Until I found this "stuff" at Menards called Gel2Root. It looked too good to be true, so I figured I'd blow $4 (for two cups) and give it a try.

It looks like clear Jell-o and claims to have all the nutrients and water necessary to develop a new root system "in only a couple weeks". Since it's clear I can keep an eye on the actual progress.

Here is the first pic (of hopefully many) just a few minutes after starting.

At Menards huh? Well, that is a neat idea. You can actually see the roots develop. In my cutting experiment, the one is still alive from last December. I had two Hot Hungarian Wax and one Bhut. The Bhut and one Hot Hung Wax died. And I coincidentally transplanted it today into a soil mix that I think will be much better than what it was in. Hopefully it begins to grow now as it hadn't really grown much in almost three months. But it did have roots. When I pulled it from the old soil, I think I tore off a couple roots but there was still one very long one still attached. So, we shall see.
I might look into some of that stuff you got there on my next visit to Menards.
Bruce

Mark

You might want to enclose (without the clear enclosure touching the leaves) the top of the cutting until the plant gets a chance to put out some roots. It doesn't have to be a tight fit, just enough to keep humidity on the leaves which helps water from leaving the leaves.

Keeping moisture in the leaves until the roots get a chance to develop enough to uptake water is a lot more important than the soil you're starting your cuttings in, imo.

Plant looks about the same as the original picture.

nc-crn, that's interesting, maybe I'll toss a ziplock bag over it to help keep the moisture local to the plant.