For those of you who use sphagnum moss in a bag to start cuttings, is it ok to have the top part of the cutting sticking out of the bag, with the bag closed as much as possible? Some of my cuttings don't fit in a one gallon bag, and others are leafing out and the leaves are getting mushy from being inside the bag.

Thanks!

Tylt

Maybe you can provide some additional information on your cuttings. You obviously have leaves pushing out, but what's the status of the roots? In this stage of the process, you are trying to encourage good root growth, and less vegetative growth. What temperature and set up do you have. Maybe you can place you cuttings/root bag in a larger humidity chamber? Good luck with your cuttings!

I haven't wanted to disturb the roots, so I haven't been peeking at them.  I can check when I get home.  I also have cuttings in cups, and they have put out a lot of leaves.  When I was looking at the baggies last night I could see those cuttings were putting out vegetative growth, but the leaves were soggy/not happy.  I know roots are the goal, but I wasn't sure if the vegetative growth dying was a super bad thing.

The cuttings are in a sealed clear plastic bin on a heating mat.  The temperature is around 70-74 degrees.  Without the heating mat, they would be in the low 60's/ high 50's.  

So, even I cracked open the bags and had the vegetation sticking out, they'd still be in a sealed chamber and should have decent humidity.  The heating mat is a pain, because it dries things out so quickly.... but I need it to keep things growing!  Thanks for the input.

The cuttings need to be keep in the dark. It slows down the start of leaf growth. Rex.

They're in our laundry room, which the light is off 99% of the day.  There is a window, but the shade is always kept down.

In Jon's description of New Bag Style he leaves the bag open-ended in a greenhouse, so I would think as long as you have ambient humidity/warmth inside the bin, it shouldn't be a problem. 

I tried to root a couple in cup where the end of the cuttings stuck out through the straw hole about an inch.  Had to spritz inside more often, but never did get any roots.  Though the cup was NOT in a high humidity area.  So, maybe if the cup had been in a humidity bin, it might have been a different story.

The only concern would be dehydration.  If the environment inside the bag remains moist while the top is exposed either by being sealed or your monitoring you'll be fine.  Just don't let it dry out.

That said, being sealed and holding moisture is ideal. Can you just put another bag upside down over the top?

when leaves pop out while still in the baggie, I put some newspaper into the bag, to keep the leaves from touching the plastic,
that seems to work, as long as it is not like that tooooo long.