Hello everyone.. I was just checking up on a few of my cuttings because I noticed a few of them have this syrup type liquid that is forming at either the bottom or top cut on a few of my cuttings.. They don't appear to have any mold growing, but if I wipe it off it eventually pools back up again.. On one of them it comes back every few hours, & on the other 2 it takes a day or two to show back up. It's kind of a caramel type color, and appears to be a bit thicker than water. Oh & they are different varieties, from different sources as well. I don't know if that makes a difference, but does anyone have any ideas? Should I be worried?

Hmm wood sugars.. That's pretty interesting. No I haven't water soaked any of them, but I did prehydrate the 2 emerald strawberry cuttings of few that are doing this in very damp coir for a couple of days before cupping it, and the other (Black bethlehem) I thought I'd give the old baggie method a try and wrapped it in ever so slightly dampened piece of newspaper & placed it in a storage bag that I blew some air into a couple days ago. They all look fine other then the brownish liquid that keeps collecting on either the top or bottom ends. I'm just very curious as to what's going on with them. Why do you think they would put suger out like this?

Happens  on my trees after pruning. never saw it on a cuttings though.

Hi Jamie0507,
No good news for me .

I would put those wet cuttings in a separate box. Don't keep them with the more healthy ones.
For me, this is bacterial or fungal activity. Those cuttings are being "chewed" by some bacteria and what you see is the waste of that reaction.
I would try to disinfect those cuttings : wash them, bleach them and see if that stops the "bleeding" .
I would try to cut the bleeding wood under the last node - that part of the cutting might be infected and is rotting and if left attached, might rot the whole stick.

Fungal and bacterial activity is enhanced in both dark, warm and wet conditions. At which temps are you keeping them ? Humidity / too wet media ?
What kind of media are they in ?  I would too replace with a drier media.

Hi Jdsfrance, thanks for your response. Actually 2 out of the 3 cuttings are now under t8 lights and also next to a window because they leafed out really quickly (no roots). Those 2 are cupped in a mix of 50% coir & 50% perilite that I premoistened prior to putting the cuttings into it. Haven't watered them at all in 2 weeks. Also they are in a humidity bin but I propped up the lid a tiny bit and now the syrupy stuff seems to have stopped. The other one is in the dark inside a plastic bag by itself. It was wrapped in an only slightly damp piece of newspaper that I changed last night and re-wrapped in an almost dry fresh piece of newspaper. I checked it this morning too and so far the liquid did not return as of yet. So you think I should go ahead and cut off below the node for all and watch for anymore of that "stuff"? I'm going to quarantine them right away & hope they haven't spread any kind of bacteria, fungus, or mold.. Yuck!

It's just the weirdest thing, Ive seen cuttings grow fluffy hair & go down due to mold, but never saw the syrupy stuff before. I also dabbed a weak solution of bleach water on them with a q-tip hoping to disinfect anything bad growing on them.

@elin, you've seen this same color stuff when pruning your fig trees? I've seen the white milky sap come out when I pruned a branch before, but it looked very different to me then this brownish tinged stuff.

Is there any correlation to where exactly the cuts were made on the affected cuttings? The one shown looks like it was cut just above a node, if so that section should have been trimmed off before storage. Cuttings should have an intact node complete with a bud at each end.

Last year when I pruned my tree I noticed the white/clear sap and was afraid it was an indicator the tree might not be fully dormant. Sounding like this is normal, but as for the brown discharge I've had a few cuttings rot that way. I never tried the bleach solution at the time unfortunately, because I didn't know about it. Hope your cuttings make it!

[QUOTE=hoosierbanana]Is there any correlation to where exactly the cuts were made on the affected cuttings? The one shown looks like it was cut just above a node, if so that section should have been trimmed off before storage. Cuttings should have an intact node complete with a bud at each end.[/QUOTE]

I know it's hard to see from the pics, but the end you see is the bottom cut and cut just below the node/joint. I was trying to cut at that sweet spot where there would be no pith to come in contact with the medium in hopes that it would keep any contaminants out but doesn't look like it worked ;( The other two cuttings with this condition are cut at the top just above a node & leaf bud.. Well.. They have leafed out already at this point. So far though, no mold growth that I can see. There is now just a clear discharge coming out after a few hours to a full day's time goes by.. Seems water-like.. I have those cuttings in isolation but have not snipped them off at the node because there is so much leaf growth.. Yet no roots.. ;( I have to make a decision quickly Im sure if it's not already too late..

[QUOTE=BrightGreenNurse]Last year when I pruned my tree I noticed the white/clear sap and was afraid it was an indicator the tree might not be fully dormant. Sounding like this is normal, but as for the brown discharge I've had a few cuttings rot that way. I never tried the bleach solution at the time unfortunately, because I didn't know about it. Hope your cuttings make it![/QUOTE]

Thank you BrightGreenNurse! I hope they make it too, unfortunately it doesnt seem promising at this point. Still holding out hope though!

The solid portion of xylem (wood) is not always straight across/perpendicular to the length of the cutting so I always cut just below the leaf scar, that leaves about 1/4" of pith but that little bit doesn't seem to cause any problems. When there is 1/2" or more I was losing some cuttings to pith rot. The cuttings will section that lower portion off but unfortunately the lowest part where the callus forms is usually where the first roots also form. 

I did the same thing before with a some really special cuttings... kept trimming until I realized that I had gone too far... and aside from some serious anxiety on my part everything was fine. Most likely if they get through the first few months there won't be any serious issues after that, the lowest portion will either scar over or rot but the trees have had a chance to grow roots above that at-risk section.

If the sap has reduced and gone clear that is a good sign I think, as long as the cuttings are not drying out rapidly (running out of moisture) it means they are sealing themselves off. The sap could have been darkened from either bacteria or just natural oxidation. It is not a good thing overall and the cutting will lose moisture and energy, but I don't think it necessarily spells disaster.