I know that both moisture and elevated temperatures contribute to the acceleration of mold formation and intensity but which of these two factors contributes more to mold formation; higher temperatures or more wetness?

I know this question is question to summarize and the quick answer is ‘both’, but here is what I am getting at i.e. which situation will be helpful in minimizing mold in bag method but also produce initials and roots and not just reduce mold but then no initials and rooting:

- Since there is already some moisture in the cutting itself, so higher temperature (80F~85F) with very light moistening (which could add the risk of cutting desiccation?)

- Room ambient with adequately moist wrapped paper

-  More moist paper at mid-high temperature of 78F

As an added point, I have noticed that when I receive cuttings from locations with early cold fall and early dormancy, I have very minimum and controllable mold if there is any. However, cuttings received from places with warmer falls where dormancy is more or less brought by the plant annual cycle and the length of day-night and light changes, I always see mold issue. I know there are many kinds of mold but the one giving me the most problem (not winning any fight) is the one that looks ‘white latex paint’ like mold at the nodes (buds and fallen leaf locations).

I believe it is the moisture that is the bigger problem. Mold is always present everywhere. It needs moisture to grow more than warmth but heat accelerates its growth. For example, if the house is low humidity (less then 40RH) mold isn't an issue. Normal ranges are something like 50-60RH. Above that mold is a big issue. A refrigerator is cold dry air and retards mold growth. If you put wet items in there, mold will form but slowly (case in point is the cuttings I had stored for 4 weeks had very little mold but it was there).

I have also seen the "white paint" type mold on a few of my cuttings also. It is also concentrated near the leaf scars as you have seen. I also see green mold forming at these sites. Not sure why other than there are more tiny places for it to hide. Also it is harder to clean these areas if you pre-treat with diluted bleach.

I also noticed the same thing that mold is less likely on hardened-off cuttings (woody/dormant) than green/growing cuttings. Not sure why this is either. Maybe there is less surface moisture in a woody cutting.

SteveNJ:  Thanks for a thorough response. Sometimes I feel that there is too much latexy liquid under pressure behind the bark that otherwise might have gone with deep dormancy. I am just guessing since I do not know much about botany.
Since there is enough moisture in such cuttings, I can do an experiment sometimes by not moistening the wrapping paper at all (use paper to avoid contact with plastic bag). However, I tie a very wet piece of paper, covered water-tight by plastic, at 0.5" basal end of the cutting as a moisture reservoir so the cutting will no desiccate. So, only 0.5" of the cutting will be covered wet and the rest of the cutting not wetted. This will be placed at 80F~83F available environment. I will report on it if I ever start and complete this test (unless someone can guess its failure up-front so there will be no need to start)

Heat and lack of fresh air, in my opinion. Some cuttings just are more prone ot getting moldy. Also, there seems to be a point when there starts to be too little moisture, with old air, that there is a mold window.