As you know, we travel 2.5 hours a couple times a week between "the money" pit which has sold (winding up garage sale this weekend, then on to moving and storage), and our home.  I am forced to leave my cuttings and seedlings in their greenhouses, then come back and take care of them, then go.

I have 3 cuttings from Bob Cantor in their greenhouse on the kitchen counter, and they look fine.  In fact, one has a tiny green bud growing.  BUT the Italian Red's I got on ebay had visible white mold all over them!  It looked like snow on branches!  Seriously!

So, I took them out of the perlite stuff, rinsed them off, sprayed them with a light bleach/water mixture, and put them back in the perlite. I also sprayed the perlite!  I did notice some root initials on a couple, and some visible roots on one.

I'll take them both to our other house tomorrow for about 5 days, but I'm leaving my greenhouse seedlings (not figs) alone.  They just keep popping out new plants, and they love their mini-greenhouse!  Who are they?  They are Monstera Deliciosa seedlings

This is what I did.  Will they be OK?

Suzi

rcantor, the fig trees you sent are happy and love to be ignored!  They are green and growing.  Seem to love the shady heat they now receive!  Going to water tomorrow, put them in a really shady corner on dirt, so they can explore with their roots until I can come back and repot into bigger pots.

Suzi I think they will be fine I had almost a dozen last season and they did the same thing I washed them off put them back in and off they went I think you should watch your moisture level in the green house etc it might be to high. 

I hear you Tony!  I'll make sure they get no more moisture, but they will still be in their faux greenhouse AKA soda bottle over them, but no more watering!  I really want them to root and grow.  Not all. Just one each!

Suzi

PS  The 40 unknown cuttings of two trees,  I took down at the "money pit" neighborhood look healthy, and are actually growing leaves in their soda bottle greenhouses.  I know this does not mean they have roots, but no sign of mold is a good thing.  Week 1 down.  Next Sunday is week 2 down! 

How about those Kings!  What a game!

Glad those are doing well.  I hope your molded ones survive.  There's an anti-mold agent called physan-20 that's made for plants.  Some of our members have had better luck with that than bleach.

This morning, I see snow again on the affected cuttings, so now I took the lid off, and set the thing in the best bleach on the earth, full sun.  Today, I'll take half of those Italian Red's and lay them in the ground.  The other's will travel with me, lid on,  hither and thither, with my bottle of bleach/H2o spray.

Suzi

Good luck with your cuttings. Be careful with too much bleach. It kills fungus, but too much can also kill other living things - like your cuttings or any emerging roots.

Thanks everyone!  I'm taking Bob's Desert King cuttings (no mold) and two of the Italian Red cuttings with me for 5 days.  The other Italian Reds have been laid in 1/2 " loose dirt that the sprinkler barely touches.  If they root, they can grow to water for sure.  I KNOW one or two will root this way, unless the mold got to them.  I'll watch, and in about a month, I'll probably have some fig trees coming out of their little in-ground trenches.  They are in half day west facing sun.

I put my 4 new fig trees from Bob safely in the shade so they can grow out of their pots into soil if they need water while I'm gone.  Bringing back some large pots that Jim's late mom had laying around, and they will all get re-potted in a week or so.

Suzi

Don't be too discouraged, Suzi, even if your moldy cuttings fail. I don't like to talk about it, but I've had some cutting failure this year. I think mostly it's the cutting, and not the propagator. Can a good gardener save a bad cutting? Yes. . . sometimes. I bought some Maryland Berry cuttings off of ebay that are still struggling along. They grew a white mushroom film on them, yes I'm sure it was mushroom, it was tougher than mold, solid, and smelled like brie. I also have some other cuttings that failed. I got really bummed out for about a week, but then, I put it all in perspective. I hate to lose the money, but life. . . life goes on and I have so many blessings to be happy about. I am certain that you will soon have more plants than you know what to deal with. Next year when you see your cuttings you will forget all about the ones that failed.I did. I would like to say that every single cutting that I purchased off of ebay from the members here have rooted vigorously with a high success rate and are now growing well. You're a great gardener. I wish you many years of joy and much success.

Thanks Donald!  You made me feel better.  Worried about the Sicilian Red, but 4 are in the ground laying in little trenches, and one is in perlite in a little greenhouse, showing no more mold.  Fingers crossed.

Two weeks ago, I got 40 cuttings from mystery trees, and today, some are showing resistance when I try to gently tug.  This means roots to me!  Others show no resistance, so no roots.  Back in their greenhouses for another week.

Bob Cantor's Desert King cuttings show no mold and are giving me no reason to tug.  They are biding their time, but seem healthy!

I'll update this thread in another week.  Fingers crossed, and thanks again Don!

Suzi