I don't water root. And I only remove leaves, if the nodes are spaced very close together (like lacunosa).

I have personally never had issues rooting carnosas, but they do take a bit longer to root. It will also take longer if you are in the Northern hemisphere, as it is Winter. Make sure your rooting cutting is in a warm, draft free area, with bright, indirect light.

Yeah, I have warmth and bright, indirect light down...I guess it's just a bad time of year for cuttings. Do you think it would be detrimental for me to move it from water to soil at this point, or should I stay the course with water since it's been water rooting for so many months now?

No. Moving it to soil won't hurt. Check the rooting stem for signs of failure (cut a tiny piece off the end...is it still green inside?), like squishiness, discoloration, foul smell, peeling, etc.

I have been successfully rooting Carnosas this winter with a heating pad. Vancouver is having a cold winter and there is no way they will root without one right now. I have them in a dome with a Sunblaster as well....

I did the same with a lipstick plant that has been slowly failing. I finally got success when I put it in quick draining soil, and put the pot in a ziplock bag in indirect bright light. I keep it slightly open. If I see condensation on the bag I open it more to air out and adjust.

Gillian, I thought of using a heating pad too, then worried I would over heat it. Good to see others have done it,

Not the best photo but posting as an example.

Thanks for all of your replies. I think I might try my hand at soil rooting and learn something new. This is my plan - can you let me know if I'm on the right track?

For the potting mix, I'm going to use perlite and orchid bark. I already use this mix for the mother plant I took the cutting from. What do you think about adding a little bit of potting soil to make it slightly more water retentive? I've noticed that the mother plant dries out faster in the winter and my thinking is that a cutting would be more susceptible to that winter dryness. Or would putting it in a Ziploc bag be enough to keep up the humidity?

Once it's in the potting mix, how do I go about watering it? This is where I failed in my pothos cutting experiment - I think I kept the soil too damp, and since there were no roots anyway, the cutting rotted. This time around I think I'm going to get a spray bottle, so I can mist the soil without waterlogging it. Should I dampen the soil once, plant the cutting, and then let it do it's thing in the Ziploc bag without watering again until it shows signs of rooting/growth? Will it be ok if the potting mix stays on the drier/dry side while the cutting roots?

Sorry for so many questions - I'm really eager to do this as "correctly" as possible to give the cutting its best chance at rooting.

The mix should be fine, even without soil.

That being said, your climate is different from mine, so you may benefit from a bit of soil in your mix.

Water ONCE. Bag up. Air bag out every 2-3 days. You can mist lightly, if the media feels dry.

Thank you aurorawa! Sorry, just a few more questions - in your experience do you think it would be a good idea to chop up the cutting into multiple cuttings? I have about 5-6 nodes on the vine and I was wondering if cutting it in to a few 2-node pieces would increase my chances? Can you take cuttings of cuttings?

Jaycee,

FYI: Pothos NEED to dry a bit btwn watering otherwise they rot & die. They are some of the most chronically overwatered plants out there, I don't know why. My Pothos gets watered MAYBE every 10 days to 2 wks depending on season & how busy I am. They truly are plants that want & thrive w/ neglect. So you'll know better for the next one. Also I'll bet you didn't supplement its soil w/ 50% perlite, that would be important so as to be fast draining.

I know this is the Hoya Forum but you did mention this & the issues you had w/ it.

Thanks Karen. You're right that I am a chronic overwaterer, but I'm trying to change my ways, I promise! :) The pothos that I mentioned was a cutting that I tried rooting in soil. For some reason, I can handle rooted plants in soil, but I get completely discombobulated when it comes to dealing with cuttings in soil. I mentioned my failed pothos as a way to illustrate my ineptitude when it came to soil rooting, and to explain why I defaulted to water rooting instead for my hoya cutting, even though soil rooting may have been more beneficial for the plant overall.

Hi Again,

Thx for explaining.

Am curious abt what you said " For some reason, I can handle rooted plants in soil, but I get completely discombobulated when it comes to dealing with cuttings in soil."

What could you be doing differently btwn the 2? Maybe I've been doing this too long (Hoyas), but I think I handle cuttings & rooted plants pretty much the same. I can't think how you're meaning that.

I think it's my inexperience with rooting plus my inexperience with the culture of different types of plants plus contradicting advice from other forums here on gardenweb. I have read posts where people recommend lightly misting the soil to keep it slightly moist. But I was also told quite harshly that NO you NEVER wet a cutting's medium when I linked to the same advice on a different post. In my own experiments, it has been hit or miss. I will lightly water some cuttings as soon as the potting mix feels dry and they will appear seemingly fine, and then they'll suddenly decline and rot. Other cuttings I'll water sparingly and leave alone, and they dry out.

I think what's probably really happening is that, in my mind, I consider cuttings to be more delicate and vulnerable than rooted plants, and so I subconsciously overbaby them and unwittingly drown or starve them. I do tend to hem and haw a lot about "Should I water it? If it doesn't have roots, will water matter (ie no mechanism to draw water into the plant)? Does the soil feel dry? I think it does, right? Hmm, maybe not. When was the last time I gave this water?" In addition to my fear of killing them, it probably just comes down to overthinking it and getting in my own way.

On the other hand, water rooting just seems easy and straightforward to me - put the cutting in water and just make sure the water is refreshed occasionally.

Sorry that got a little long and rambling. I hope that made a little bit of sense!