Its been brought up on this board before. Too bad the search function is having so much trouble. The consensus seems to be that it is technically possible but generally very difficult. When another poster asked for tips most of the responses tried to convince the poster why its impractical and unnecessary to root apple cuttings. Others suggested that if you really want an apple on its own roots one could do some sort of layering or perhaps graft it low and bury the graft union.

They should be put in a baggy with damp Peat moss,inside a refrigerator for about three weeks at about 40F.Yes,they can be planted wherever and laid horizontally,about one inch deep. Brady

For the ultimate in geekiness for propagating from cuttings, the cutting edge (no pun intended) is tissue culture, growing plants out from meristem cuttings in sterile laboratory conditions. Because you're taking the cutting from the tip of the plant growth, any virus or disease has not had time to travel to that part of the plant yet, and you get a clean start. It used to be the domain of laboratories only, requiring laminar flow hoods and autoclaves, meaning growers had to send out their mother plants for propagation. But guess the one industry that doesn't want to send out their mother plants? That's right, the pot industry! So industrious (and stoned) minds spurred on the development of plant preservatives that help make up for the non-laboratory conditions and now home tissue culture kits are widely available. The plantlets are started in a gelatin-type medium with plant food,hormones, and sugars. Since this medium grows bacteria and fungus much better than it does plants, everything still has to be sterile with lots of alcohol and bunsen burners; a pressure cooker sterilizes your tools. A rubbermaid tub serves as your clean hood and baby food jars holds the medium. Since the sugar is feeding the plants, low light is needed as opposed to the high light needed for hydroponics. It is a way to propagate clean plants quickly, especially on difficult to propagate plants like blueberry and orchids. WSU has been investigating tissue culture of the G series rootstocks since they do not root well in the layer bed. You'd still have to graft to appropriate rootstock, but it would be a way to cheaply clean up viruses in both. Kits run about $250. Here is a link that might be useful: Home Tissue Culture Group

Hi, I'm new here, wishing I had read this before I pruned my Jiro persimmon tree about three weeks ago. I couldn't bear to throw the large branches I cut off the tree, so I stuck several of them into a bucket of rain water. Is there anyway to get new Jiro persimmons from these salvaged twigs and branches? I've never grown or propagated anything except from seed and little plants from the store, or else transplanted from another garden. The tree was dormant when I pruned it a few weeks ago. The main tree is just now starting to leaf out. It is growing in the mid-atlantic region zone 7. Our temps here are between 40-70s'F. The tree blossoms are finished and now starting to leaf out. Would these prunings be treated as hardwood cuttings? Any advice/suggestions for a newbie will be greatly appreciated. Could I use similar techniques to propagate my fig tree? Thanks!