just dampen some media in a small pot.. and 'stick' in pathos cuttings ... if you want to.. put them in a baggie with the top up and open .. .just a little extra humidity ... i do that in winter .. mostly because my plant table is above a furnace register ... to much wind.. lets call it ...

coleus is like 99% water .. cuttings will wilt in minutes .. to exaggerate a bit.. so no callousing ... this is the part you need to focus on ... are they water hogs .. like coleus.. or cactus types who barely care about water ...

wing it .. and have no fear ...

btw: i dont recommend it.. but coleus roots in a glass of water.. pretty much proof to me.. they dont need a callous.. they need water ... if you want to experiment with a glass of water.. as soon as you see roots nubs.. pot in media .. [kinda cool to watch ... but none of this leaving them there until they have 8 inches of roots.. lol ..]

ken

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffnt&q=coleus+propagation+from+cuttings&iax=videos&ia=videos

Hi, from my personal experience I can say for sure that pothos don't need it. I have been propagating pothos many times and never had to callous. And it rooted perfectly in water. Can't say the same for other plants though, since personally didn't try them.

lol- some should callous some should not, take Sanseveria for example, you can root it without callousing but it depends on how you are rooting it. If putting into potting soil, yes callous. If putting into moist horticultural sand and keeping in a hot house then no, if rooting in water again no callousing. Cactus need to callous. Ficus and the majority of the plants you asked about should root in water without callousing.

I prefer to root directly into moist potting mix with a humidity dome. I can't say for certain but I tend to think most plants mentioned are more likely to rot if not calloused, or at least that's been my experience. Especially pothos!

I've never had coleus until now though, so I can't speak to that one.

Thanks everyone for the input! Maybe rooting in water, it doesn't matter so much?

There is no general rule for all plants, but trial & error leads to personal and often publicly generally accepted and supported rules per individual plant. One quick benchmark is if it wilts, it should have been put in water or moist soil right away (Coleus), or ground layered instead of cut (Hydrangea.)

But many things take root so easily, there are many ardent advocates for more than 1 method. Location, timing, ambient conditions, are also factors to consider. At 4 PM on a 95° day is not the best time to take cuttings, for plants that wilt.

If sold as a succulent, it's probably something that will be less likely to rot if it dries.

Of your original list, I would personally put Hoya , Ficus, & Peperomia into soil immediately after cutting, sinking at least 6" of bare stem into the soil so that the node holding the lowest leaves is just touching the soil. And the other 3 immediately in water with at least an inch of bare stem submerged. Coleus & Schefflera can root anywhere along the stem.

I've never had any of hundreds of Pothos cuttings rot in water unless there was not a good node in the water. Some nodes are duds, at least at the point in time when they find themselves at the business end of a cutting. An ideal Pothos cutting should end just past a node with an eager-looking adventitious root.

You how they recommend to recut flower stems every few days? because the end of the cut stops absorbing water well.

i start most of my tropical cuttings in water and i recut the ends a few times while root nubs/ roots are developing on the stem. i prefer to keep as many leaves on the cutting as possible instead of just a few at the top.

keeping cuttings in water allows me to submerge the whole stem and leaves in water ev 2-3 days : the leaves absorb water and remain turgid and do not drop. on some semi-wooded cuttings the roots will develop only at the end. so why recut the end in this case? and what if the node is too close to cut and will be lost? well, i allow for that: i make my first cut an inch below the node: and then i can trim still below the node a couple of times. after a week or two i can transfer to moist perlite or coco-peat and keep goin. some vety stubborn ones i keep much longer in water, usually the ones with big fleshy roots .

One more important reason for me to do water first: i can safely go away for a week without worrying that they will dry out. so i am not chained to my cuttings 😁. i usually have a dozen goin at any time.. and they are all fully tented for 100% humidity and no leaf evaporation: so a can keep as many leaves as possible for a strong regrowth later.