks on the forum dis agree, but I am all for using medium coarse vermiculite for a rooting media. Do not use soil, cause fig cuttings rot easily and it sounds like your getting some rot going on. Keep the cuttings on the dry side, and water once a week at most.
Did you treat the cuttings with a fungicide like Captan or Copper sulfate?
Also if you are rooting in a glass of water w/o drainage, it may begin to root, but this is not the best method.
Again, I am a believer in medium grade horticultural vermiculite.
don't use the fine grind, too dense.
I put the cutttings in a four inch pot with one newspaper layer on the bottom, "so the vermiculite doesn't leach through the drain holes.

Jorjaboy,

Do search this forum for previous posts on rooting methods, and you will find plenty of information on the various methods that are most popular.

To clarify about rooting in soil (outside) here in the deep South: This works very well if you use an appropriate soil. However, I do this in the spring - about the same time my figs are breaking dormancy. I've had as high as a 90% success rate doing this. I put two or three cuttings in a one gal. pot and put the pots in the shade. It's very important to use a good quality soil that drains very well and doesn't get compacted when it gets rained on.

Henry

Check out the link of this forum. Then go the the 12 - 14th comment down about HORIZONTALLY planting your cuttings. Clams over 100% success.

After I cut back my fig plants before the first big freeze I planted them horizontally. I put them on the ground and covered them with 1 1/2 inches of compost.

Check out the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Easy propagation method