when the cuttings come in, i usually take them out of whatever package they came in and put them in new ziploc bag. usually leave them in there for few days so they will accumulate to the room temp and to have all the stuff on the cuttings to soak in the moisture from the cuttings. 

once i feel that they have been in there long enough, i will take them out and start processing the cuttings to the size i like. usually 4-5" with at least 3 nodes. the top of the cutting is cut in diagonal angle so the moisture will not sit there too long, and bottom cut very close to the last node.  

once the cuttings are the size i like, i'll wash them with anti bacterial soap. medium hard bristle toothbrush is used to scrub the leaf scar and places where debris will collect. 

i used to soak them in bleach solution, but i haven't done that in about 1.5 yrs. reason is, if the cutting will mold, it will mold bleach or no bleach. 

i only use viva paper towel to wrap the cuttings. not sure why, but they cause less mold then bounty paper towel. i soak the paper towel with water then squeeze all the water out. wrap the paper towel around the cuttings as tightly as possible, about 3 cuttings per paper towel. they go into 1 gal freezer ziploc bag. 

they stay there from 2 to 4 weeks. 

what's your prep look like? 

Well i go to the garden cut a bunch , in sink i rinse under cold water to get any dirt etc off.
Melt some butter with little olive oil.
Cut up some fresh garlic real small.
Put the bunch in pan and let them wilt.

Take out and grind some sea salt and black pepper to taste.
Love that swiss chard.

; )

martin, you forgot to caramelize the onion, add some green pepper, open a bottle of chianti... oh... good bread to go with rest of the dish.

Oh now i get hungry for Pete's sake !  bell peppers slices,  onion slices,homemade vino and Barese sausage in frying pan with olive oil.
Sandwiched in Italian bread.


In keeping with forum ed a kit
figs are in deep while it snowed again today.

Get naked, draw a nice bubble bath, you and the cuttings get clean at the same time. At least in theory.

Your All nuts..............

But I love it, made me laugh.

x

Your All nuts..............

But I love it, made me laugh.

x

• using a bristled nylon brush, scrub cutting with antibacterial soap
• dip in a 1/10 bleach solution and allow to air dry
• place in a small clear bin filled with moist perlite
• impatiently wait!

Does the soap kill any bugs/eggs/nematodes that may be on the cutting?  Does the bleach?  Or do I need to spray with neem oil or something like Sevin?

When I get cuttings, here's what I do:

remove from package/envelope
take a picture
share picture in appropriate thread and thank sender
wash cuttings in soapy water for 5 or 10 minutes
dry
spray thoroughly with neem oil
let sit overnight
wash again in soapy water
rinse
wrap in damp paper towels
place in an opaque shipping envelope to block out light
place in my humidity bin

anti bacterial soap is more to loosen up the debris that might cause mold and rot later on. it doesn't really kill bugs/eggs/nematoes. but thinking about it, i guess it won't hurt against them either. 

Thanks Pete, I think I'll start spraying them with Sevin, too, just to be sure.

Immediate attention - put in the veggie fridge part as is.
Later and next, give the 10% bleach treatment.
If starting now, place inside zip-lock bag with moist SM to start rooting.
For long term, place inside zip-lock bag with moist (almost-dry) SM, back in the fridge.

thanks gorgi. that reminds me i need to start learning how to store the cuttings. if i can safely store the cutting, more rare ones should be stored till later march. i'm thinking cleaning, drying and sealing both end. wrap tight in plastic wrap and stick them in the veggie drawer in the fridge. as matter of a face, i have few VdB no one wanted. they might make good guinea pigs. 

For me I,
1. Scrub the cuttings in hand soap
2. Let them soak in a Hydrogen Peroxide Mix (35%) for 10 minuites
3. Pat them down and let them air-dry
4. Heat up wax and wax the ends
5. Label them 
6. Tape them and wrap them in plastic wrap
7. Put them in a Zip lock bag till I am ready to root them.

