Blowing air into baggies to prevent mold.

[Hot Stuff]

Someone somewhere, I think on this site said when they do cuttings in bags with damp paper towels blow air into the baggies to prevent mold. Does anyone know it this actually works? Thanks.

[figgrower]

I tried that last year. It didn't work well for me. I have had the most luck direct potting into cups of slightly moistened Pro MixHP.

[Hot Stuff]

You trying blowing or just ziplock baggies with damp towels?

[arachyd]

I can't imagine that it would work unless they meant a steady flow of air to keep the cutting dry and if you want it dry why put in damp paper towels? If you are talking about refrigerator storage most want to restrict both moisture and air and roll up the baggie to limit the amount of air in it.

[Hot Stuff]

Something about air preventing mold. I don't know the mechanics of it, hence the question. I don't remember where I saw it otherwise I would have asked it there. Thank you for your reply.

[CoolClimateFigger]

I have heard of airing out your cuttings.

[AscPete]

Hot Stuff

I've never been particularly successful rooting with Paper Towels, but have rooted with both Coir and Long Fiber Sphagnum Moss in 1 gallon and larger plastic bags.


Inflating the bags when checking the cuttings every few days adds "Fresh Air" to keep the cuttings well aerated and reduce or prevent any anaerobic microbe growth. The air helps to speed callusing of the cut ends to speed root production, especially when the ambient temperatures are maintained between 72 F and 80 F. Good Luck.

[arachyd]

Those are some nice roots.

[AscPete]

Yes, they look nice but are several days (~ 3 days) past the up potting stage. They should have been planted in pre-moistened potting mix when the roots were only 1/8 to 1/4 inch.

[WillsC]

I don't see how blowing air in a bag would prevent mold. Moving air helps prevent mold but once the bag is resealed the air is once again stagnant so just don't see how that is possible. I NEVER get mold on cuttings, I have 700+ rooting now and not mold on any but that is because they are in the open air inside the greenhouse so the air is always moving. That does not mean you don't get some that rot, just not mold

[Dave]

For this to work you have to take a few shots of Jack Daniels first the alcohol fumes kill the mold and prevent new growth

[mgginva]

Originally, if my memory isn't playing games, this was generated by Jon (of f4f) and I started doing it as I do root a lot in baggies with PT's. My mold and fungus problem was significantly reduced last year but whether it was for this reason or not I can't say. Certainly if there is less area of the bags touching and creating a place for mold, etc. to get a foot hold it would show an improvement. I was pleasantly surprised last year as I had very little mold or fungus. An interesting thing I did notice recently; I just harvested a lot of cuttings and they were from a lot of varieties and I noticed on bags where there was not as much air and the sides were touching that I already had mold growing. My practice for eliminating this issue is to just throw cuttings away if they are exposed as I have had little luck using fungicides, sodium hypochlorite (bleach).
In the other bags that were full of air I saw zero mold, so . . . maybe it helps. It does make sense that cuttings with a greater source of air would perform better.

[WillsC]

The bag touching them is very bad, a easy solution is to use plastic shoeboxes instead of bags with the added benefit of being able to stack them up.

[Hot Stuff]

"Dave commented
Today, 05:32 PM
For this to work you have to take a few shots of Jack Daniels first the alcohol fumes kill the mold and prevent new growth"

ROTFL!

[Harborseal]

I find that any cuttings with any type of paper products mold in storage.

[Hot Stuff]

I wouldn't think you would store them that way, just try to root.