Love watching your videos, I can't wait to propagate my hardy Chicago when it gets bigger.

Pj, it sounded like you tried many methods but NOT air layering, which is well described on this site in other posts. In your case I would have taken cuttings, put them in barely moist towelling in a zip-lock and put them in the vegetable crisper of the fridge for a week. This puts them into dormancy. When they come out of the fridge, I would forget the baggie method for rooting and put them into a very well drained light potting medium (barely moist) in 16 oz plus clear plastic cups with drain holes. Put them on a warming tray covered with a plastic dome to keep humidity high. Your climate may already do both of these 'warm and moist' stages for you. When I do this method, I can usualy see good root development in a couple of weeks as well as budding and leafing out. Don't be in a rush to transplant, and remember that excess of water is a killer at this stage. Air layering works fine too, you just have to be patient, but you can do it anytime. However, it may take months for the branch to throw out roots, or just weeks. You could also try ground layering too if you have branches close to ground and can pin or weight them there for some time. My two cents... John.

Thanks for showing the setting of your airlayer. The bottle method always been a favorite to do and gets the job done. Martin

Another nice fig video you posted. Thanks. Martin