Thanks, Sans. I think my patience paid off this week. A few of the stalks now have tiny little white growths on bottom that have sort of spiked out. I'm so glad it seems to be working finally.

Ive had similar issues....This cutting been in water since oct 4 so far this is as far as its gotten...It seems to me dispite all the utube videos out there on how easy it is to root lucky bamboo it takes longer than they let on

They are "easy" to root but because dracaena are SLOW GROWING :) it takes longer than other plants.

but the cut stem end can still draw up water without roots the plant survives fine whilst roots eventually grow

it helps to root longer stem cuttings for more "stored energy" to grow roots; otherwise you'd need a decent mop of leaves in good light to make energy to grow. A bud cutting by itself has higher failure to thrive than if you had cut it with more stem attached

Didn't know that about the stems! I'll have to try this next time.

I haven't seen "lucky bamboo" much thicker than a pencil, but with its other dracaena cousins with thicker (2-3"!) trunks big enough that are covered with "bark"... yeah we lop off short lengths of 4-6" and just stand them in a dish of water. They'll sprout leaves from buds thru the "bark" and might take months to show any roots at the bottom :) they're definitely growing as they're obviously not rotting away if there's leaf activity.