I'll be *very* interested in hearing what others might say, but my first guess is that you may be overwatering. I've had the same experience as you with cuttings, but I've gotten the impression from various recent readings that one should water the cuttings initially, and afterwards don't water again until the potting medium becomes almost dry.

Another thing I've heard is that it's sometimes a good idea to wrap the cuttings in a plasting bag and refrigerate them for a month or so before trying to root them. Supposedly this 'hardens' the cut ends and makes them somewhat less susceptible to rotting.

Comments from others?

DaveL
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Ditto on the overwatering - I "drowned" more promising new cuttings than I care to think about :-( - they need to be in a VERY quick-draining potting mixture (you don't want anything that stays soggy at all, better to mist lightly every day than to have something that can go three or four days between moistening), and once they get started with leaves, don't assume you have any roots to go with them yet. Until you can *see* roots and the leaves are going like gangbusters and are very large and vigorous, you need to keep the cuttings out of direct sunlight and if anything, underwater them. I'm going to be trying a new system of foliar feeding using the kelp/fish emulsion fertilizer I'd heard touted in other forums (bought some the other day) and try to avoid adding water to the root systems (minimal as they might be) for as long as I can. Also do NOT give them a larger pot until they are virtually rootbound in whatever container you started them in. These are my learn-by-experience recommends, and definitely jiving with what Dave said. Plus, as has been mentioned in another thread currently running, take off the breba figs when they are smaller than pea size, let the fig get its roots and leaves going first for a season - hope this helps.

Sherry

Pl. refer to following URL...
Problem seems very similar to what I had (maybe still do)...
Which brings me to the question. How much water is TOO much,
and how much LITTLE water is NOT enough?!

Here is a link that might be useful: GW Thread: Healthy Leaves Falling Off

gorgi, I would literally add no more than maybe a tablespoon of water at a time to mine (while growing them in small cups or bottles, with drainage holes), and only when the top of the potting mix seemed pretty dry - I would almost water-deprive them rather than add a lot. The worst thing I would do would be to "hurry" them into bigger containers where the roots would be dwarfed by the soil around them, they did far better in tiny containers and getting rootbound than anything else I found from trial and error raising batches of them. And too much direct sun was killer, I keeled over several beautiful cuttings by letting them be hit with mid-day light - early morning before 10 a.m. wasn't too bad if it was filtered, but anything beyond that knocked them limp - it was the plants trying to pull moisture up into the leaves without an adequate root system, and they literally had a system crash, like engines running without oil in them. Has that been your experience, too?

There is no such thing as overwatering. If your soil drains well, you can't over water. I usually pour an entire gallon when I water each pot. Poor drainage can create a wet situation. The plant will not breathe properly and suffer in this case. It's not the "overwatering" that causes the problem, it's the lack of oxygen.

If a plant or tree dies outdoors due to wet feet, it isn't because it rained too much. It's because it couldn't breathe in the soil. Not sure what your particular problem may be. Just wanted to share about "overwatering".

Well:GoodGround:Keep in mind that a plant in the soil do not get all water from a rain to it roots.Most of rain water washes away.on surface before getting to roots.
In a Container it is different:All Water has to go down trough the container before it drain out.So it is easy for the plant to get more water than it needs and die,when Artificially watered by Peoples.
That is why is very important not to overwater plants cnfined in pots.-Hope this will help

Thanks to everyone for your input...I appreciate the help. It seems that the soil drainage is a very important topic, as it should be. Let me ask this...my mix that I use for the new starts contain peat moss, sand and soil from my garden. I actually had some input from a nursery on the garden soil portion. The person at the nursery advised that the soil from the garden may have pathogens in it that is killing my young starts over time? Any advice on a good mix that I can use for my young starts?

I agree with you about the soil possibly being the problem here. Try using 1 part peat, with 8 parts perlite and no soil. This will hold enough water, but not too much. Works great for pomegrantates, so I suspect it will work well for figs too.

Poor draining soil and overwatering are two sides of the same coin. Either one leads to excess moisture. The Peat and sand mix would be better than the peat, sand, and soil mix. Peat holds water. Sand doesn't hold much. Soil or potting mix does. I don't know your proportions, but if they are 1/3 of each, that is too much water holding and not enough drainage. I start mine in 100% vermiculite because it holds water, but the coarse texture allows the oxygen in. Even when they are in a sunny, 75 deg room in the house, I rarely add water more than once a week. If you use the vermiculite in a clear plastic cup, you can measure the moisture content by looking at the condensation on the inside of the cup. No condensation = time to water. Some condensation = enough moisture. It also allows a good look at whether there are any roots (leaves do NOT equal roots). When I transplant, I use about 75% perlite (doesn't hold much water) and 25% compost. I have killed more after tranferring to potting mix that held too much water, than in the rooting phase, all clearly due to excess moisture. If your pot is standing in water, the water in being wicked up into the post, and it will be too wet.