Am I keeping them too wet? Not wet enough? I am so sad about the wandering Jew, they were so pretty and fresh looking with nice root development when they arrived.

Sorry you're having trouble w/ this, but you don't offer any of the info. we need to assess this.

You haven't said how you're growing these, or where or how you are watering, or how much & what kind of light you are giving it. Without any of that info. we can't begin to guess if it's under or overwatering, wrong mix, too much sun or something else. If you could pls. answer the above questions & we could then TRY to help you.

Keep your chin up, once the light bulb goes on you'll be able to root almost anything! There's lots of ways to be successful at this.

Other plants that are doing well in just about the same spot are a hoya, a Florida beauty, a dracaena marginata, and the sprigs of grape ivy that did not die.

In trying to get the wandering Jew cuttings established, I kept the soil moist at all times, not allowing it to dry out between waterings. I use tap water, usually that has sat out overnight or longer. The pot is a ceramic McCoy pot with drainage and attached saucer.

Does this help?

Oxygen is an element essential to the success of cuttings. You want LOTS of air in the medium you're using to root cuttings. Use a coarse medium that doesn't support perched water; or, if it does support perched water, be sure you use a container deep enough that the proximal end (closest to the roots) of the cutting is NEVER covered by a film of water. Think 'DAMP', not 'WET'. You'll also want to reduce the leaf surface area in most cases, eliminating some leaves or cutting them across the veins. This is to help reduce the amount of transpiration. If the plant can't keep up with the volume of water lost through foliage, the plant will SHED the foliage as a normal drought response, which is not conducive to rooting.

Essentially, when you're trying to propagate cuttings, it's a race to establish a healthy hydraulic connection between roots and shoots before fungal organisms rot the plumbing. For that reason, try to steer clear of a medium that contains any form of mineral soil - garden soil, topsoil, unsterilized sand ......

Here is an effective way to keep humidity levels high & assure a high success rate:

Neatly cut the top of a clear gallon jug. Stick your cuttings in a coarse, sterile medium like washed and screened perlite (in open shade). The plastic tray has holes in it so it drains after you water the cutting. After the cutting strikes, remove the screw on cap to allow more air circulation, then gradually remove the 'tent' entirely. I've probably done at least 100 cuttings to share already this summer using this or a similar set-up.

Here is a Ficus microcarpa recently rooted under the milk jug for a friend.

Notice the wick hanging down to drain excess (perched) water from the soil - practicing what I preach about the 'damp, not wet' thing. Let me know if you want a pic of some of the other cuttings done in such a manner; especially let me know if you have questions .....

Al

Purpleinopp, my wandering jew cuttings did arrive in the mail. They had no soil on them when I got them, had been packed in wet paper towels and looked perfectly healthy when they arrived. The roots area was about the size of a penny on each one and the cuttings were about six inches long. My grape ivy cuttings I took myself from my mom's plant, wrapped in wet paper towels to get them home, sat them in water until I saw roots starting to grow, then planted. That was back in early spring and not the same potting mix as my recently departed wandering Jew.

tapla, so it sounds like you're saying the problem might have been too much leaf surface for the root development to support,fungus, or too wet soil?

For most plants, 'ideal' would be a highly aerated, sterile medium (like screened perlite or screened Turface) that is damp, but not wet. Root zone temperatures in the 60-75* range with air temps being about 10* cooler than root temps. Bright light but not direct sun, and high humidity (90%+) surrounding the cutting. If you want me to, I'll take some photos to show you how I would prepare a herbaceous and a woody cutting for propagation .....?

Al

Some potting soils come with fertilizer in them that could overwhelm "water roots."

Grape Ivy roots in water too, but might take longer. Toni