have cuttings that I got in January. I started to root them yesterday. Yesterday I places them in a light hydrogen porzide solution to get rid of the mold. And then wash them in water. I wrapped them in newspaper and put them in a air tight box. I aired them out today and saw white fuzzy mold. I was shocked. Right now I put them in another hydrogen peroxide solution and then put them in antibacterial-soapy water and the washed them. This time I wrapped them around in paper towels. I put them above in a cabnate above my fridge and left them there. Am I doing this right?Should I use sphagnum moss instead? I am using these varitys: Black Marsellies VS, Hardy Hartford, English Brown Turkey, Sal's El

Honest truth. If cutting decide to mold, it's hard to stop them. You can scrub with tooth brush using AB soap, and soak it in 10% bleach solution. You still might get mold. I heard Physan 20 works for some members.

I'm going to wait till tommarow and see what will happen. Hopefully it will be gone. If not I will scrub them with a tooth brush with AB soap. I have bleach but its the kind you use to wash clothes not to disinfect. The only cuttings that look good are the Hardy Hartford and Sal's EL

When mold forms it sends filaments or roots (for lack of a better term as I don't know the technical word), into the cutting so scrubbing the surface will not entirely eradicate it. Moisture and lack of air circulation, exactly the conditions when rooting cuttings, is just what the mold likes to grow. Sphagnum has, in my experience, seemed to minimize formation of mold. 

Ill see if I can get some moss. Ill change it and scrub all of them with a toothbrush and wait

Good News. I put them under a rooting formula sent by the person I bought them from, left them there, after about 3 days.  There was mold on the top of the soil, BUT I checked the cuttings on the BMVS, alive and starting to root. They have little bumps and one cutting has a little strand of a root. I only checked EBT and BMVS, BMVS all are doing well. EBT has little white specks on them. I think they are normal. The Sal's EL has the most mold on top. Then MBVS, Then EBT, then the Harty Hartford has minimal mold. Hopefully in a week or 2 I can plant them and have them flourish. 

I have been using Immunox multi purpose fungicide. It is made by Spectracide, I bought the concentrate and just mix it in a qt. spray bottle. What I am doing is when you see some mold just spray the cuttings and let it air dry for a few minutes and close the container back.  So far this has worked better than anything I have tried before. I think that sometimes when you take them out and keep scrubbing and washing it spreads it more. Frequent washing and Clorox, might even be killing some good stuff. Now i give them a spray before I put them in the bag, I can't see that is slows them up at all. It works great for me. Just my experience with it use it if you want. In fact I had some the other day that came moldy and I thought oh hell these won"t be worth a s**t gave them a spray and now they look like the others. Has anyone else used this before?
Mike.

Never have. Right now I don't need it. Its only growing on top, not on the cuttings, and it won't grow under the soil, where the cuttings are because mold needs air. Next year, when I root my cuttings, I will be more careful by washing it before the mold comes, and dipping the tips in wax so no mold can get it. 

Are they in a container or an open air pot?  Most of my experience with cuttings and mold if it is in a sealed container and mold is growing it will get to it.  I lost about 50 cuttings one time from placing them in potting soil covered horizontal. My thinking was the same under soil it can't grow. In reality the mold is on the cutting and is just waiting for the right conditions to grow.  We use chemicals to help but the best thing is air,air and more air. The real trick is how to give them air and keep them moist at the same time. Just my 2 cents but if there is mold anywhere you need to kill it.

if were me, remove all paper wash the tub with soap. mold propagate by spores, so you must clean the tub and dry it out completely. replace the paper, meanwhile, remove the cuttings, put them in a cup of water (kinda like flowers, while you wash one by one, soak them in a kitchen soap with a little of bleach... shake them dried completely, then wet their bottoms only and if you have a growth hormone, do a small dipping and put them in a whole new bedding, and new cover (moist paper)  close the box, but check again in the morning/

if mold is not too bad, you may be able to re do this, changing their bedding washing box, and will be OK.  I would check at least a couple of times a day, if you can lose a little bit, it would be good to using a sharp trimmer to take a little bit, where it was cut, mold seems to infiltrate those areas first... cuts at bottom can be about 1/4" from the node. I would not sacrifice a node, you need them. but internodes, you can trim a little, just to get rid of any mold spores that may be there, also, you can use warm water to wash and rinse them.


