I've tried this many ways, and either the towels were too dry, or too wet and produced mold.  Finally I figured out something that is producing root initials quickly with no mold.

I get a clean dishcloth wet, wring it out, spread it on the counter, and cover it with a paper towel.  I press the towel into that dishcloth, and just enough dampness transfers.  I then sprinkle it with cinnamon to prevent mold.  Roll the cuttings in the cinnamon, and put them into a baggie into a dark warm cupboard.

This is working, and not as messy as Sphagnum.  Quite a few recently acquired cuttings have root initials, and one tiny root on one cutting.  Where initials show, healthy roots will surely follow.  Some in sphagnum have initials too, but that stuff is a mess!  Brand new remodeled kitchen makes me adverse to messes!

Next challenge will be cupping them up with zero fungus gnat threats!  I think I learned from the last invasion, and precautions will be taken for sure!

Suzi

Seems like you have a lot of spores lurking in your neck of the sands.  I'm not particularly fastidious and our climate (Calabasas area of San Fernando Valley) certainly is more humid than where you are, and I don't get a lot of mold-events. 

Do you think that there might be an issue with temperature?  I tend to keep all my propagation materials at the very low end of temperature acceptability.  When I get antsy and want to speed things along by putting them near the hot water heater, for example, that's when I get the mold invasions. 

I liked the idea of the cinnamon.  I'll have to try that.  I use a lot of cayenne pepper (cheap Kroger brand, giant economy size -- barely usable for cooking) and sprinkle it around my vegetable garden to let the local fauna know that they have to be prepared to play in the big leagues if they want to eat my veggies. 

Back on topic [sorry]: Perhaps you need to give your work area and tools (box cutters, razor blades, plastic and glass items, etc.) a quick rubdown with 93 percent alcohol every once in a while.  Once the spores settle in to an area or find a home on tweezers, scissors, mat knife, and so on, rarely do they leave without drastic measures.  I've never boiled moss before re-using it.  Perhaps I should, as you pointed out: there could be spores lurking in there as well.

Ken.

Ken, I never got mold with Sphagnum moss, but the stuff is so MESSY!  Little pieces of it everywhere!  Makes me crazy!  I always had trouble with mold with the paper towel method, but no more.  The cinnamon and the perfect dampness seem to do the trick.  We have all new energy efficient appliances here, and there is zero warmth on top of the fridge, by the water heater.  Zip!  NONE! 

This property is much colder than the desert was, so finding a warm place was tough.  The only warmth I get here is in the dark cabinet holding the amplifier and AV equipment, and it happens to get warmth from the wine cooler next to it.  So I stuff my baggies in there and they seem to like it.

There is no humidity at this house.  But last year, living on the golf course, with all that water and heat, absolutely!  Very humid.

I do rub things down with alcohol regularly and I wear sterile gloves.  I mainly wear those so the gophers don't pick up a human scent when I casually feed them..... hehehehehe

Suzi

suzi, 

wetting the paper towel under running water and squeezing the heck out of it seems to work for me.. too well actually.. with daily check on the cuttings, that darn thing dries up within a month or so. i had to put in another paper towel wet under running water than squeezed like there's no tomorrow in the baggie. 

• Bleach is useless for controlling mold... great as disinfectant!
• The amount of cutting exposed after rolling in paper towel has an effect on mold.  When folding the damp paper towel I try to fold just below a node on either side of the cutting so more of the cutting is exposed.  Think of a hot dog too long for the bun.
• Mold spores are attached to the cuttings when you receive them.  Maybe it's the environment they're growing in or the part of the tree they were taken from, or the tools used to take the cutting, or a bird poop from a week earlier that is no longer visible but has sat incubating on a branch and is now side by side with uninfected cuttings.
• Cuttings without mold may not 'catch' mold from cuttings with mold in the same baggie. 
• Fluctuating temperatures promote mold more than steady temperatures, even if a little cooler.
• Baggies need to be opened and aired out every day for at least a few minutes.
• Physan20 works on mold.  (Thanks Pete!)

Danny, I think that sometimes mold is already on the cuttings, so disinfecting is pretty important.  I hadn't thought of nuking the clean dishcloth!  Mold spores are everywhere.  The cinnamon is supposed to discourage mold.  Since I've started using it, no mold and the cabinet where the cuttings rest smells really nice!

Suzi

to all those paper towel converts, i salute you! or something like that.. 

anyway, only thing that keeps mold away is daily check on each cuttings. i think it has more to do with each cuttings getting aired out and being dried while i'm checking for mold and excess moisture than anything else. no need for any fancy techniques. 

problem comes when they are in the cup. i can't really pull them out of the soil and check them like that. i used to use 10% bleach solution, alcohol, peroxide.. none of them work. physan 20 will keep the mold away longer and sometime will get rid of them after repeated treatments. what i'm finding is same as the cuttings. letting them air out and make sure excess moisture is dried up before closing the humidity bin. 

lately i have been getting ton of mushroom in the cups. i pulled them out, but they always come back after few days. getting tired of them. i think my seedling soil came with mushroom spores. 

