Heeelp, mold in raspberry cuttings in propagation chamber!

17 years ago

Hi everyone,

I need immediate help!

I was trying to propagate blueberry and raspberry cuttings in a clear large storage conainer since 2-3 weeks back.Till yesterday I was ecstatic with the results. This was the first time for me, you see.I had covered with a clear plastic keeping it in my garage under light shade. I misted it 4-6 times a day. New clusters of tiny leaves had appeared on almost all the cuttings and they were doing fabulously. I kept them covered even during the night with the plastic.

Alas, today morning I lifted the plastic cover to mist the plants and what I saw horrified me. Almost all raspberries are turning black. One was totally black, so I threw it out. Rest are turning black either from the top, some from the bottom and some from both the ends. Half of the new leaves are black. All the old mature leaves have turned black and most had already fallen down on the soil.Middles of most stems and half of the new leaf growth on raspberries is still a healthy green.

Is there still a way to save these struggling raspberries?Surprisingly, Blueberries continue to thrive as before as if they are not aware of what is happening to their raSPBERRY PALS just inches away!!

I am also worried about my blueberries.... Will they also catch the mold in coming days??

From now on I am planning to leave the plants uncovered at night to reduce the humidity.What else can I do? I want to resort to commercial fungicides only as a last measure.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (8)

