Sorry about your moldy cuttings.  We've all been there!

Congratulations on the Vista and White Ischia.  Hope you are enjoying our rain!

Suzi

Hi Sheila,

Some very nice forum members really helped me out with a mold problem.  Basically it came down to few things I wasn't doing right.

Cuttings: wash/scrub with old toothbrush & soap; rinse; wash/scrub with old toothbrush and 10% bleach solution (I soak cuttings in 10% bleach for about 5 min while scrubbing); DO NOT RINSE.

Baggie method:  Damp paper towel means squeeze every last drop of water out of it before wrapping cuttings.  Put wrapped cuttings in ziplock then in 'shoe box.' to insulate from temp changes. I do not heat cuttings (too risky in my opinion).  Open daily, unwrap to check for mold, and wipe off any new mold growth. 

I was able to save all 6 cuttings this way after getting mold on all of them.  One cutting had persistent mold, and after it came back when cupped up, I sprayed it with Pursue Disinfectant Spray, which is an Amway product similar to Lysol spray.  That seemed to do the trick.

Hi Suzi,
I'm loving the rain! It's been great for my winter garden too. I'm growing onions, garlic, and broccoli.  

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Phil
I might consider the bleach method. Up to now I've used hydrogen peroxide and it's simply not doing the job!

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Sheila
Southern California, zone 8B

Shelia,

I have been struggling too. Here is my plan. I am trying to keep one "extra" cutting of each variety in the fridge. When it gets warm, I am following the rooting instructions below:

"Come spring I just dig a shallow trench, like 1.5 inches deep, lay a cutting in the bottom, and crumble soil back over the top of the cutting. Works every time. I just let them grow in that position for a summer and then transfer them to their final spots during the winter. Sometimes I even start the cuttings in this manner right where I want the fig to grow, now that is lazy! I find that cuttings are less prone to dry out when planted horizontally under the dirt, plus they are shallow enough that the sun warms them. This is ideal conditions for rooting."

I found these instructions on a GW post and it looks promising for people like me who have trouble with indoor rooting. The only difference will be that I will start mine in small black pots, 3/4 buried in sand. That will allow for easier up potting once the cuttings are going well. I have a nice partly shaded spot on the West side of my house that should be perfect for this. It gets only 3-4 hours of direct sun, and then about the same amount of dappled shade in the late afternoon.

Hi Gene,
I like that idea and will do the same. Thanks for sharing! I also received the Physan20 that I ordered in the mail today, which will hopefully put an end to my mold problem!




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Sheila
Southern California, zone 8B

Hi Sheila,

Reading your post i couldn't help but share your pain and i also know exactly what you're going through. I just started doing this myself.
I have been able to root everything from from roses and Gardenias to Mull-berry trees without much problems. I always loved figs and this
year i decided i was finally going to devote my time to growing and collecting fig trees. I started about the same time as you did. All i have
to show for my efforts are dried out twigs and what didn't dry out rotted away.

I finally decided to try the moss. I got some terrarium moss in a bin and have had cuttings in there for about a week. I did get some small
amounts of mold at the top of the moss after the first day. Since then i have been opening the bin up for about 2-3 hours a day to let in some new
air. I respray with a light mist and cover it back up until the next day. It seems to be keeping the mold at bay.

I'm thinking this is becoming an expensive habit and i also have no results as of yet. If i have learned anything in life it's that persistence does pay
off. And once you have success it will be that much more rewarding.

Wishing you the best of luck and just wanted you to know your frustrations are shared by others like myself as well.

2 to 3 hours a day?  Doesn't sound like that would maintain high enough humidity.   Do you have a hygrometer to monitor humidity ?

Just to show the difference between cultivars, everything in this box was started on Feb 8, so today marks 20 days.  

That one with lots of roots is a Hardy Chicago.  Another HC also has some roots.  
The Sweet George I'm holding still has no roots at all and neither does the other Sweet George.

The JH Adriatics (not seen) both have lots of very short roots (at least 12 each along the score mark).

Every cultivar acts differently during rooting.  The important thing is to maintain proper temp and humidity.

 

Wow look how beautiful that is. There are 2 things i notice right off the bat that seems to be different with your set up. Your cuttings seem to be laying on top of the moss. Or is that because you were taking a pic ? The second difference i notice is you have about twice the amount of moss in your bin as i do in mine.

I'm having the same issue keeping the humidity level at optimal range too. I use a plastic shoe box w/ sphagnum it's a pain in the ass trying to balance it....lid cracked...gets dry/humidity drops...put lid on/shoots up to in the 90's....etc

What can I do to keep in steady?

