What kind of hardwood are we talking about?

Crape myrtle.

I'd probably do softwood on Lagerstromia (cm).

Okay, but back to the question. Do hardwood cuttings require some sort of cold period or can you just take the cuttings and bring them inside and root them like softwood cuttings?

I'm doing crape myrtle at the moment, but I'd like to know the answer to this about hardwood cuttings generally for future reference.

The cutting is going to require the same chilling hours as the parent plant, so yes, they do need to be cold over the winter...not too cold, avoid desiccation, and when the chilling requirements are met, into the the rooting trays at the temperatures required to promote rooting (read literature on whichever species you are working with).

Leaving them outside definitely will meet the chilling requirements but with a fairly uncontrolled climate, you will likely experience higher failure than if you controlled the climate in a fridge.

I have run into mold problems when trying to meet the chill requirements in the fridge over winter - even after trying either fungicide spray or a diluted bleach dip. Any suggestions for how to avoid this? I had the cuttings bagged up to avoid dessication.

All of the hardwood cuttings that I've done, I've done in my greenhouse on heat mats. I can't say that my results have been stellar, but I've gotten cuttings to root this way. Roses, for sure. Trying to remember what else, but it's been a while.

In cold winter regions, hardwood cuttings may root better with protection from a coldframe, cloche, cool greenhouse, or inside a frost-free building, but still kept cold to coolish.

Cuttings will need to be protected from critters if they are a local problem.

If they require cold, I think I'll just take my chances with sticking them in the ground outside. I have a batch that I harvested before I posted this and have inside at room temperature. I suppose I'll just leave them there as an experiment. I'll plant a new batch outside to go through a cold period.

How deep do you plant your hardwood cuttings? I was planning on leaving only 1 node above ground to keep them from drying out.

Well, the ones inside are already leafing out and definitely don't have roots and probably don't even have callus, so I see your point now. Probably goners, but I'll try to keep them alive. Have another batch that I put in a bed outside. Hopefully I have some success with them in the spring.

Yeah. What do you think about presoaking hardwood cuttings? I read a few articles that stated that a presoak of 2-14 days increased success in the particular plants studied, but not sure if it is applicable to all species.

The crape myrtle cuttings that have leafed out still look good. This is without a humidity dome. Been thinking of adding one, but still haven't. I'm using one cutting as the test subject, which I pull out occasionally to look for roots. None so far. It will be really interesting to see if this works.

Try to stop pulling it up to see. That'll stop it rooting. Be patient and wait until you see roots coming out of the drainage hole. If you really can't wait just tug very gently and see if there is resistance. But try not to. Buds opening out to leaves doesn't necessarily indicate rooting as you've discovered. I've never heard of soaking cuttings so I can't comment on that.

see if your local libray can get you a copy of dirrs propagation bible.. you might learn a lot.. or just buy it ... ken

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=dirrs+woody+propagation&t=ffcm&ia=web

I have about 30 cuttings in the experiment. I'm only pulling up one to monitor progress.

But by pulling that one up you are inhibiting its rooting so it isn't a good test of how the others are faring. They're not being pulled up, hence not being subjected to the same conditions as the control.

You may have a point. Anyway, hopefully they root this way. I'm experimenting with a few different methods. I'll let you know which works the best.

I've been experimenting with propagation, following instructions in the book, American Horticultural Society Plant Propagation. So far, my dogwood and rose cuttings are looking good. I dipped them in Clonex and planted them last fall in a trench that had sand in the bottom. The book indicates the best time of year to take cuttings for individual plants.

Oh dear, so my Russian sage cuttings that are starting to leaf out in their mini-greenhouse jugs on my radiant floor may just be a tease? I followed the instructions on some site to take the cuttings around now (when they would have experienced cold on the mother plant, but not as cuttings), let them callus for 24 hours, and then stuck in moist, warm media. All is going according to plan, so I thought. Any hope at all?

Yep, there's hope. I used Clonex for one batch of dogwoods and nothing for another batch. So far, they both seem to be surviving.