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Good Cutting and a Bad Cutting

Here is a picture of a very healthy cutting and a cutting with mold. All in the same humidity bin

This one has mold all over the soil20140223_124422.jpg


This one has a lot of new growth.  Only 2 weeks old20140223_123219.jpg


needs air! fluff up the soil a bit or put it by a heating vent to move the air around it... the mold 'spores' will need to be dealt by itself outside away from the others.... or will spread... needs to air it out quick and fast...  I have a few in a box, before cuping that insisted on growing mold, so I had to after washing all a few times, i had to remove it from the box,  trimmed its ends and put in a separate container..well, they are done! stick a fork in it. 

Both of the fig cuttings look healthy to me. Mold growing on the soil is disturbing, but mold growing on a live cutting would concern me more. Just my thoughts...

What you have there is probably not mold but some other type of fungi. Molds change colors fairly quickly once they begin producing spores, while fungi that stay white (or begin and stay pink, yellow etc.) must form fruitbodies in order to produce spores e.g. mushrooms. In fact, White Mold (Sclerotinia) is actually more closely related to Morels than molds.

So there are not more spores being produced yet but that does not matter much because mold/mushroom/bacteria spores are basically everywhere so they are already present in the other cups (whatever they are decomposing is also there too!). A stale/damp environment will help these spores grow, they will call it home. Some will be harmless because they are only interested in dead organic material, or even benefit the plant by mineralizing nutients. But others will attack cuttings or even large trees, as far as I can tell some of the most aggressive are mushrooms that grow naturally on living trees. There are also molds which can be aggressive to cuttings, and other non-mushroom fungi that cause root rot etc.

It looks to me like the fungi is actually attacking the first cutting, but it is hard to tell. I would chop off the very top where it is fuzzy and look at the freshly cut cambium. If it is green then the fungi is only superficial, so a little more air and if possible some time outside to get a little bit of sunlight will resolve the problem. If the cambium is yellow or brown etc. then the only real hope, IME, is to keep cutting back until you have healthy cambium  again. It can be pointless sometimes but you never know...

I have removed the molded cutting and cut off the part of the cutting that has molded and it out in the open now. The mold is slowly going away. I am going to let it dry out a little before watering it.

don't disturb the cutting. just spray physan 20. it will get rid of them.

Hi,
Just wash the mold away, air the cutting and the humidity bin. Let the bin dry up a bit .
I would blame it on temp as well - too fresh ...

Quote:
Originally Posted by bullet08
don't disturb the cutting. just spray physan 20. it will get rid of them.


quick question, does physan20 have a shelf life? I have had a bottle around for 4-5 years in a shed type area so it has experienced fluxuating temps. think it is still good?

If the mold is primarily on the soil it's probably growing on the fertilizer in the potting mix, especially if it's a soil with fertilizer already in it (like Miracle Gro). If that's the case it'll go away on it's own shortly.

I can't really tell in the picture where the mold is, but the cuttings look healthy to me.

no idea on half life of physan 20. i had mine sitting in my study for 2 yrs before using it. it seems to work. not sure if being left out in the shed with temp fluctuation will cause issue or not. 

typically with mold on the soil, they will go away if left out in the fresh air and sunlight.. but with the temp still not optimal for the newly rooted cutting, i would just spray it and forget it. 

I wish mine looked that good!

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