Some really nice cuttings of Southeastern Brown Turkey found their way into my mailbox this morning!  So awesome of you Frank and now you force me to try another experiment!

Have seen some folks wrap the upper part of their cuttings in parafilm.  This is basically the same concept to keep the cutting from drying out and not wanting to use any humidity dome, that for some reason spells mold to me nearly 100% of the time.

This is my wax pot for dipping cutting ends.  It's a fry daddy with adjustable thermostat I set at 250 F and food grade cheese wax.  The wax daubers hang neatly on the edge of the pot and are handy for sealing cut laterals on the side that are otherwise hard to dip. .

 

Yeah it looks nasty, that's just stuff in the bottom from dipping mushroom log ends, bark, bug or whatever happened to fall in.  I assure you it's sterile by the time I dip anything into it.

So I just daubed the entire upper half of this cutting, except directly on the leaf buds. It is set into the same coarse sand I've been using, in a no-sew landscape fabric grow bag that rests inside a quart fondant container that has several drain holes drilled into the bottom.

This is how it will remain until it either makes it or else.  I'll dip the whole container into my fertigation mix bucket, up to the top edge of the fondant container and let it drain out either once or twice a day, to be determined.  

 

There's space between the bag and container wall so the cutting should get plenty of oxygen to it and any roots that may form.  We already know they go well in sand grow bags.  The container is basically for handling support. 

Might say it would be a lot of work to dip a bunch of quart containers once or twice a day.  I agree.  If I were to do a bunch, if this works out ok, I would set all them bags without the containers into a flood and drain basin and do them all at once.  It would be a simple thing then.

I found the wax dealing concept very appealing as well. So, I took a dollar store candle in a long thin glass and dipped the thin cutting in the melted wax.

Might need a thicker candle for thicker cuttings in the future.

I use candle wax too and don't cover the buds. I just wax the open ends and a tiny bit of the stalk. However, I think if a bud was waxed and you removed the wax and recut the ends before rooting, it would be just fine.
Up for another experiment Charlie ??

Looks nice, should work well for you!

Have edited the title since this is now more than one experiment.  Who knows where this will end up?

Usually heat my wax to 250 F but for this addition we're staying around 200 F and have a cool pan of water close by to cool the dipped cuttings right away.

So we're using a safety pin as sort of a skewer, stuck into the bottom end that's going to be cut off later.  It goes easily into the soft, hollow stem core but finds resistance upon hitting that lowest node.

 

The cutting was quickly and fully dipped, horizontally, then lifted out with skewered end up so excess wax could run off towards the upper end.  It hardens almost immediately and was then dipped into the pan of cool water.

 

The other two subjects were done the same way and the bottoms cut off very close to the lowest node on the cutting.

 

 

They were then watered in to their grow bags of sand and are in the grow room.

 

A word about types of wax.  This is food grade cheese wax and it's very soft and pliable at room temperature, somewhat soft when cold. Paraffin is petroleum based, has a higher melting point, much harder and will crack easily when cold.  I can always tell when somebody dipped their cutting ends in paraffin, when they arrive and pieces of wax all cracked and broken off.  Kind of seems like a waste of effort to use it.  Get you some cheese wax. :)

Only thing for certain about this experiment now is that these cuttings are very well sealed, except for the bottoms lol.  

 

Soy wax melts at 125 and sticks well.  The wax can be kept at 130 and not cause any heat damage.

Looks like a very good experiment Charlie! Hopefully, this can help us all,  Good luck :  )

Charlie,
Your experiments are unique and interesting. 
Really enjoy your posts. Keep up the good work
Cheers
Coop

Noob here. Re: wax, how do you get it off the cutting when you want to take it off? Or do you?

Charlie, great stuff as usual!  Its funny because I have a couple in the cloner that I did similarly. I dipped the portion of the cutting that remains above the well in wax, and the rest remained uncovered.  Hope both our experiments are successful!

I had some with candle wax on them last year-the buds pushed the wax right off

Charlie,

I only dabbled the ends where it was clear it would loose moisture.

My wife and I also put wax on the ends of some weeping willow branches she rooted..it kept the mold off the tops of the branches after trimming them agian.

Both the fig cuttings and the willow seemed to benefit with increased growth after having their tops dribbled with wax ( they were already potted).

Some other cuttings that will be planted in the spring are now waxed on both ends, wrapped, and in the fridge.

Here's an interesting development.  De La Caseta is forming root nubs under the wax, all over the cutting.  

 

I think those are lenticels Charlie. They are there for gas exchange because the bark is impermeable. The cutting is adjusting their size to get more air, it can be extreme on some cuttings when you pre-root in a moist medium but doesn't seem to be a problem.

Very nice, thanks for sharing.