I have been trying all summer to get cuttings from a flowering cherry. Every time I do, I follow the simple procedure of cutting, adding hormone and placing in substrate with some moisture in a bright, but not direct sun spot inside large ziploc bags. But every time after a couple days they have lots of fluffy cottony white fungus on them (powdery mildew?) What is the fix for this? Do I just grab an off the shelf fungicide and just spray them and seal the bags back up?
Fungus on Cuttings
- Thread starter PABonsai
- Start date
0soyoung
Imperial Masterpiece
2 tablespoons 3% hydrogen peroxide (from the grocery/pharmacy) in a quart of water. Spray everything before you dust/dip in rooting hormone, after you've struck them. Spray the inside of the bag before you put it on. Spray again, every 3 or 4 days. Spray the inside of the bag before you put it back on (will also help with maintaining humidity).
ezpz. The hardest part is remembering to do it.
ezpz. The hardest part is remembering to do it.
Thanks. Of all the generic how to grow cuttings blogs and articles online I hadn't found a single one that even mentioned fungus. That's very helpful. Will this work if we are already down the road? Or will I have to toss all the current batch?
0soyoung
Imperial Masterpiece
It will nix any and all spores and bacteria that is around at the time it is applied. If you still have viable leaves, spray them and keep them going. In my experience, cuttings are history when the leaves wither/dry/fall-off.
After a few weeks of using the peroxide and water as recommended by @0soyoung i have to say that worked like a charm. Every other day or so the bags kind of end up a little stinky but not nearly as bad as before and there isn't any white fluffy stuff in any of them. Heck they're even sprouting new leaves after not quite 3 weeks!
