Warm + moist = fast rooting, with least chance of mold.
Cold + wet = slow rooting, with greatest chance of mold.
Cool + moist = Ok, but still medium chance of mold.

I havent started my cuttings yet. I havent even taken them yet. I find starting now leaves too much time for things to go wrong. I think my cuttings are stronger if taken after a good rest not immediately after going dormant. But since you already have the cuttings you have to do something with them. Either bag them up and put in the refrigerator or try the baggie rooting method explained on the site.

I recommend you store them in the fridge so the weather is more favorable (less unfavorable?) when the cuttings are ready to go outside. I like to soak them in a weak bleach solution (~1 Tb bleach in a cup of water) and then wrap them in moist paper towel and then put them in a ziploc in the fridge. When I'm being meticulous, I'll shake a little of the bleach mix in the bag and drain before putting in the cuttings. I much prefer starting cuttings in the spring.

Thanks for the info. Will try to keep in the fridge, will they keep for 3-4 months??
mark :)

Hi Bruce,

I find 1T bleach/1Cup of water pretty strong and some bleach is double strength. Is the bleach you use regular, or concentrated?

Do you then rinse the cuttings off after you soak them?

Thanks,

noss

Mark - They'll keep a long time, but check them occasionally to make sure they don't dry out. Add a little water as needed to keep the paper towel damp.

Noss - I do rinse the cuttings because the bleach solution loosens some crud. As for the bleach, it's regular strength laundry bleach.

However, I eyeball the amount of bleach I add to a bowl of water and you're right that 1 Tb per cup would be awfully strong. I did the math and that's ~6% bleach by volume. That's too much and I don't think I'm using that much because I'd feel the effects. I must use less bleach and more water than I thought.

A reasonable target would be the 2% strength we used years ago when I helped someone in a microbiology lab. That would work out to be ~1 tsp per cup. I'll measure it next time and see if that smells/feels like what I'm used to.

Hi Bruce,

Thanks so much for your thoughtful reply and not being upset when I asked about the ratio of bleach/water.

At the vet clinic where I worked, we only used 1oz bleach - 30 oz. water to kill parvovirus and that is a stubborn virus to eliminate, but I thought maybe mold spores/fungi might be tougher, or something.

Thanks you very much,

noss

Thanks for the great info.

mark :)