If you put a clear bag over them and put them anywhere that they get direct sun, they will heat up inside the bag the same way the inside of your car heats up on a sunny day. Probably one reason your first ones failed - they got cooked.

Plants lose moisture through their leaves most of the time, and that moisture is replaced by water uptake from the roots. Cuttings don't have roots. How many leaves the cutting can handle without roots, then, depends a lot on how much moisture is being lost through the leaves in your propagation setup. Most propagation setups try to minimize moisture loss through the leaves until roots form.

Lower humidity = more moisture lost through the leaves

Higher humidity = less moisture lost through the leaves

Lower temperature = less moisture lost through the leaves

Higher temperature = more moisture lost through the leaves

Lower air flow (no wind) = less moisture lost through the leaves

Higher air flow = more moisture lost through the leaves

Lower light levels = less moisture lost through the leaves

Higher light levels (e.g. direct sun) = more moisture lost through the leaves

Search each kind of plant individually to learn details of what methods work for each. Because what they are - if it is even feasible to root them from cuttings, at least on the homeowner hobby level - determines what size and stage of development of material used will work for each kind, as well as what kind of rooting environment needs to be provided.

illsstep, thank you.

I was thinking the cuttings would still take water up to the leaves even though they don't have roots because I'm keeping them constantly moist in the perlite moss vermiculite mix, and for example a 10" cutting I have about 4-5" in the mix.

I always try to avoid watering the foliage of plants I'm growing for example tomotoes, cucumbers etc - that can lead to mold etc, but for propigation, should I actually be watering the leaves directly on purpose? Especially if I give them more hours in Full Sun?

I'll do some more researching etc but I did watch a few hours of propigating videos and still confused on some of these details.

The photosynthetic machinery is almost on "standby" until the cuttings start to produce new roots. The extra light from "full sun" is unnecessary at this stage, and "full sun" is highly undesirable for the reasons I previously listed.

Cuttings uptake very little water until roots start to form, hence the need to provide an environment that minimizes water loss through the leaves.

On woody plants, it is common for it to take 4 to 6 weeks for roots to form, although as Embothrium said, you need to look up specific information for each plant, because there is incredible variation.

You are unlikely to get much good information from online videos. Online information from *.edu websites is usually good, as are actual printed books.

ok thanks.

some make this seem easy,

but I know it's not,

and I planted 5 cuttings for every 1 that I hope to succeed.

I'm going to put bags over them afterall.

I DID manage to get arborvitaes to propigate from cuttings about 2.5 years ago (they're the same size still but have roots and I don't water them routinely and they haven't fried), and all I did was scrape the bottoms, put hormone and put in native soil in spot that gets like 4 hours direct sun but I did get about %25 to survive (some either fried in sun or crabgrass overtook and choked them out I think).

I started the arborvietaes in early Fall though when it was cooler. And then cooler start of spring was easy on them.

Anyway, I'm going to put bags over these cuttings (fig, grape, magnolia, apricot) because even though summer is humid here in NJ, nights might not be, and I want to make sure they don't dry out, plus sun hits them for maybe an hour+ a day.

Everything I've checked says to bag them. I'm definitely going to make tents from small sticks to prevent the bags matting down on plants like last time happened with the apricot.

I'm afraid the bag will cause rot but almost everyone does the bag even in summer it seems.

This guy doesn't bag them (it's in a greenhouse afterall though) but he mists them ALMOST EVERY MINUTE and EVERY 20 MINS is the longest he'll let them go without misting. and these are for mid summer-type planting which I'm doing.

https://youtu.be/yFL-jEkWSV8?t=614

I also might cut holes in the bottom of some of these planting bottles. I've seen plenty of vids with no drainage holes and they still had great success rates, but I'll try holes on the bottom of some probably (and put over gravel under holes so it can drain).

I'm currently doing some fig cuttings. They're under bags in the shade outside. Temps have ranged between 50 and 77f. I reduced the size of the leaves and check under the bags every few days. If the leaves die I remove them. Never occurred to me not to have drainage holes. That's a sine qua non for anything in a container imo. Figs root easily. I potted them on June 21st and they are showing root nubs now. All the leaves have dropped but new buds are forming. I imagine they'd root even quicker in warmer weather.

Grape cuttings I've never done but the usual method is with dormant wood over winter.

I imagine they'd root even quicker in warmer weather.

When I researched this for a friend in the past hardwood cuttings in Feb. emerged as the preferred method.

For figs?

eta a photograph. Fig cuttings taken two weeks ago. You can't stop these things rooting. Even above the soil or at the top of the twig.

Figs easy from cuttings. Magnolia (species??) or Apricot -- not so much! Those are typically grafted onto a seedling rootstock.

I root most of my cuttings in summer in a large transluscent plastic container with a lid -- with 2/3 perlite to 1/3 potting soil. Place container under a shrub in summer -- no full sun!. Heat, light and humidity work in my favor. But I mostly do citrus, holly, illicium, hibiscus, aucuba cuttings and other broadleaf evergreens.

Many people start fig cuttings indoors in the Winter/Spring. They don't need much light when growing roots and you don't have to worry about keeps the "leaves" green and healthy or cutting them off.... Usually fig cuttings are started just with a "stick", no leaves. They grow roots and than start budding out.

Don't get me wrong, you can do it in the summer with semi-hardword but I think most do it in the Winter with dormant hardwood.

Note to self, I didn't cover them with bags yet and might not at all. I've just been making sure I mist the leaves once or twice a day. No bags because I don't want to get possible fungus thing nor have to open them and un-tie them etc. to air them out. They are under a porch all of about maybe 1 or 2 hours of direct setting sun. One brick patio with brick wall and a holly plant above them, so I wet all of that masonry also to help keep the area humid.

I planted these about a week ago. I see new growth from the apricots!! The figs should start to show soon too. The leaves are mostly still attached.

If this were in Spring using dormant cuttings, then I'd definitely bag them because it's not as humid in spring. some people even wrap the whole exposed end of the cutting in seran wrap to keep it moist if doing this in Spring.

Fig works either way (Spring/summer) obviously as per the recent picture someone shared.

Air layering you can only do during the growing season (spring/summer/Early fall [probably]).

I'm also air layering the fig and a few other things right now.

I think I like air layering and 'simple layering' the best.

Accidentially learned about simple layering when a grape plant vine tip was on the soil and rooted, then I transplanted it and it grew into a whole nother grape tree. With raspberries I poke a big hole in ground and bend a stalk down into it and pack the soil around it and it grows another plant granted it's kept watered.

Air layering you basically find a tree you like in a parking lot or a friendly neighbor or something and just pick a branch to air layer that the tree would be ok or even better off without.

EDIT, just learned about stump/stool layering. So easy, and you can get like 20 new plants from the original one and with the same good genetics. Or just take a few and leave the rest which have rooted in the mound of soil and it should eventually just root ball as one main plant again.