My questions are: what soil are you using, do your pots have good drainage and do you have trays under them? It sounds like they are retaining too much water. It they're sitting in wet soil they'll rot for sure. Moist but not soggy is the key.

Plus, are your pots outdoors or inside? Seil is right, if they turn brown or black they're too wet.

I have one gallon black plastic pots that held some other form of plants that I got from the home depot. I wash them with clorox. then rinse them and leave them in the rain and sun to get clean.

When I start my cutting, I do so outside. The plants are in the shade. (Not deep shade - it is bright.) I do not use a dish under the pot. They are sitting on a sidewalk. They are sheltered and do not get rain.

I use Miracle Grow Potting Soil. I tried peat, but that didn't work either.

I wet the potting soil, then let it set a day or two, so it isn't to soppy. Then I put my cutting in it. Those that die right away I figure, so what, but the ones that stay green for several weeks are the ones that I am more concerned with. When do I water these.

I try to gauge how the soil is. To me it looks dried out. I put my finger in the side and dig down on the opposite of the pant so as not to disturb any roots. This is where I think I get into trouble, not disturbing the roots but trying to keep the soil from drying out. Cause it almost never fails, when i add water they turn black the next day. Even if add only a tablespoon of water. How can they grow with no water.

Seil, I am sure you are right. They have to be too wet. But how much water can I give them. and when do I give it to them. They won't put out roots in a dust bowl will they? My pots look bone dry after two weeks without water.

OK, good info, thanks! I don't use regular potting soil any more. I found it did retain too much water. I use SEED STARTER soil now. It's much finer and drains better. I also don't use that big of a pot. I got 16 oz. clear plastic cups. Punch a good size hole in the bottom of the cups for drainage. Fill the cups about 3/4 full with the starter soil and wet it. I wet it a couple of times until I see that the soil at the bottom is damp. You can tell by the color. It will darken when it's wet. Then I let them sit over night to drain any excess water and for the water to distribute itself evenly. Then I take my cutting and very gently scrape off the green outer bark to expose the white layer just under the skin. Some people also will just slice the bottom at a very steep angle to expose that inner layer. Dip it into some type of rooting hormone. Before sticking it in the cup take a pencil and make a hole in the soil first. Then you can stick the cutting in the soil without rubbing off all the hormone. Pat the soil firmly back around the cutting. Now you can water them in fairly well and let them drain.

I put mine right out in the sun, uncovered, in my little seedling nursery. I keep a close eye on them for water. With the clear cups you can see all the way to the bottom so you can see when the soil looks dry down there. Like I said the color will lighten as it dries out. Keep them evenly moist all the time but not soggy. Outside it's hard to give you a specific time table of how long that will take because the heat and humidity will play a part in how long they take to dry. I usually water at least every other day here (unless it rains) in the summer even though it's humid here by the lake. But I only water them a little bit at a time. After the initial soaking at planting time I let the top of the soil get a little dry before I water again, like maybe and inch down.

The other really nice thing about the clear cups is that you can see when they have rooted! You don't have to tug on them or disturb them in any way to know if they have rooted or not. Surprisingly the roots seem to head for the light at the sides of the cups right away. I let them stay in the cups until the bottom of the cup looks pretty full of roots and then I transfer them up into 1 gallon pots.

Hope that helps and if you have any questions please ask! Don't feel bad about not having much luck at first. I killed dozens of them before I found this method that seems to work pretty well for me.

Seil, when you put these out in the sun instead of the shade how long did the leaves stay on your cutting?

My cutting did not dry out (yet), I haven't moved the stalk,. It hasn't turned brown or black yet.... but I thouhgt it needed the leaves to help feed it.

Thanks for more input

Meant to post elsewhere

This post was edited by Beth9116 on Sat, Feb 7, 15 at 19:12

Skmiller, most of the time I strip the leaves off my cuttings. They don't need them to root. When they've produced enough root growth to support them they will leaf back out again.

Beth, I won't have cutting until sometime in June so check back then.

Seil, interesting that you remove all the leaves. I have been wondering about the leaves. I leave the last set on but read to snip out the tip leaflet. No idea why, just was the advice I had read. But I notice that the leaves fall off and often get mildew on them and I wonder if that starts mildew in the box or on that cutting.

I might try and strip the leaves and see if there is a change.

I am using a mix of perlite, peat moss and sand. I think my success rate is up some using this, the seed starter mix seemed to really increase the ones that turned black from the bottom up. The sand mixture always seems too dry but I still loose them to rotting. BUT the sand mix is very challenging to get them out of the pot and in to a bigger pot with mix once they get a good bunch of roots poking out the bottom. I moved 2 babies today since it was raining and they can enjoy that for a bit.

I would love to hear what others are doing.

not many peeps .. in any of the forums i visit.. like MG media ... you can do a lot better ..

and when you start thinking in terms of the word MEDIA ... instead of calling everything dirt.. you will make a quantum leap in your endeavors ...

MEDIA is an engineered product.. honed to any use you might want... there is cactus media... greenhouse media.. seedling media.. etc ...

and i increased my odds of success.. when i started sterilizing all my media before use ... just like you sterilized the pots you used ... see link ..

MEDIA is all about water management.. honed to the plant or purpose you are using it for ..... the peeps above.. are telling you.. your media retains too much water ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link