Hello all! First time poster, long time lurker. This is an awesome site with some really knowlegable people, and I could really use some help. I just started trying to root some cuttings a few weeks ago that I took off of a friends fig tree (Brown Turkey, I believe). I tried a few different methods of rooting these cuttings and none have been successful so far. The cuttings that I took were all about 8 or 9 in. in length. I put a few that I wrapped with damp paper towels inside of a plastic bag, and they became moldy in a few days. I also put some cuttings in long sphagnum moss (that was damp) and stored them in a sealed tupperware container... and they got moldy. Put a few more in plastic cups filled with Al's gritty mix and they were moldy in a few days as well. All of the above were stored inside a plastic bin to retain humidity. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I aired out the container every day or two. The paper towels and moss were all wrung outso I don't think that they were overly wet. This has been a super cold winter in New Jersey, Is it possible that the tree has been compromised being that it has been so cold and the tree is not wrapped? Anyhow, I have scrubbed the mold off with antibacterial soap using a toothbrush, than scrubbed them with .03% Hydrogen Peroxide and the mold returned. Next I tried a fungicide that I found at Lowe's and sprayed that undiluted on the cuttings only to have the mold return once again. Can someone please help me? I've never had this much trouble trying to grow anything before, starting to take it a little personal....lol. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. I think that I may try to buy a few cuttings on-line to see if it was my error or maybe bad cuttings. Hopefully the latter. Can someone recommend a easy to grow, tasty fig that can survive a New Jersey winter? Thanks, PepperMan

Start with some fresh cuttings from scratch. Moss and paper towel should be wrung out to the max to avoid mold, from what I understand. I am rooting in spaghnum and paper towels, I had mold issues with moss until I was advised to wring it out to the max.

Welcome to the forum, Pepperman!  There are many anti-mold threads on here, and the search function will give you lots of great advice.  You took these cuttings yourself, so they had to be fresh.  There may have been molds on them to start, so scrubbing with antibacterial soap or bleach & water will kill any lurking molds.  Many here swear by cinnamon.  Evidently it's a good mold repellant.  Good advice above of using barely damp, not WET sphagnum or paper towels. 

Nobody likes to see mold, but we all have been in your shoes.

Suzi

some cuttings... no matter what will attract mold. usually, mold will be at not to clean cut on the end of cuttings, not too clean leaf scars, and where new branches are coming out. best thing to do is to clean those areas before starting rooting with anti bacterial soap and clean toothbrush.

once cleaned, make sure the paper towel is well squeezed so there's barely any moisture left. check cutting every day and clean mold off with paper towel, make sure wipe away excess moisture also.

but even with all the effort, if mold has taken hold, it will just come back.

You might want to scratch the bark and see if there's any bright green, live cambium under there.  If the cuttings are dead there's no point treating for mold.  BTW, antibacterial soap has no effect on mold.  Peroxide and bleach should, though.

Welcome to the forum!

If doing the sphagnum moss, ensure it is wrung out as much as possible, and then wring again.  While nothing is 100% mold proof, this reduced my mold issues even more.

 The best thing I've used is Purell.  I rub off the mold and put on the purell and let it dry.  It is in a gel base that dries a white residue, but the mold wont come back on treated areas. 
.

Hi Pepperman,
If you still have cuttings, put 3 with terminal bud in a pot with compost. put everything in a dark bucket sealed with a black plastic bag with 1 cm of water a he bottom of the bucket.
Leave that at room temperature of 20°C.
Check in 3 weeks . If they start to leaf out, it is ok, else if no sign of life, the tree was already too damaged by the cold weather.
Good luck,

Thank you for all of your responses. Can anyone recommend some Fig varieties that will do well in central New Jersey, zone 6b. I'd like to purchase some while they're available. Thank you for your time.

PepperMan

If the tree belongs to a friend, see if you cannot get a couple of suckers off it this spring. BT usually sucker quite a bit and they are very easy to start. Alternately, again in the spring, weigh down a low branch, scratch some of the bark, and cover with soil. You will have a fully rooted little figlet ready to go in 6 weeks. Any form of rooting while still attached to the mother tree is always the most fail-proof.

Pepperman,
Welcome to the forum community.

What temperatures are you keeping the cuttings during your rooting process and are you using any type of supplemental heat?  Thanks.
BTW there is no documented evidence other than anecdotal that Cinnamon will stop mold growth on fig cuttings.

IMO you should get the bugs worked out using one of the various documented method before proceeding to your purchased cuttings, especially since you have access to cuttings. BTW, I never wash or clean any of my collected cuttings from NYC and have not had any major mold issues. Good Luck.

A NJ member, Herman2 has been documenting and posting about his trials of cold hardy fig cultivars for years... http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/show_single_post?pid=1277626201&postcount=1 .

ascpete,

Thank you for your response. The cuttings were kept approximately at 67 degrees . After much reading , I have been noticing negative things about the brown turkey fig variety . Any other cold hardy fig variety recommendation or experiences would be greatly appreciated. I plan on planting two different fig varieties near the house facing south .

Thank you,
PepperMan