Pete, go to you tube and search for growing mushrooms.  You will find that spores are everywhere, as is mold!  For a brief moment, I thought it might be fun to grow mushrooms to eat, but after I read what is involved, I trashed that idea!  Just like I thought I would move to Fallbrook and have an avocado orchard.  I now happily pay for mushrooms and avocados at the store! 

Some things just aren't worth the effort, but FIGS ARE!!

You can't get a good fresh fig at the grocery store, but you can easily grow figs!  They are drought tolerant, and so very gifting!!

Suzi

Pete's right... You have to stay on top of them.  That's the best thing to do.

Suzi, after reading the cinnamon thread I tried it.  I've had mixed results.  Maybe I didn't give it long enough.  At any rate, I also like the idea of sprinkling the paper towel with cinnamon before rolling it up.  Can't hurt any.  I'll add that tool to the toolbox, too.

I believe that peroxide does not work for mold.  Had good results as a support treatment for gnats.

Disinfecting the cuttings is very important.  As I said, I am definitely not an expert, but I have very definite beliefs about mold and treating it.  I have two houses that were affected by hurricane Sandy.  One had a few feet of water in it, up to the middle of the first floor.  Dealing with mold issues in the aftermath was not fun, but I did attend a few classes about the subject given by NYC, FEMA and the Red Cross.  In those classes I learned the reason that a lot of disinfectants don't work is because we are adding one of the key ingredients to help the mold grow when we disinfect; water.  Water is the culprit. The chemical effects of the products we use wear off quicker than the liquid used to deliver those chemicals to the surface being treated.  A case in point as anyone in the affected areas can tell you is hiring a mold removal company.  The company comes in, cleans up and two weeks later the mold is back.  Well, the company did their job by removing mold, but did so on already wet surfaces.  So they left the key ingredient behind and when their chemicals wear off, the mold returns.

So what's the answer?  Air and time, which brings us back to what Pete said.  You have to stay on top of your cuttings.  Control humidity/moisture by opening the bags every day.  Inspect cuttings for any signs of mold and treat right away, being sure to dry up any liquid that is added from treating the mold.  Dry up the insides of the baggies if they look too wet.

Hi bullet08,
For me this means that the dirt/compost you used was not a mature compost.
Mushrooms help turn the vegies waste to dirt . If the process is not complete, they still have food and develop .
If the compost is mature, mushrooms have no food left, and it is much harder for them to continue to develop .
A compost is mature, when you don't see any waste/fibers left in that dirt .

Past November I bought a 80 Liter compost bag that was well mature.
But I felt that the bag was heavy. So the next time I bought a 50 Liter bag - the price per liter was the same, so I though same price, same quality.
I got really disappointed when I saw all the remaining wastes in the new bag - branches, vegies fibers  ... 
So I went back to buy another 80 liters bag ...

Perhaps screening the compost could help .

jdsfrance, the seedling soil i use is bagged soil from MG. there's no compost in it. it's mostly peat. sometimes these things come contaminated since they are stored in the store for awhile. doesn't really make much difference in the end. once the cuttings go outside in spring, all the mold and stuff will stop. altho, shrooms will cont to come. they just need right condition under the shade to pop up. 

When i use to root scionwood all i did was use a mister bottle and put fine mist on paper towel or newspaper and put dry one under it
in a container.

Suzi you are right about SM, it's messy and smelly and I was ready disappointed with the damage it caused to my cutting cycle. I had to wash and literally disinfect my cuttings off of SM. Cinnamon does wonders for me. and to add to it all for you, skip cup stage, plant the rooted cuttings in 1 gallon pots, water them and use Saran wrap to cover it and secure in with rubber band, let them sit inside in dark for one more week before taking them to shaded area outdoors. don't water until one or two weeks later , remove the Saran wrap and maybe water some more and off they go for the outdoor world journey ;) 

Re :wetness of the paper towel (I use Viva, the best brand, BTW, they come in 1/3 perforated packs) Pete is right, wash under faucet and squeeze as hard as you can, that's how much moisture you need;) 

Suzi, the first cuttings I did this year were in Sphagnum and all rooted great and are now potted. The later ones I have used moist paper towels or moist news paper,, they are not doing as well and all those will be going into sphagnum this week.  I understand your new kitchen and keeping it nice, so could you set them up with the sphagnum out doors to avoid the mess and then bring them in after your finished.  I think the sphagnum really helps with mold and the moisture levels, at least it has for me!!
t