With all the comments of mold and cuttings rotting, I tried powdered sulphur on the cutting from my own plants. That way if I screwed up, I still had plants, and still had access to more cuttings if I needed. Sulphur is used as antifungicide, is also used as a food preservative, and is also a required nutrient, in small amounts, by plants as well as people. And while one probably would not want a spoonful in your morning coffee or on breakfast cereal, I thought sulphur would be a safe choice.
With this only being my first year attempting to root fig cuttings, it has worked well so far.
I washed my cutting before storage, then lightly powderd them with sulphur. They were stored by first tightly wrapping them in that kitchen kling wrap that starts with S. Then they were put into baggie, a few drops of water into the baggie. I washed gently, with the consideration that bark like skin is a barrier to keep out 'bad' stuff. Infections need an entry point. if skin is broken infection can get in. Same with bark. vigorous scrubbing might cause unseen damage to bark that becomes entry point for mold. the damage would also be killing some of the plant cells, which are then food for mold/rot.
All but one of sixteen cuttings have rooted nicely, no mold or rot on any. The one is still in baggie awaiting formation of initials.
this is compared with cuttings I recieved from forum members that I did not treat with sulphur, did not treat for concern of killing them in my experiment.
So two of cuttings I recieved did rot, one right out of storage, the other after some time . Two others grew mold. The mold I removed by cutting off the area that was worst hit. I then rinsed the moldy cuttings in a water sulphur solution. Mold did not reapear and the cuttings have rooted.
When moving the cuttings from the baggie to first pot/cup, I also used a sulphur water solution to moisten the potting mix.
Thought this might be helpful to any that have trouble with cuttings going moldy. might be worth a try.
Grant
Z5b