I had done this, and have also dumped the entire batch.. you may quarantine those with worse mold... so, it won't spread to others, that is after you wash them throughly.

Best luck

Physan 20 is all you need.  Add some inside a squirt bottle, add water, shake and spray.  Problem solved. 

cheers!

Grasa: There just about to have roots, I don't want to scrub them off. Mold needs air to grow, that's why my cuttings are safe.  I had to sacrifice some nodes. I was hesitent but I had no choice, I'd rather have them root slowly then be raveged by mold.
snaglpus: I think you can that stuff at Home Depot, I don't think I really need it now, but if it gets worse I will use it. Next time, I will defently use it cleaning my cuttings. I will also heat my formula to get rid of germs to be on the safe side.
winterville: There in China Take out plates that are laying flat. I air them out 1 once a day. They are not airtight.

Ekierk,
Using Long Fiber Sphagnum Moss to root fig cuttings has resulted in a minimum amount of mold growth in my experience. Of more than 200 cuttings that were not washed or sanitized in any way, only one (1) developed any mold growth. Even that one was salvaged and is currently growing.

Sanitizing the cuttings would provide additional insurance, but using sterile and or clean material at all stages of rooting and growing would provide the best results.

Note Jon V's Topic. He has a very high success rate using the new baggie method and clean (sterile) rooting material. He does not pre root in sphagnum moss, but uses sphagnum moss in the rooting mix.

ascpete
  I think next year I will do half of my cuttings in moss, the other half in the new baggie method. Right now my cuttings are looking good except the mold on top. I can't find Physan 20. Tommarow I will make a weak Hydroden Peroxide mix and lightly spray the top. 200 cuttings is a lot of fig trees. 

Also ascpete,
 Do you have any fig trees inground without protection? Where in a similer hardiness zone

Ekierk,

This is only my second season with figs, but I will be planting about 50 in ground this spring. I have several dozen purchased named "Cold Hardy" varieties and about a dozen unknowns (found in NYC) from last year. I also have several large air layers from unknowns (1-1/2 to 2-1/2 inch caliper from last year). The unknowns are from large (older, 20-50 year old) in-ground unprotected NYC trees.

Most will be pruned to the Japanese Step-over Espalier form (Espalier example) for ease of protection. They will be protected the first few years with a simple wire cage stuffed with straw and leaves with a water resistant cover.

From trials performed this past winter, the smaller diameter exposed fig tree branches were damaged by temperatures below 15 deg F. , but all covered branches 12-18 inches above ground level were undamaged (though we had a mild winter).

I am planting an in ground Fig Orchard for production and low maintenance, but winter protection is still required to protect the tree's main branches. The fruiting branches will be pruned yearly so no protection will be required above 18 inches from ground level.

ascpete I am trying to get 1 fig tree unprotected for a long while 20+ years and then share it with other people. 




Good News, one of my Harty Hartford cuttings has rooted and has a small leaf bud. How long should I wait till to put it in soil? Bad News, My EBT has these white dots that I think is mold. Anyone know about these white dots?

Ekierk,
There are probably hundreds if not thousands of older unprotected fig trees in the NYC area. Many are not "named" varieties but have survived without protection for decades. Some were protected when young. If you check out the following posts you will find pictures and descriptions of a few "unknowns" which I had posted last year (I also collected cuttings).

NYC Fig trees #1, NYC Fig trees #2 and NYC Fig trees #3

Good Luck with your cuttings. I usually cup my cuttings as soon as they are callused. They may or may not have roots.
Without a picture, the white dots could just be swollen lenticels, which is common with fig cuttings

Grapefruit Seed Extract is an amazing all natural antifungal. Put about 10 drops in a spray bottle and spray as needed for moisture and humidity. I have had about 95 percent success in rooting using this, even in closed air setups and high temps.