I'm brand spanking new at growing plumerias.

Last year I bought two cuttings. Killed them with too much water before summer even hit. Stem rot.

Tried again this year. The bigger of the cuttings seems to be doing fine - even grew one flower! But the second is a bit weaker.

I posted elsewhere about the second earlier today - I thought it probably had stem rot.
See Album #1.

Ultimately, I made the decision to try and save the top ends of the plumeria by cutting away the ends with the hopes of drying the ends out and trying to root them again.
See Album #2.

The forked parts don't look that bad though its clear (at least to me) from the pieces lower down that stem rot was in progress.

Did I do the right thing or did I seriously mess this up? I'm kind of sad because the smaller one was doing well up until it got yellow leaves a couple weeks ago. :(

Edit: should I wait for the cuttings to dry out on their own or should I go pick up root hormone (like this one) right away?