I usually have a bit of the moss on top at the base of the cutting, but not at the tip. But notice how "loose" it is. It's not packed down on the cuttings. Also, the moss is just damp, not wet. You would not be able to squeeze any water out of it. If it starts getting too dry (the box isn't sure tight), then I'll spritz the moss at the base of the cuttings.

My boxes stay right about 88% to 92% humidity. I don't leave them open or the lid "cracked" at all. I open them once or twice a day to check on them, (not so much during the first week though), but they are never open for more than about 30 to 60 seconds at a time. If I notice the humidity getting any higher, I'll take the lid off and fan the box with it for 10 seconds and put it back on. Humidity will drop by 10 or 20, but it builds back up quickly.

BTW. These boxes are only about 3 inches deep. And maybe about 8 x 12 inches wide.

Can someone post a pic of how you "score" cuttings?

I do a corkscrew shaped cut along the bottom 2 inches (depending on the size of the cutting). Maybe 1mm deep. If there's a node near the bottom, I'll cut across it. I'm going to start some more today. I'll take photos or a video.

Do the roots come out of the spot where you scored it?

Here's a pic of one I just started.  I have a video that is currently uploading to youtube.  I'll attach it as soon as it's done.

I just starte the 13 cuttings I got from Jon: Gino, Flanders, Trojano, Sultane, Sucrette, Black Madeira, Raspberry Latte.

 

Edit: Here's the video, but it's still being "processed" by youtube.  It should be visible soon.

I don't have the manual dexterity James does.  I make 2 straight scores near the bottom on opposite sides of the cutting.  This allows roots to anchor the cutting by coming out of opposite sides.  I pulled a random cutting to show you how I do it.  I leave almost all the cutting on, even if there's a long distance below a node.  In my experience, the roots coming from a node are thinner and weaker than roots coming from the bottom of a cutting.

 

I cut a small piece off of the bottom to expose fresh cambium

 

 

Then I paint all the cut surfaces with Clonex

 

I set that aside, make a label and get a plastic bag ready.  I fold down the top which helps it stay open during watering.  There are 2 holes cut in the bottom corners to allow rapid draining.  I have taller and wider bags to use if needed.

 
Next I put in some perlite - enough so the cutting reaches the top of the bag as it sits on the perlite.

 

I hold the cutting at the top to keep it centered.

 

And I pour in more perlite with my free hand

 

Continuing to hold at the top while leaving room to get the perlite in  

Then I add a pinch of peat moss, more perlite and more peat moss and the cutting can stand on its own

 
Lather, rinse and repeat until

 
The peat moss distributes evenly as the bag moves around.  Once it's full you slide in the label,

 

fill it full of warm water, drain and let it join the rest of the cuttings in the plastic bin on the heat mat

 

Cover it back up to keep the heat in

 
Check the thermostat

 

And go back to sleep.

Thanks for the vids and pics, James and Bob! Great to see things "in action" that we talk about every day, but don't always get to see the details.

And best of luck to you, Sheila.

Some cuttings are doomed before you ever start. I just pulled my last Unk Wht. Greeks out of the fridge (several had rooted last fall, then up and died...had a few spare in the fridge). I had planned to do a scion-to-scion graft with the remaining ones, but when I cut in, I saw little worms/larvae moving around in the scion (yes, after months of refrigeration). Just goes to show, "bad" cuttings exist -- and to no one's fault -- a batch might look perfectly healthy, only to be hiding problems underneath the bark. 

Hi gings,
Rooting in winter time is challenging.
If you start rooting now it all will be more easy.
Rooting in ground is a bit more easy as you can't over water ... But you can kill the cuttings with not enough watering or walking over them.

You don't describe your setup ... Not easy to try and find what is wrong ... But if you loose them all, I would bet on over-watering or not enough heat !

I can't believe it! Just one day after giving most of my cutting a thorough scrubbing in a bleach solution, the mold reappeared! So today, I took a two-fold approach. I repeated the bleach treatment on the cuttings. This time I treated all of them. Next, I treated the sphagnum peat moss by microwaving it for 2 minutes and 15 seconds. Hopefully, that will be enough to sterilize everything. If this turns out to be a good decision (I look forward to comments), my timing is perfect because a pesky fungus gnat emerged from one of my rooting bins (plastic shoe box) when I removed the cover to start this process. 

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Sheila
Southern California, zone 8B