I want to start with defining what is generally considered as the industry standard for a “fig cutting”. This is a minimum length of 6″ or 8″ and three nodes.
Now let’s get into lignified vs dormant, some people want a lignified non-dormant cutting others want a lignified and dormant. What is the difference and what should you so if you get one or the other? Lignified means the tree is “hardened of” so not tender to frost, dormant means that the sap down so there has been cold temperatures to get the tree out of the growing state.
Now how do I tell if a cutting is lignified or not and if its dormant? lignified cuttings should look brown/black or grey basically, anything that is not green. If the cutting is dormant when you make a now cut in the cutting there should be no sap flowing out of the end and check the packaging that the cutting came in for sap dried on it.
If you get a non-lignified aka “green” cutting you need to root the cutting immediately to avoid rotting and disease you could even try water rooting. If you get a lignified dormant cutting you can store it if you want, but I would recommend rooting as soon as possible for your climate etc.. Non dormant cuttings supposedly root faster than dormant cuttings do but they do not keep as well in the fridge. Non lignified cuttings do not store in the fridge at all and rot the fastest.