So I've been away for awhile, haven't had much time for figs since the storm displaced us and I lost all the small trees I had.

Anyway I'm back and I have some sticks I've taken from a friends fig.  I wanted to try the method in the propagation section on the main page.

I used approx 8" figs 5-6 per bundle wrapped in slightly moist paper towel with about an inch sticking out the bottom.

Here I am about 10 days later and I've got some stink a bit of mildew/mold and some rot.

Since I don't have any figs handy to make another attempt I cleaned everything well with food grade hydrogen peroxide and rewrapped them in new towels. 

I assume it was too wet in the bag?  Can anyone get a little more specific about the moisture level?  Should I leave the bag open and give a little water everyday?  What can I do to get more success? 

Any tips will be appreciated.

To wet to warm no air. Those are the recipes for mold. Make sure your cuttings are very clean before propagating and everything is sterile. Your paper towel needs to be ringed out really good and barely feel any moisture. Put in dark area that doesn't get to hot. Open cuttings every few days to ventilate.could take a week or a month to root.

See my thread "twigs to figs..."

ziploc bag and paper towel is about the simplest way to root the cuttings. but you need to keep an eye on things daily. 

first, the paper towel should be wrung out to a point it's just moist. if it's wet.. there is a chance cuttings will mold. second, you should air out the cuttings every day or two. no fresh air will cause mold. third, the room temp or where ever you keep the cuttings should be around 75-80 degrees.

move the cutting as soon as you have roots. leave it in the baggie too long and the things will rot or dry out. i know it shouldn't dry out, it's a closed system. but you are airing it out daily and the paper towel is not holding much water. soon, thing will dry out.

Another thing that can cause rot that fast is dead or damaged cuttings-mold can attack them very quickly. Was your friend's tree outside in the nasty winter and could the cuttings you have been damaged by cold and/or wind?

When you see condensation in the bag it is probably best to take them out, dry the inside of the bag, and rewrap with freshly squeezed paper. Newspaper takes longer to mildew IME than paper towels.

Hi Hortstu,
Didn't the tree of your friend have a sucker available ?

Remember spring is here !
For the cuttings I would put half of them outside in a deep pot or in the dirt and water every two days - no gnats - no too much moist - mix will dry better ... Plant them by leaving 1 cm ouside of dirt.
As for rooting inside, the temp is the hardest parameter to master - here at least, we swing every day - day warm - day cold - Inside air keeps too moist, keeping dirt too moist - ... Perfect conditions for loosing the cuttings :( .

The choice is yours :)

i don't care for the suckers. they suck energy off main tree. i usually get rid of them as soon as possible. VdB and White Greek has suckers coming off already. need to cut them off today.

I also wonder if your cuttings were taken off of a cold-damaged tree.  If you have access to the tree you might consider an air-layer at this point.

Sorry to bumb this but I'm dying to know how you "clean" your cuttings before rooting them, as brianm mentioned...

cleaning the cutting can be as simple as washing it under the running water.. or going all the way and scrubbing with anti bacterial soap using old tooth brush and soaking it in bleach solution, sealing both end with wax all under antiseptic environment. 

it depends on the condition of the cutting for me. usually if it's super clean as in they were already washed before getting to me, i'll just start rooting it after slicing top and bottom. if the cutting is not cleaned, i would wash using anti bacterial soap and a toothbrush. 

very old or damaged cuttings will mold and rot super quick. washing it won't help at all. 

What Pete said lol