What plants are you trying to root? I have a couple videos but only on ivy and cacti.

i reduced problems like this by:

sterilizing my media .. see link ... even if a new bag of media claims it already is..

sterilizing the pot, all tools and my rubber gloves with 10% bleach .... the gloves mostly because i dont want to bleach my hands ...

and using a new bag each time... on the presumption they are made that way ... if not.. sterilize the old bag ....

once i proceeded on a hospital operating room type of cleanliness ... my problems went to nil ..

as they say.. an ounce of prevention.. is worth a pound of cure... and crikey.. if the cure is chems.. it would seem prevention would be.. step one...

it wont matter what plants under this application ...

ken

ps: lets see... this MOSTLY eliminated fungus gnats .. molds .. mildews etc ... of course... trying to find clean plant material also helps ....

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Please stick to my original question.

For both top spray and bottom spray, the cuttings are not covered. So there is little mold problem... This is what I'm heading to.

Well that totally depends on what you're trying to root so it can't be answered. Some plants don't need any misting. Misting could actually increase mold.

I agree. Depends. Ken was actually trying to answer your question in part. You actually asked three questions. Which was the original?

If your issues with plastic bag method are 'mold' and 'temperature', it would seem to me those are easy to correct.

Raise the temperature (heat pad) and reduce mold (sterilize the soil).

This method works great for many varieties of plants. Of course each species responds to different rooting methods.

I can tell you that someone I spoke with about rooting citrus cuttings said the Clone King didn't work at all. Ends rotted from too much moisture. But I've had great luck rooting in soil and perlite in a closed plastic box with extra heat.

And of course NONE of those methods will work with cactus or plumeria cuttings.

This post was edited by dave_in_nova on Thu, Oct 23, 14 at 13:19

Usually eight inch long cuttings of older growth are recommended with rooting hormone. Most leafy plants like misting but not in direct sun because the water droplets magnify the light and can cause burning.

I am not sure what you mean by 'top spray or bottom spray', but will try to answer your question.

Top mist spray is needed for keeping the cuttings cool and to reduce the loss of moisture from their leaves. It is not for watering purposes. If cuttings need watering, that is done separately. They should be checked every day and if they need watering, morning is the best as their needs for water are during the daylight hours.

To root well, cuttings need bottom heat. And enough room to spread their roots.

So ideally, they want their bottoms warm and their tops cool. Not easy without the correct set-up. Even with a professional set-up it's difficult to get it exactly the way you want it.

Some air movement is good but not a breeze that the cuttings won't like.

And no direct sun.

Is this post about Aeroponics?

Aeroponics?

My post was about encouraging cuttings to root. I have never heard of Aeroponics.

It uses a mist or a fog and the roots are exposed to air. I think that's why they were talking about bottom spraying. NASA uses it in space- it requires no soil and less water which would cost a lot to launch on a space mission. Plant food is added to the fog. It's sort of like hydroponics but uses less water.