I lost few rooted cutings due to mold and rot.

Long fibered sphagnum doesn't seem to support mold growth, at least for me, it does hold lot's of moisture though, and can be tough to re-wet after it gets a little too dry.  Be careful and good luck.

Try "water culture" next time you have a rootless orchid, anyone can do it easy as pie. The key is healthy algae which produces O2 for the submerged orchid roots, and good water with very dilute organic fert. I find water culture helps orchids withstand brighter/dryer conditions and actually saves tons of water and time!

I found bags on ebay for a reasonable price in 100 units. And 2 thumbs up for Jon's method, quick and easy.

Jon, have you played around with your rooting medium on this method?

I seem to be having exceptionally better results so far using a 90% potting mix 10% perlite medium versus a mostly-perlite medium, and barely wet, probably less water than with mostly perlite mediums.

I'm going to tinker with this one, see what kind of results I find after transplant.

I am trying this method for the first time.  I happen to have a lot of coarse vermiculite left over from other gardening projects so am using that.  I'm also using potting soil for some, and a mix of vermiculite and potting soil for others.  Will see which one works the best. 
The 100% vermiculite seems to offer best air flow and if I need nutrients (not sure if I will before I transplant to a pot), I can just use liquid miracle grow or something like that. 
I'm placing the cuttings in my heated basement where ambient temp is about 67 degrees.  So then I put them inside a plastic tub with water on the bottom, with a raised screen, so containers are not wicking up excess water.  Then I place seedling mat underneath and put lid on plastic tub.  I'm guessing inside temp is somewhere around 80 to 85 degrees with very high humidity. 
I have a couple questions about this setup:

1.  Do you think the seedling mat is helpful or harmful?  Is it better to have 85 degrees and high humidity, or 67 degrees and medium humidity?

2:  Should I soak the medium before I put it in the bags or after?  Reason I ask is I started with dry vermiculite and potting mix, and filled up the bag with the cutting in it.  Then I watered.  The excess water drained out the bottom but it still seems very moist, maybe too much so.  Would it have been better to moisten the medium before putting it in, then let it sit for a few hours for excess water to drain off, then use this pre-moistened medium to fill up the bags?

Any comments or suggestions would be welcomed.

thanks

In my opinion:

Hi Rob,

I am working with cuttings

Hi Rob,

Finaly put my order in for the bags. I could not find the length of bags so I went with 8" long. I hope that's right, should of asked before ordered. Also, went with 2" and 3" dia. types. So unsure of what I'm doing. I want to get this right on the first time. Don't want to waste cuttings, time and money. I'm sure all of you have been there, just with all the info here makes it sound easy. Come spring, i'll bombard with questions. Good health

                                                   unsure luke

All you had to do was look at the third picture at the link in Jon's first post (of this thread).  It's this picture:

http://figs4fun.com/fpix/FP515-84.jpg

Take the product number off the front of the bag (S-1331).  Punch that number in at http://www.uline.com and that's the exact bag he is using.

Yes...I am an Idiot

Just before I ordered I scanned the info and read 2" opening, so ordered 2'x8" with 3"x8". Well, wrong again. The 2"x8" will be sent back and exchanged for a larger size. This computer stuff is as new to me as fig stuff, so learning both at the same time. Please forgive, I am not the sharpest tack in the box. In the future I will do a lot less writing and mostly read info.

luke

LOL.  I hope you didn't take my words as a lecture.  What's obvious to me may not be to others. 

Can't wait to try this method out! Those are incredible results!

I saw that Jon put the new bags in a 2 gallon pot and then directly in his green house and that sparked a few questions.

1) After the cuttings are in the new bags, do they have to stay in a covered tupperware to maintain a high humidity environment or does the bag itself provide enough of a the high humidity environment for the rooting area in the perlite/soil mixture? This is assuming the ambient room temperature is 75 degrees now. I was thinking if it was not in a covered tupperware they would get fresh air and less chance of mold forming.

Second question.

2) Does the tupperware have to be clear and allow light in or would they root better in a dark tupperware? I have both.

Any feedback (both helpful and "slap the noob-ish") is welcome and appreciated. Thanks folks.

