A lot to take in there Tony. Your post was 11 days ago and no one answered, what's going on with the cuttings now?

Don't worry about leaves, sometimes they're a detriment and require too much moisture that the stem can't provide, even with a small root system. There's enough energy in a leafless stem to produce a plant from the node if it's in good shape and in good conditions.

Personally I would stay with sphagnum moss unless leaves get droopy, then rehydrate in water and either leave it there or go back to moss and put in a closed atmosphere... a plastic bag or terrarium/aquarium. You might get away without bagging if you cut off a leaf to lighten the moisture load required by the stem.

I think the stem blackening will occur no matter the medium, so don't go back and forth between mediums.

Moss has a natural rot-inhibiting characteristic, so many prefer it to soil mediums. It's also hard to overwater since it's a loose material, I often scrub perlite into it to make it even more open.

Again, how are things looking now?

well two of the leaves already fell off and I cut the stem into pieces. The one in the 2nd pic still had a leaf and is now putting out new growth at the node but it was the only part that was doing well. The other two stem segments are not doing as great. The larger stem segment is still just sitting in soil and not rotting so I assume that’s a good sign. The other one, shown in the last picture, has rotted more and is about half the size of what it was in that picture. I think I’m gonna end up losing it. roots it still has some roots but the green on the stem keeps rotting little by little... I tried raising it out of the dirt a little while keeping the roots in dirt so it could keep dry but then it shriveled up lol.

I haven't read your whole post, but I probably would have cut off all leaves but the topmost one, then stuck in a pot with soil + perlite, and enclosed the whole thing in a large clear plastic bag. I usually root mine outdoors in summer, in which case I do not need to maintain humidity, but indoors you probably ought to. Here was the cutting. I had to cut back the aerial roots as they were two feet long! Whether they branched, or just new roots came out of the stem, I don't know. Aerial roots are not always able to deal with soil.

The resultant plant months later.

Tony, I think you're right in that the small piece is done for but keep your fingers crossed. Thankfully the other two cuttings look like they'll be okay, so good for you.

Dave, you started off with a great cutting, sturdy and good aerials. That's a nice looking variegated deliciosa, it's amazing they grow that well in Virginia given your hard winters.

@Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A well the two bottom leaves ended up falling off anyways and after I chopped the thing up, I have had them in a clear plastic bin, on a heat mat and under a grow light. the part with the leaf has loved it... the stem cuttings started rotting more so I took those out of the bin. they’re still under the grow light and I have a humidifier running next to them. They seem to be doing better.

@Russ1023 (central Fla) im still kicking myself. I should have just bought a rooted top cutting or a rooted plant. I paid the same amount for that 4 node cutting as I did for this small rooted plant and it has put out two leaves in the time that these cuttings have been rotting away or very slowly putting out a leaf bud.

Generally I think the more nodes it has, the more resources it has to root. I would not have cut them up. Honestly these things grow so fast, you'd probably have a lot of propagation material to work with at the end of next growing season.

@Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A well I cut it up because it was too long to fit in the pot without burying the stem vertically and I was worried about it rotting... which it did anyways... but at least I was able to keep an eye on it... the aerial roots with new root sprouts were also pointing in opposite directions so I had to cut the top node off To solve those issues... and then I was afraid it was going to cannibalize the last leaf and then I cut up the remaining 3 node, leafless stem because the roots at the bottom node rotted all the way down to the stem to the point that there was a rotting hole in the stem where the root used to be. i didnt want it to keep spreading.

@Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A it had also been within my care for a month at that point, had almost no root growth and two dying leaves.... I think it’s resources were waning.