georgez5il
17 years ago
The primary need is to remove the the cover to allow fresh air. Also spray plants with a fungicide, I like copper sulfate but many others are possible including dish soap. IF roots have formed remove from chamber.. if no roots aerate the cuttings several times a day continue misting BUT see if will stay tergid with no cover other wise reapply cover & remove several times a day
ranjana
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks a million for your quick reply ,george5il. I`ll do that. Another question though. How do you apply dish soap: and how often should the procedure be repeated?
Ranjana
Related Discussions
propagating jasmine plants -pics
Q
Comments (7)
Kandhi: I have developed an elaborated mini-green house for germinating seeds and rooting. It takes a few years to learn how to control mold. Any unsanitized organic media in still air condition will promote mold to grow. My media is a moist mixture of 50% perlite and 50% ground peat that is treated in microwave by heating thoroghly twice to kill fugus. The seeds and cutting are treated with about 100 to 200 ppm bleach for 20 min. The seeds and the cutting is then rinse off with anti-fugus copper chemical solution( you can rinse it with bottle water if necessary). Now you have clean media and clean cutting. Possibly the rooting shall have no moldy problem. But you have find a warm place. I keep my Tropical Fish Tank converted into mini-green house at 75 degrees F with grow light about. see the photo. Here is a link that might be useful:
...See More
Easy Propagation Chamber
Q
Comments (163)
I do something similar, but I use a big Rubbermaid container and put the cuttings in individual clear cups. Each container can hold 25 to 40 cups according to the size. I water the soil before sticking the cuttings and try to be sure it is not too dry or two wet, thin line between the two. Once I put the cups in the big container, I cover the whole thing with Plexiglas that I already had, because I got the containers really cheap but they had no lids. I try not to start looking in the big container for a week or two. I do not water the cuttings again unless the little pots look dry. I use a turkey baster to put a few drops of water in the dry cups when needed. Since it is a somewhat air tight environment, they might not ever need more water. The key is don't look in it too often, if you can resist! I have used this method successfully with roses, lantana, salvia, altheas, forsythia, etc. There are pictures in one of these chains of my system. I had Westerland rose root in 5 days, but usually takes 4 or 5 weeks. Once I see lots of roots, I begin to acclimate them. I have extra containers that I use for this as they don't all root at the same speed. The reasoning for using the cups is I don't have to up root them to transfer to pots. Oh, I usually use MiracleGro soil.
...See More
NEW: June ~Cracked Pot Gardner's~ Propagation Swap-Sign ups
Q
Comments (45)
Mariann - Oh you are so welcome, I love sharing my experiences and there is so little info on this on the interent, with any form of detail. As far as the place I kept them, due to the time frame with Early Spring, I put the cuttings indoors. Really wasn't sure if they should be warm or cold, but I figured if I'm trying to root them from dormancy, they need to be coming out of dormancy. My assumption was correct on these particular items. I can't say on other woody cuttings, but I prefer the quicker method (in warmth) than the unknown "stick them in the ground" method. They ended up starting green growth, before the outdoor items did. I've actually heard that, depending on the HW cuttings, keeping them warm helps the root growth, so they were in my upstairs bathroom at about 70 degrees constant. Now I'm testing out the softwood cuttings...oh it's so much different! But the bagging method works beautifully with that as well. I have 3 English Laurel cuttings in baggie method and 3 English Laurel cuttings in perlite method. The baggie method has roots EVERYWHERE! And I do mean EVERYWHERE!!! They are growing roots over the entire stem! 3 out of 3 are growing roots. The perlite/bottle method is just starting to get root buds, but isn't showing alot of promise. 2 of the cuttings have died off, so I'm awaiting the growth of roots on one of the 3 cuttings. I'm kind of getting a feel from the type of plant (that I can't explain it) as to which type of rooting method to use for which type of plant. Some seem to do beautifully in the perlite and bottle method and others do better in the baggie method. I suppose it's just keeping notes on each type of plant. Wanted to point out on the propagation boxes above, the only thing lacking is a plugged terra cotta pot to dispense moisture. I've included a link below for one on GW. While they are beautiful, they need the moisture. Check out Easy Propagation Chamber on GW and you'll see what I mean. This is so fun....Thanks so much for the fun.... Toni Here is a link that might be useful: Easy propagation chamber
...See More
Blackberry and Raspberry Production 2015
Q
Comments (235)
SWD hit my garden this year. At first i was very bummed, but using organic sprays with a 1 day PHI worked very well. Also refrigerating the berries removed most worms. I really don't see it as a major problem. I didn't spray my raspberries because of constant flowering but the blackberries take a long time to ripen and were flowerless when ripening. Also the SWD seemed to like them better anyway as my raspberries were left alone for the most part. The spraying controlled them well. Although you do need to spray as much as possible. I would suggest planting Chester blackberries as a trap crop. Even if left they would be effective. You could spray them with anything if you had no plans to harvest. I like them as a trap crop because berries form early (so no flowers at all when ripe) yet take a long time to ripen and ripen over a long period of time. Just about when SWD is the worst here.
...See More
ranjana
Original Author
17 years ago
Hi!
Except for 2-3 raspberry cuttings almost all have turned totally black. Now some of the blueberry cutting are also starting to turn black- though most are still perfectly healthy.
I have permanently removed the plastic cover and am misting as often as I can.Plants are still turgid. I don`t see the roots though new leaf growth had started to appear on almost all of them. But even that is dying out on the affected plants. Soap did not seem to help at all.
What immediate measures can I take to save my precious plants.
Any help would be welcome
Ranjana
ranjana
Original Author
17 years ago
Hi
I lost all my raspberry cuttings(30) as they turned black one by one over a period of just 3 days :(
Now my blueberry cuttings(40) are also affected. I started using Daconil since today but I do not know in what concentration to use for rootless cuttings. Secondly, how often to use it and When (probably in the night). What else can I do to save my plants. If I uncover them they lose turgidity and if I cover them with plastic they turn black faster! What a dilemma!!
Any advice would be highly appreciated.
Ranjana
sam_md
17 years ago
Raspberries are one of the easiest of all woody plants to propagate. They propagate by layering. Do you have access to the original patch where you got the cuttings? If so, go back, look for plants that have self-layered, dig them up and you have your plants. If none have self-layered, bend the stems over, bury the tips and they will root. My black raspberries layer so I must keep them cut back with lawn mower. Same with blackberries.
Blueberries are a different story. I have rooted them in June, in greenhouse bench under intermittent mist with varying results. I never use fungicide. I think that your
propagation chamber gets no air and therefore subject to fungus. I have no experience with such a chamber.
Sam
ranjana
Original Author
17 years ago
Unfortunately I have no access to the original patch of raspberries now. I am a newbie. I have been gardening and winter sowing since three years but this is the first time I am trying propagation. Hence it is a learning experience for me. Still, it is heart - breaking to see plants which had been thriving so well being suddenly on the verge of extinction. I had almost started treating them like my children keeping an eye on every "social"(biological) mile-stone that they achieved!
This is how I made my propagation chamber: In a large transparent storage container I put 3-4" of all purpose coarse sand in the bottom.Then I mixed sphagnum moss, perlite and vermiculite in the ratio of 5:4:1. I mixed it well and wetted the medium to moist(not soggy). Then I dumped 4" of this mix over the sand. I cut each cutting agin under water, just under a node in a slant fashion. Then I stripped all leaves leaving just top 4 leaves on each plant cutting. then with a sharp knife I removed 1" bark on both sides of the node( a little above the node).
Then I dipped the cuttinge in a rooting hormone . I made a hole with a pencil and stuck them 2" apart in the medium burying them 1/3-1/2 of the length.I firmed the medium around each cutting as I planted.
I then covered it air-tight with a tranparent plastic sheet to maintain 80-100% humidity and put the chamber in light shade. At times I would remove the cover at night only to put it back in the morning. I lightly misted during the day as often as I could. the cuttings were always turgid, medium never soggy- just moist.
The cuttings delighted me with a burst of clusters of tiny leaves at most of the nodes. The plants couldn`t have looked healthier, believe me.
Then one day I wake up to see black spots at the ends which spread fast and engulfed the whole cutting including the tiny bunches of leaves. I saw no roots when i threw the cuttings away one by one. It had only been a little over 2 weeks, I guess, when I started. They rotted away in just 3 days.I used a solution of dish-soap and baking soda, but it was useless.
I did keep the chamber air -tight, because that was what I thought I was supposed to do. How can you maintain good air-circulation while keeping humidity high???
To me it seems like a paradox.
Now tell me where did I go wrong. I am ready to learn from my mistakes so that I do not repeat them in future.I had no holes or slits anywhere in the system- not in the box , not in the plastic sheet. But I did lift up the plastic sheet to mist every now and then- so, I thought they got enough air.
Now can anybody please tell me the following things:
1. How can I improve upon my propagation system.
2. What can I do to save the rest of the cuttings that are still surviving and some going downhill fast.
3. How to use Daconil that I bought today.What concentration, How often and at what time of the day/night.
All suggestions would be highly welcome.
Ranjana
little_dani
17 years ago
There could have been pathogens in the sphagnum moss that attacked your cuttings. Had you used this chamber before?