Part of the point of the 8" bags is to bury all but about 1/2" of the cutting. This reduces the amount of surface area that can lose moisture very significantly. With less possibility of moisture loss, humidity can be reduced (I would eliminate it). Lower humidity and the large air volu7me of the greenhouse have eliminated 99% of mold issues. So, you still need some containment to control the environment, but it is not as critical or fussy.

I don't think color makes a diff, but as leaves emerge, they will need light.

That is where I went wrong! I had all different lengths of cuttings with one to five inches uncovered. I think I actually remember the shorter cuttings doing better now, but I blamed my compost for being too salty and inhibiting water absorbtion through the bark.

I used a crate inside a tupperware container and some thick clear plastic with a few small holes poked in it for a covering, held up off the cuttings with some sticks. I monitored the humidity and keep it around 60% by tucking the plastic down between the crate and tub to increase humidity, and untucking to dry things out a little. Usually I had to start tucking about a week after watering or if the heater was running hard. I actually bailed on the method after awhile because the ones that did not root fast were dehydrating and needed more frequent watering than was good for them. I saved a bunch by dumping them out, giving them a short soak, and putting them into the smoss ICU and then cups.

Now I feel like an idiot! But I am very glad you brought that important point up Jon, because now I can go forward with a better understanding of what I am doing. Will

Also, I think I can make an educated guess as to a more specific benefit to rooting in a greenhouse: air circulation. I take care of an orchid collection and they love to be in a greenhouse that is "sticky with a breeze". The high humidity keeps transpiration down and the breeze drys the leaves faster to prevent diseases. The increased air volume is important, but would not matter if there were no air currents from fans or just the natural mixing of warm and cool air.

It's all good Jason. I'm just frustrated at myself for making the mistake. After going back, it's clearly there as the nose on my face. From what i see your are always quick to help all with solid info and advice, and for that, I thank you.

Now another question comes up. I'm reading about only leaving just the end of the cutting above the perlite mixture, so if you have a cutting that is 12" what would be the best thing to do? Cut in half to make 2 cuttings? Make a 8" cutting and a 4" cutting? The reason I ask is a lot of the cutting that I've bought are about 12" long.

Thank you Jon for the rational behind it, was tough for me to get my head around it but now I comprende. Lid off for air, cuttings no more than 1/2 inch protruding the new bags, let em have drainage beneath.

Yes, cut the 12" cutting in half.

So last night I finally got around to trying this method. I made a few dozen New Bags from plastic report cover sleeves and the Foodsaver. Cut the corners and labled them with a Sharpie.

Made a 90/10 perlite/potting soil mix and a 50/50 perlite/potting soil mix. I am testing both soil medium with BT cuttings and also some I picked up on eBay. Trimmed the cutting a little where they were too long. Just used a small scoop to get the soil into the bags but some soil ran out othe corners slits I made. Need to make more judicious corner cuts next time. Watered and let them drain then put them in a large tupperware container with a lid in a warm place.

There is no water pooled on the bottom of the tupperware container. I plan on briefly opening it daily for fresh air exchange but remaining my question is how often does on water these guys? Mist bottle only right?

This was a very easy process to follow and I am looking forward to posting some pics once we have some roots growing.

Hey Vince,

You shouldn't need to water much at all. 

For my experience (two pages worth), see:  http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/My-2011-cuttings-progress-....-5137445

Oh, and I would add to this that ... I found a much higher success rate (after-potting survival rate) by using less perlite - specifically, I had good success with using 50% or more pre-moistened potting mix with very little added perlite in the bags.  I also found it helpful to carefully up-pot BEFORE the roots manage to exit any hole in the bag AND before you have dozens of roots showing all over the bag.  I was up-potting when I was seeing as few as 3-4 roots that were at least 1"-2" long, rather than waiting till I had a dozen or two dozen roots that were several inches long in that thread I just linked.

Edit: Someone asked about mold, but it looks like it has since been deleted.

Very, very seriously. Tends to be fatal in almost all cases.

Anyone have a feel (or data  :)  for what the best temperature to root fig cuttings is?  I've been doing something like this for years but I'm not getting the success rate you are.

Upstairs is running around 80 and cuttings are sprouting like crazy.

70-80F seems to work for me, generally around 75F