Rooting creeping fig

Q: I have a wall of creeping fig on the western half of my house. It is a 40′ long, 20′ high masonry wall with fig growing all over it. I would like to grow the fig up a front wall but I have had no luck getting cuttings to root. I used commercial root hormone on 8″ inch cuttings and put them in potting soil, but every time they die.

A: I think your cuttings were too long. The leaves dried out before the cuttings could grow roots.

Here are some suggestions:

Use cuttings 4” long
Strip off lower leaves, apply hormone , stick so only 3-4 leaves are visible
Make propagation mix with potting soil combined 1:1 with perlite, so it drains fast
Use pots small enough that one plus its cuttings can be enveloped in a zipper lock plastic bag
Seal bags and put outdoors in a spot that gets bright shade but never full sun
There should be a slight haze of condensation in the bag.
Your cuttings should be well-rooted in six weeks

Just for fun, try submerging some similar cuttings halfway in a small water container to see if that works better.