Had the same experiences as you and the only difference I can figure out is that I held my mouth right on some and not on others.

the tongue has to be to the left.

I put 2 cuttings per pot. I use 4" peat pots. That way if one dies, I'm still good. If both root, I divide with a knife
and 2 dinner forks. All my cuttings are treated the same, and
most commonly only one of two survive in the same pot, sometimes both, and sometimes neither.

ok when you folks are taking cuttings how many do you take of a plant to boost the odds of getting at least ONE that works?

Four initially survived my hamfisted newbie attempts at rooting cuttings last year and made it over the winter. Two STARTED to grow but then stopped. I looked closeley yesterday to find that the two had snuffed it. So that leaves me with two. I guess I will have to watch which way I hold my mouth in the future.

With any luck 4 - 5 out of 10. I got 70 out of 200. some strains root better than others.

hopefully my attempts have a closer ratio than that this year. Last year I tried rooting whatever tickled my fancy and didn't write them down properly so I don't even know what my last two survivors are. This year I shall refine things somewhat and have a more pointed efffort as to WHAT I try to root.