Glenn, I have always girdled the bark according to the article by Everett Janne on Airlayering. I suppose it would work some other way but this is the way I have always done it. Elder, I have always used the zip-lock bags because that's what's been handy around the house and the quart size is perfect for the size of A/L's I make. You can use any type or size plastic bag. But what I do is I cut off the stiff zip-lock side of the baggie and discard it. Then I cut off the bottom of the bag. So what you're left with is a clear pastic sleeve. I thread this over the end of the branch. It's a little tricky but then I gather up the lower portion of the plastic bag and tie it snug around the branch below the girdled bark ring using string or tape. Then I fill this sack, so-to-speak, with moist potting soil and try to distribute it equally around the branch. I leave enough room to allow me to tie the upper pole of the bag snugly around the branch in the same fashion. What's nice about using the plastic bag sleeve is that there is no seam. You just need to tie off the two distal ends of the plastic bag and there's little risk for your medium (moss or potting soil) from drying out. Another trick I use to get the plastic bag over the branch. I stick my hand through the baggie sleeve so that the baggie is now around my wrist and forearm. I grasp as many leaves and any small stems on the intended A/L with the same hand and thread the baggie over the branch. I can prepare an airlayer in minutes this way. I never use rooting hormones either. You don't need them with figs. After I see alot of root growth through the plastic bag and the A/L is ready to be separated from mommy (usually 3-4 weeks), I prune it just below the lower end of the sack and methodically remove the plastic and pot it up. If you wish to mail an A/L like this, remove it in the same fashion but leave the bottom tie in place so that the plastic remains intact around the root ball. I snip a small pinhole in the lower part of the plastic wrap and soak the A/L in water so that the soil inside the bag gets refreshed for the trip. Then you can mail this A/L to your fig buddy as is (like a little potted plant)and let them remove the plastic on receipt. Hopefully they'll reciprocate and do the same for you! It'll save you some money by not having to ship a heavy potted plant. Here is a link that might be useful: Airlayering

I agree with Disneyhorse that the question was "possible to root a cutting without heat mat?", and HAS BEEN ANSWERED "Yes its possible to root without a heat mat.". Ive been collecting, rooting and growing plumeria since 1979, and found that there is no absolute with plumeria depending where you are growing your plumies (Micro climates). What works for one person may not work for another depending on the variables. So again the question was answered, it's not an absolute that you have to use a heating mat, but that it may help depending on your variables and micro climate. Lynn, What is a C4??? Sounds like a JJ's Plumie..lol

People who tell you to keep any particular plant rootbound are simply repeating what they heard or read somewhere, because they certainly couldn't have reasoned themselves into that position. IF one assumes a person is using a very water-retentive soil and can't seem to control how much water the plant is getting, then it might be better for the plant to be grown tight so it uses the water in the root mass faster and in doing so eases the limitations imposed by saturated soil. With that scenario, what's REALLY occurring is, the grower is deciding which of 2 evils is preferential by trading the limitations imposed by root congestion for the limitations imposed by over-watering. Obviously repotting so roots have room to run and changing to a soil that doesn't burden the grower with worry over soil saturation offers MUCH more potential for a happy plant because it doesn't have to deal with either set of limitations - root congestion or a soggy home for roots. Whenever I hear the notion voiced that a plant likes to be grown rootbound, I know the source of the advice either 'doesn't get it' or doesn't care enough about who reads the advice to qualify it, because it should never be given w/o qualifications. and even then there is little justification for it OTHER than in some cases it can force a greater profusion of blooms in conspicuously flowering plants. Al

Apologies for the terse comments, but last night I was having serious problems with the Orange Screen of Death.It was raining outside, and I am supposed to be able to fix things like that. Otherwise, why do cats live with mere humans? Most of our garden we grew from cuttings. I haven't found gallicas or damasks to be particularly difficult, but we never got the hang of albas. When I was a kid, my grandmother taught me how to root roses in flower beds under glass jars. Roses rooted that way, but often died off the first winter. At that time, it didn't bother me since I had no place to put new roses, and if they died it meant I could reuse that space again. Many decades later, when growing the roses on became the goal, we moved inside to root roses under lights in the basement. It gave us more control over the environment, we didn't have to fight squirrels, didn't have to figure out the proper exposure at a house where the entire east side is driveway, and didn't have to scrounge the right size glass jars. BTW, the last is non-trivial. So June cuttings went inside baggies under lights, rooted usually sometime in early August, went outside for a bit in September, then spent their first winter under lights back in the basement. IME, the hardest thing about growing cuttings is getting them up to size, not getting them to root. So I have little patience with mail order nurseries that sell small rooted cuttings. I can usually do that myself. Our one attempt at hardwood cuttings was trying a different approach to rooting albas. This isn't a winter method, but late to mid-fall. Around here, I believe we stuck the cuttings before Thanksgiving. We ended up with about 30 billion Jacques Cartiers and no albas. There are other propagation techniques that are more often used on other woody plants than roses. Various forms of air layering, and ground layering for example. If you want to try with something easy to build confidence, try multlflora types.