Jim, a September cutting can still be rooted successfully - I did this two years ago with a boxful of branches sent to me from Virginia by my aunt, when she pruned her fig bushes for me. I ended up with over a dozen plants that "took", though some are still small (but that's just me still learning how to grow them in pots).

You'll want to select enough nodes to get decent rooting, while having room left for it to push some leaf buds - how many cuttings did you rescue from the branch, and what size are they? Presently I'm rooting pencil-diameter-size cuttings just started within the past four weeks, from a branch pruned off a friend's tree, and had at least two of four send out roots while wrapped in damp paper toweling, inside a plastic bag. Three have pushed leaves/stems already (actually, the fourth did also, but it was low on the cutting where I wanted roots to grow, so I nipped off the growth and am waiting for something at the terminal end instead).

If you do a search on propagating or cuttings, you'll find a wealth of information within this forum on how to start them, but I'd recommend using either clear plastic bottles or cups (drainage holes punched plentifully in the bottoms) filled with damp perlite/vermiculite mixture (or something else exceedingly well-draining), *not* potting soil and not dirt. You can try rooting horizontally in a plastic container, using the same mixture, except partly burying the cutting. Roots can be coaxed out sometimes by using the damp paper towels around the cuttings, placing in plastic, then in a dark place, but check often for mold and for signs that the leaves are pushing first. I rinsed mine frequently and kept them upstairs where the temperatures were the warmest, and had very fast progress that way.

Keys to good rooting will be:

- avoiding excessive moisture (otherwise it will rot the wood), but keeping humidity up by tenting or partially covering the cutting

- providing decent warmth in the root zone (a heating pad or mat is good if you can set the cuttings in their containers on top of one).

- *avoid direct sunlight*, or the cuttings will fry. Keep them in bright light but without UV radiation hitting them.

If you're starting them now, I'd keep them indoors and give them extra lighting (fluorescent is ideal) if you can. That's how my four are going now, along with another rooted plant that I'm trying to coax into leafing out - I do tend to keep the youngest cuttings going over the winter, since there's no time for them to truly harden off before cold sets in.

BTW, most here would probably recommend NOT using a rooting powder or hormone. There've been rotting problems associated with them, and figs are typically so easy to start, they don't need it, and it may actually interfere with the rooting. I have better results without the stuff.

Please ask if there's something else that would help you turn the Canine Caper's carve-job into new plants!

Sherry
(still learning how it's done even after several years now)

Sherry, What a wonderful synopsis of information concerning propagation by cuttings.
Jim, Listen to Sherry!.....

Aw, shucks, I learned it all from you guys in the first place :o)

(thanks, Lou)

Sherry

Well actually they recommend callousing the cuttings what i tried as an experement this summer. Considering that they its really hard to root growing tip cuttings. So i wrapped the cutting in a paper towl but let the bottom stick out like an inch so it hardens also know as callousing. This made the cutting go dorment by sticking it like so in my fridge for 2 months. So i took it out and tried rooting it. Overall it failed but i got a growing cutting to go dorment it dropped its leaves and was at least dorment. It seemed to rot out. But hope this at least helps a bit.