This is what I do. When I receive scions or when I go cut them, as soon as possible I hydrate them for 15-20 minutes and then lay them out to dry under a ceiling fan. This will keep the scions fresh for a very long time and no wet paper towels are ever in the bag(s) after. The bags stay dry, the scions are dry but they are hydrated.
So I have bowls and pans all over the kitchen. I snip the ends off and into water and time set the timer. Then onto a towel under a ceiling fan for at least 30 minutes, and then into fresh ziplocks & into my fridge.
When I share/send scions, I include a note stating the scions have been hydrated and are ready to go into (your) refrigerator as is and that no moist paper towel should be added to the bags.
I’m pretty thorough obviously. Anybody else have a method they may like to share?
Last point is if the scions have been in a fridge for a long time, and you cut into them and they look dry, all you need to do is re-hydrate them doing the same process I described. After several hours they’ll be ready to graft or better yet, wait until the following day.
These will stay hydrated for a long time. And I agree, a quick bath for 15-20 minutes is a fine idea.
It’s the excessive moisture in bags that isn’t good for them. If you have water droplets inside the bags while in your fridge, they’re too wet. Too wet is worse than dry because dry you can hydrate/re-hydrate.
I’m not going to remove the damp paper napkins from all the packaged ready to mail scions, but I will do things different from now on.<<
Well, it’s probably a good idea to skip the damp paper, but I’ve had good scions arrive that way (including quite a few from Nick Botner) with no problems, and I wouldn’t be offended if I got some from anybody here that way. But I have quit doing it myself.
Right Mark. If you don’t hydrate it’s the correct thing to do… to put a piece of damp (not moist) paper towel to send.
I like to make a ball the size of a small marble for a sandwich size bag and for a quart a paper towel wadded the size of a large marble. A few large ones in a gallon bag.
Of course that’s if I don’t hydrate them (and what I used to do) especially a decade of shipping conifer scions.
I have been using my Wine fridge to store scions. It is set to 39f but fluctuates between 39-43f. With my rootstock order a month away I have been getting a little paranoid so I bought a $300 Mini fridge. Got a great deal I bought it at Auction for $20. Now everything is at a nice 36.8f. A an added bonus I got a Monster Energy Drink and Redbull drink fridge for $25
Thats where I started. Bidspotter posted links to the auction on CL and I signed up. I am experienced with Liquidation.com and Rasmus so I was not worried. I placed some lowball bids and won. The little energy drink fridge resale for $300 each which blew my mind.
Dax, thanks for the detailed photos and information. This is very useful!
I’ve been wondering what the best method is for storing fig cuttings until it gets warm enough outdoors to start them. Fig cuttings are a lot softer wood and appear to be more prone to mold/fungal infections.
I’ve been doing almost the same as you: soaking for 15-20 mins in solution of water+physan 20 at their recommendation concentration. Then air drying thoroughly and covering with cling wrap before storing it away in ziplock bags at 35F.
Ahh… I was just going to tell you to wrap them up after.
I wouldn’t change a thing in other words. I would though use a very lightweight parafilm type product vs cling wrap only because I personally am not aware if buds will push thru cling wrap. And I would do that so I know when the figs really cannot be stored any further whether for grafting or for rooting. Seems like the right approach to me. No experience but raw gut instinct.