One thing that is important to do is to remove any vestiges or nubs of leaf stems that might still be on the cuttings. They are mold magnets. It is not uncommon for me to have trees tat have not lost their leaves, even in February, when I want to take cuttings. So I will either strip the leaves a week ahead of time, and allow any residue to fall off, or store them for a week or so in the frig, which gives any leaf stem remnants time to drop off.

I'd be curious to hear people's "lesson learned the hard way" as well. What were some ways that didn't go so well for you?

i was told to find the method that works for me and stick with it. paper towel and baggie was the first method, and it worked so well, i never bothered with other methods. mold control was hard to understand. some said just wipe it off. i didn't know what it meant. now i do. just wipe it off :)

I use lightly moist spaghnam moss in a Zip Loc bag or a airtight container. It has worked for me with minimal mold.

I used sphagnum moss the last couple years but this year I tried the coconut coir. Both worked very well for me but I like the coir better. New roots will cling to the moss and you have a chance of damaging them. With the coir it just falls away. I have not had any mold using these two products I think because of their mild acidity.

When I receive cuttings I don't do anything to them except put them in a baggie with the coir and place in the laundry room for 2-3 weeks. The only time I trim is if the cutting won't fit in the bag otherwise I leave it alone.

1) Bleach water soak for 2 minutes. (1Tbl/gal)
2) Spray with physan 20.
3) Air dry then store in zip locks in crisper for min of 200 hrs.
4) Use plastic shoe boxes (Home Depot) and damp Sphagnum Moss. Pack in layers, usually 32/box.
5) Room temp of 72 for about 3 weeks.
6) Pot to mini-sips when 2 or more roots per cutting are 1/2" or better.

NO MOLD.

I've seen several people say that after they wash the cuttings they chill them for a week or two in their fridge before bagging/rooting, but I don't understand why.  What does that chilling do? 

I soak them in our local tap water, usually has flouride in it and add a few drops of bleach. Soak for about 15 minutes. Then I try to put them in individual ziploc bags with a lightly moist white paper towel wrapped around the cutting. Place in top of closet about 75 degrees temp. If it is an expensive or exotic fig may use some Clonex gel, if it is from the neighborhood no Clonex.

Hi GreenFin
Arguably figs require cold (around 30-40F) to enter their dormancy stage, sleep a few hundred hours and be ready to wake up and grow. 
 
For me if the cuttings look green and not hardened off I chill them for a few weeks to encourage them to go dormant and hard off before I start rooting.   If cuttings are taken after the tree is dormant (November in my area) then you probably don't need to unless you want to delay the rooting until spring.

The first thing I do is wash my hands well before starting. I was told that oils in your skin can damage orchid flowers so I treat the fig cuttings the same way. Figs are my orchids. I make sure there is no leaf stems still attached or other debri. Cut the bottom of each stick near a node for a fresh start and wax only the top end to help from drying out. Trim if they don't fit in the Baggie when using sphagnum moss or if using rooting cubes (my preference) I trim only if too tall to put the lid on the humidity bin. Other than that, they are handled as little as possible. Then pray that they all root.

[QUOTE=4bgood]

4) Use plastic shoe boxes (Home Depot) and damp Sphagnum Moss. Pack in layers, usually 32/box.

[/QUOTE]

4bgood - if you are putting 32 cuttings in a box, how are you labeling your cuttings to tell them apart?  This is my first year trying to root cuttings, and I received one set of cuttings with a name nicely painted on the side of the cutting, not sure how permanent that is as a solution though.

Storage:
Collected cuttings...
Cut to approximately 9" long, with the bottom cut just below the bottom node, then place in 1 gallon Permanent Marker labeled Ziploc Freezer bags with 2 tablespoons of dry shredded long fibered sphagnum moss. Then into the crisper drawer in the refrigerator.
Purchased cuttings...
Unpack and unwrap the cuttings and place in 1 gallon Permanent Marker labeled Ziploc Freezer bags with 2 tablespoons of dry shredded long fibered sphagnum moss. Then into the crisper drawer in the refrigerator.
Long term storage...
Dip both ends of the cuttings in melted Tea Candle wax, put back in the zip lock bags and place in the refrigerator.


