Hello,
Long-time reader, first-time writer, here anyway. I have been a lurker on this forum for a few years and I've noticed that moldy cuttings are a serious issue, so I decided to share a method to help inhibit mold on cuttings.
A little background on me first. I studied chemistry, worked in research labs for about 15 years, currently work in the food and drink industry (writer, product maker) and caught the fig bug about 2 years ago. I live in Canada (southern Ontario) and currently have 18 fig trees. My friends call me Darcy.
One of the easiest ways to inhibit mold is to use a method winemakers have been using for a long time to prevent mold in wines, and that is to use Potassium Sorbate. A solution of 0.1% Potassium Sorbate is very effective at inhibiting mold and much safer than using bleach or other harsh chemicals.
This mixture would work well for cutting storage or when fig cuttings are wrapped in wet paper towels or kept in a damp environment (plastic bags). For shipping of cuttings, spraying them with the solution and allowing them to dry before mailing should be effective as well.
Here's how you do it:
Simply take 1 gram of potassium sorbate and dissolve it in 1 liter of warm water. For the metrically challenged just take ΒΌ tsp of potassium sorbate and dissolve it in a quart of water. You can use the solution with perlite (or any other growing medium) as you would normal water. You can also keep it in a spray bottle. Once the cuttings have rooted you can just use regular water and it will wash out any of the potassium sorbate.
Just a note if you are using Pro-Mix or other potting soil with Mycorrhiza, the potassium sorbate will inhibit the growth of the Mycorrhiza fungus.
Potassium sorbate can be found at the local homebrew / winemaking shops or ordered online.
Hope that helps and if you have questions, I'm happy to answer.