The next successes were in fifteen gallon nursery cans with opaque, hard plastic sides made from the cylinders Gurney Seed used to sell for over wintering roses. All potting soil, those opaque plastic strips (about a foot tall) inserted inside to increase the height and permit in more light, all covered over the top with a large plastic bag. They worked! Both functioned like terrariums so they never required extra moisture. Both methods were during the cooler, dimmer part of the year with dormant cuttings and no foliage. And, both succeeded in a cooler winter, more arid environment than my current one. Here, those methods result in gray to black, moldy sticks. I know, I've tried every permutation of them I can think of.

Perhaps if you could explain what you did and how it didn't work, some of us might be able to offer diagnoses of why and possible solutions? Keep exploring and experimenting, by all means, but it might well be that a few simple tweaks may help you succeed with some of the other methods, too. The more tools you have at your disposal, the better! Kim

Now I grow them in clear cups with seed starter soil. I have upped my success ratio to about half of what I stick. Keeping them evenly moist is the real key to getting them to take. If I had misters that would help but I don't so I just keep a close watch on the cups to keep them from drying out.