I use a propagation chamber, but I make a well from a clay pot to do the watering. I never mist, only add distilled or rainwater to the well. I have good success with this method.

I layer things that are easy to layer, but blueberries is one thing I have never tried to propagate. Our soil is so alkaline here, it wouldn't do me any good to propagate them, they would die in the ground anyway.

I hope you find the answer to the fungus problem.

Janie

Here is a link that might be useful: my propagation chamber
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
17 years ago
think of your chamber as an operating room at a hospital ... and insure that you STERILIZE everything before you start ...

the tub and lid in 10% bleach ....
the soil in the oven .. see link .. i don't care what the seller says.. do it yourself ...

the entire mister system ... or hand bottle ... in 10% ...

just start clean .. and then you wont have to worry about the cure ...

a pound of prevention is worth a ton of cure ...

and chin up .. NOBODY does it right the first time ... now be honest.. you really didn't think you were never going to fail ... we have all been there.. and even the most experienced expects horrendous losses ... and then we start over until we accomplish it ...

good luck

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: oven sterilization

Heeelp, mold in raspberry cuttings in propagation chamber!

Comments (8)

georgez5il

ranjana
Original Author

Related Discussions

ranjana
Original Author

ranjana
Original Author

sam_md

ranjana
Original Author

little_dani

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Heeelp, mold in raspberry cuttings in propagation chamber!

Comments (8)

georgez5il

ranjanaOriginal Author

Related Discussions

ranjanaOriginal Author

ranjanaOriginal Author

sam_md

ranjanaOriginal Author

little_dani

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

ranjana
Original Author

ranjana
Original Author

ranjana
Original Author

ranjana
Original Author