This is really the time of year that "dormant" cutting strategies work best. Your mix sounds like it does not have large enough particles to allow enough oxygen in the mix. Rotting cuttings is the result. You would do better in course sand or perlite. Where the humidity is high and the temperature cool as it is now in rainy California it is not required that cuttings be tented. Mine are doing well out in the temperatures varying from 40 to 60 degrees with no protection needed. I make up a mix similar to the "gritty mix" (as available on the container growing forum)for my rose cuttings this time of the year. I choose cutting material about the size of a pencil. Al

Do you think it would be safe to replant my rose cutting in sand or should I just leave it in the potting soil that it is already in. I touched the soil yesterday and I noticed even though it is damp it is very solid... like clay. I didn't think this was a very good sign. Should I put it in the "gritty mix" that you talk about or should I just leave it alone???

From the time you took the cutting you have been using the stored energy in the cutting. If you try and start over now I am afraid you will not have enough energy left to do anything but die. Leave it where it is and keep the soil on the dry side to lesson the danger of rotting. It has been over two months and still has not rotted or grown leaves? If this is true, it may be growing some root. In the next month it should start growing foliage USUALLY an indication, after three months that rooting has taken place and it can stand more water without rotting. A weak fertilizer in the water is at that time appropriate. Al