How do YOU prevent mold on fig cuttings?

I root out a couple hundred fig cuttings every season and am having issues with white, fuzzy mold appearing on some of the hardwood fig cuttings. In my experience this fuzzy mold eventually degrades buds and can destroy the cuttings. This year I started a new protocol with my cuttings but it does not seem to be helping much, if at all. What I did is this:
1)Scrubbed all fresh hardwood cuttings with soapy water and a bristled plastic brush (to remove any stem remnants and organic matter that could be a vector for mold.)
2) Sanitized the cuttings in a solution of H202 (3%) and tap water (50/50)
3) Dried the cuttings by the wood stove for about 30 minutes till they appeared no longer moist.
4) Stored them at 35-41 degrees F, in sterile moist vermiculite, sealed up.

Just checked on them now and saw mold forming on some tips. Do any of you use bleach solution? If any of you have experience or have “solved” this problem please provide some feedback!! Thanks!

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I was talking to @ramv about this problem and pretty sure he used(s) Potassium sorbate in the mix to help curb the mold growth.
He can explain better,but it is a food additive to do just that.bb

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I use Kocide copper (no others, too weak) about 1/2 teaspoon per gallon and soak, let air dry, but not super dry. I wrap in cellophane and store. I do not keep them very moist, maybe a little. The copper stays on the cuttings, Other methods sterilize the cuttings but do not keep protecting them. Try not to touch them.

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Moldy cuttings are usually cold damaged cuttings. If it is mostly apical tips, that is pretty much a sure sign because the wood at the tip is the least cold hardy. Buds are also usually damaged before the cambium so that is where mold tends to pop out from.

A hard freeze before the leaves have dropped will damage all but the most lignified branches, bud damage will not be noticeable until they dry out completely or you can dissect them a few days after the cold to check for brown discoloration. I also cut across the nodes, the leaf scar is also easily damaged and the wood underneath can become discolored.

The “mold” from cold damage is actually endogenous fungi that is already inside of the cutting which will rapidly consume dead tissue. I saw it on undamaged buds when growing figs in tissue culture, after surface sterilization with bleach. I have never tried systemic fungicides, but those would be your best option since endogenous fungi which are usually benign or beneficial can turn parasitic (like they did in TC), if the buds are completely dead though, there’s no hope. Usually endogenous fungi is white, and does not make spores that I can tell.

I’ve had pathogenic mold a few times, and it behaves differently, it radiates from a point or can move up or down from cuts, there is a clear line of damaged tissue as it advances. I’ve seen both white and hairy black pathogens.

The third kind of mold is benign or superficial and feeds on sap residue or shedding leaf sheaths. It is usually green after it makes spores.

With the way the weather has been the past few years, I have learned to harvest cuttings before the leaves have dropped, clip them and the unripe figs but leave a .25" stub of the leaf/fruit stems, then put them in a bag (out of the fridge) for a week or so until the stubs drop or can be removed cleanly. Then wash, dry and store them.

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Hi Drew,
FANTASTIC advice. I looked into it, and it’s even OMRI listed (we’re Certified Organic). I found a 4LB bag on Ebay for about $50.00 and just bought it. I’ll try to update on here later as I see results. Thanks so much for your suggestion.

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Also want to thank everyone for their useful input.

The buds I don’t think were damaged by cold on these cuttings. They were still firm and green. But it might be endogenous fungi like Hoosierbanana mentioned.

I’m going with the copper for now. Heck, will probably spray some on my peaches while I’m at it (in summer).

If anyone else has useful input let me know.

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Yes, why I bought it. Nothing is perfect, but copper can work well for many things. With peaches and even the cuttings a sticker is helpful. Nu Film 17 is pinene and that stuff is amazing. It stays on trees a very long time.
Two weeks after application to Nadia plum-cherry hybrid.

Nothing is perfect so I hope it works for you. Always a chance it will not.

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if lets say i wanted to take cuttings would it be a good idea to do before new leaves grow? after frost early spring feb-march?

The best time to collect cuttings in the spring is at the beginning of bud swell, that is what I do with my container trees.

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Dust cuttings with any dry fungicide

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i have rooted fig cuttings for a few years, and also encounter the white mold on a percentage. For me, it is never on a bud, but at the soil line suggesting that the source is in my rooting material, which is mix of perlite and peat. I am not scientific about such things and since cuttings are so plentiful, just accept a percentage as loss. But next year I’m motivated to dip in the copper solution that I use to control peach leaf curl. Thanks everyone.

Hey Drew,
I purchased the Kocide 3000 copper and a bottle of Pinene. I decided to lightly mix some pinene into the copper powder and then coated the cuttings with this, which worked reasonably well.

One thing I learned recently while studying some info put out by the Texas A&M info on cuttings is they suggested ANY cuttings or scionwood be bundled in no more than 6 stick bundles. Upon digging out my cuttings from the vermiculite I noticed the ones bundled in 3-7 or so cuttings appeared mostly or totally fine and clear, while the ones that had 20 cuttings or more bundled together were FULL of thick white mold in the middle. So I threw out the rotting ones, wiped the rest down and coated heavily with the fungicide mixture. I know it will help, although next year I will be making all bundles MUCH smaller, and coating with fungicide before storing, for sure. Obviously what is going on is the anerobic environment within a thick bundle of cuttings is humid, dark, low on oxygen and perfect for mold to flourish.

QUESTION: How do you personally mix the pinene/copper into a spray tank to spray your trees? It seems pretty thick and clog-prone. Does it mix easily and spray nicely or do you need to switch nozzles? What’s your ratio? Thanks.

This stuff can easily clog your sprayer. Mine has never clogged.

First always put water in first. Also almost all, with some exceptions almost all pesticides work better and last days/weeks longer in acidic water. For example malathion works for 8 hours in tap water above neutral. Malathion will work for 36 hours in water with a pH of 5.0. So if using tap water add vinegar till you acheive a pH of 5.0. In most regional tap waters about 1 tablespoon gets you close. Some more, some less.
So water, then vinegar, now the copper. ALWAYS check our spray guides. Then the sticker

For * Kocide 3000 - dormant 2 Tbsp/gal; growing season 1tsp/gal (copper can be sensitive to some leaf tissues, check into it before spraying copper on a fully leafed-out tree).

For sticker

  • Nufilm-17 - 1/2 tsp per gallon
  • Don’t use Nufilm with Surround. Do use it with sulphur and copper if possible.
  • Pinene II - 1/2 tsp per gallon

I would like to add I use acidic water not only to extend effectiveness, but chemicals mix better in acidic water. This could mean the difference between a clog or not. Keep shaking the pump every few minutes when spraying.

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