Rooting:
In Long Fibered Sphagnum Moss...
Place several hand fulls of lightly damp Long Fibered Sphagnum moss in the Zip lock bags with no more than 1 dozen cuttings, that are individually labeled with an Elmer's Paint marker, in each 1 gallon bag. Then place the bags in a dark closet at about 75 deg F. Check every two days and inflate bag. If any mold growth, wipe cutting with paper towel and spray with peroxide solution (1 part 3% Hydrogen peroxide/3 parts water).
In Seedling Tray...
Cut to 7"-8" maximum to fit under the 7-1/4" high humidity dome. Fill the plugs with pre watered Coir Based seed starting mix, insert cuttings, that are individually labeled with an Elmer's Paint Marker, and compress the mix to hold the cuttings in place.  Then place the trays in a dark closet at about 75 deg F. Check every day and mist all the cuttings with water. If any mold growth develops, wipe cutting with paper towel and mist all the cuttings once with peroxide solution (1 part 3% Hydrogen peroxide/3 parts water).
In General...
Whether using Moss or Plug trays the top cut ends of the cuttings are always sealed with wax (toilet bowl seal wax is used for sealing newly cut top ends when rooting). If Rooting Hormone is used, it is applied to the bottom cut end only.

eboone:

I use flagging tape to label different varieties in the same box. Write on it with a permanent marker and tie it around an inter-nodal space closer to the top than the bottom.

Some boxes only have one variety, so just label one piece of tape and lay on top of moss.

A consideration when putting multiple varieties in the same box in layers: They all most likely will not root at the same time. If you go in to retrieve the rooted ones, it's easy to damage those which may need more time. Not saying you can't do it, just be careful. The same can be said  when rooting just one variety and you have a mixture of week tip cuttings and nice fat hardened cuttings, or for that matter cuttings from different trees. I just finished my first round of cuttings and potted out of some boxes (mixed varieties) 3 times over a period of two weeks. Running about 95% rooting. Appears that I am losing a few of the thinner tip cuttings (purchased ones) in the SIPs. Did another head count today and looks like I will still achieve around 90%.

[QUOTE=4bgood]eboone:

I use flagging tape to label different varieties in the same box. Write on it with a permanent marker and tie it around an inter-nodal space closer to the top than the bottom.

Some boxes only have one variety, so just label one piece of tape and lay on top of moss.

A consideration when putting multiple varieties in the same box in layers: They all most likely will not root at the same time. If you go in to retrieve the rooted ones, it's easy to damage those which may need more time. Not saying you can't do it, just be careful. The same can be said  when rooting just one variety and you have a mixture of week tip cuttings and nice fat hardened cuttings, or for that matter cuttings from different trees. I just finished my first round of cuttings and potted out of some boxes (mixed varieties) 3 times over a period of two weeks. Running about 95% rooting. Appears that I am losing a few of the thinner tip cuttings (purchased ones) in the SIPs. Did another head count today and looks like I will still achieve around 90%.[/QUOTE]


WOW that's great got my bigger cuttings soaking in toilet in 10% bleach water now:}

Then to step 2

[QUOTE=pino]Hi GreenFin
Arguably figs require cold (around 30-40F) to enter their dormancy stage, sleep a few hundred hours and be ready to wake up and grow. 
 
For me if the cuttings look green and not hardened off I chill them for a few weeks to encourage them to go dormant and hard off before I start rooting.   If cuttings are taken after the tree is dormant (November in my area) then you probably don't need to unless you want to delay the rooting until spring.[/QUOTE]
That makes sense, thanks pino!