I think I did a 180 and went from over watering to under watering. I forgot to check this one as well as I check the others. This cutting was doing really well. I guess since it is in a smaller container it dried out faster. I saw this morning that all the nice leaves it was getting drooped over. The roots do seem a bit darker then other cuttings as well. I the pot was very light. I did add a little bit of water this morning to see if it would help. I felt the leaves and they fell dry. What if anything can I do now to save this cutting?

Looking at your soil, I don't think this is a matter of underwater, I think it's a matter of excessive overwatering, and you started underwatering too late.

Unforutnately, the roots tell me it's a goner.

This is probably a byproduct of rot killing your cutting.  I bet you if you pull the cutting out, and rub the sides of the cutting itself, the outside layer of bark will wipe away like mush in a couple of spots - this is an indicator of overwatering causing rot, or your stick rotting.

If you want to give it a couple days, you can... just to be sure.

Oh, wow. I guess the rot takes a while to show up? I really have not watered anything since maybe a day or so before my other topic started on the 2nd of this month. This plant was one of the better growing plants. Now I am worried about my other plants! I have been monitoring the weight and poking the soil a bit to see if it still feels damp  I have not watered anything since then and only tonight did I add very little water to some of the cups that seemed a bit dry.

I will give it a few days I guess it can't hurt. What should I look for if it were to come back? Should I remove the shriveled leaves? What in the roots tell you that it is gone? Is it that they are dark brown?

I only tell you this because I've seen it a few times, but by all means - give it a bit, I could be wrong, and it might recover.

Overwatering is a cumulative thing.  Once you start overwatering, rot has an "inlet" to work.  It takes time - maybe days or a week - but eventually, once it distributes itself, things will go downhill - sometimes it will take time, sometimes it's pretty fast.  Limp leaves are always either a sign of underwater or overwater (rot), and you should be able to review the color of the soil, the weight of the cup, the amount of moisture showing inside the cop (water beads) to figure out which it is.

The way the roots are brown and transparent is something I've seen when they're dead.  It's OK if the roots are tan colored, or even copper but only if they're opaque and not "stuck" looking to the sides of the cup.... when they're translucent, that's a bad sign. 

Again, I'd give it a few days.  But ... does the cup feel "heavy" to you?  Is there condensation in the inside, like .. a light steamy mist on the walls?  if yes, then there's plenty of water.  I wouldn't water if that's the case.  Seriously - wood stick, no roots ... it's probably got plenty of water with a thimblefull.

There wasn't any condensation or anything on the bag, this was one of my early cuttings and I just took a few wood skewer es and put a large zip lock over the top like a tent, it really isn't even on it that tight . i felt like it might not have been keeping enough moisture in, but the cutting was growing so I left it alone. The cup felt pretty light and when I picked it up you could hear and feel that crunchy sort of dried dirt sound. I added some water this morning maybe half a shot glass of water. I thought I read in a topic on here that might be roughly the amount to add when watering. I added it and it gave the cup some weight again. Maybe I should move this cup into the containers with the other cuttings? Cuttings in there seem to be responding well, knock on wood....
Let me ask you too, there is nothing I can do now with the over watering I already did. I do air out the containers daily to maybe release some of the moisture in the containers and yesterday I started leaving a corner of the container uncovered for ventilation. Would you recommend I wait maybe at least a week or so before watering even thinking about watering the other cuttings again? Like I said before I had pretty much been gauging the cups with weight and sicking my finger in the mix a bit to see if it felt damp and prior to adding maybe roughly half a shot glass to most of the cups tonight it had been over a week.

I haven't found a way to recover a cutting that has had too much water.  I've tried blowing into the cup, running a hair dryer through it ... I think the reality is, once rot from overwatering sets in, you're screwed.  This is why I've always emphasized keeping your water in check.

The best way to tell if it's "under" watered versus "over" watered (in my exp) is to give it a little blast of water.... if it perks back up in a couple of hours, water was probably the problem.  If not, then it's probably overwater/rot.

I know some hardcore guys will tell you "no such thing as unrecoverable cutting, I got 110% rooting success!", but I don't buy it.  Sometimes you screw up, sometimes the wood just sucks, sometimes..... sh%t happens, to be blunt.

If you have a tent, that's holding in humidity.  I see no reason why your leaves would go limp.  If anything, when underwatered - unless seriously, bone-dry-desert-underwatered - that cutting should have leaves at top staff while under a tent, unless that cup feels like the weight of the cup plus a lot of dry, fluffy soil.  Anything heavier, and it's probably overwatered/rotted.  And rot isn't something I've been able to recover from.  Once you overwater a couple of times, it's .... pretty much doom.

I definitely don't have as much experience as the others, but I have had the same experience from over-watering usually.  Once the roots looked brown, I haven't been able to resuscitate:(.  Hopefully you'll be able to!

I definately agree with Jason very rarely can you save a cutting once roots rott. If there is no top growth on the cutting you can usually cut above the rotted roots and sometimes still be able to save that cutting if top growth is visible, if its already had top growth its 99.9% chance its a gonner.

Thanks guys for all of your help I really appreciate you guys taking the time to help me. I'm sure I am annoying the hell out of you, lol... I thought I got it from your posts in my other topic about watering, but maybe to dumb it down and get me in the ball park. I probably should not be watering more then every two weeks or so if for example my indoor *inside a house* is roughly a similar environment to inside your house and if I were to water, no more then maybe half a shot glass of water? Would the size of the container change that? Most of my cuttings are in two liter soda bottles cut in half.

I have rooted cuttings that were misted with a squirt bottle in mid december and have not watered them since. It really does take some trial and error to figure it out I go by weight & condensation on the cups or baggies depending on what is being used If I dont see any condensation on the cups and it feels light I will give it 2-3 squirts with the spray bottle just to be safe. Also if you have your cups in a plastic tub then you need to water it less as the soil will take much longer to dry out.

On another note I recently started using turface instead of perlite and really like the fact that I can tell when to water by the colour of the turface definately an advantage.

OK, so even every two weeks seems like to much. I will see if I can pick up a squirt bottle today. I think that sounds like a good idea to at least make sure I am consistent with how much I would water when I do. Just give it two or three squirts and that is it. I think I am going to definitely wait a while to water anything now. I have two cuttings that are not in the tubs anymore. they are growing uncovered the rest are in the tubs and most seem to be growing.
When you first pot the cuttings do you give a little extra water to them initially? I saw it on this site or maybe a video. I can't remember, They misted the soil on a table and mixed it. I didn't have a mister, so I just sprinkled a little water in the pot until I felt a little weight and I could see and hear the dirt soak up the water.
I hope I can get a few of these cuttings to make it. This is my first try at this, so I guess I really can't expect that I would get it totally right all the way through. I guess next year I will have a better I idea what to do from the get go.

I echo the other comments made here GTO. Unfortunately, I had many cuttings go the same way in my first season - last year.

Nelson, in mentioning the color change you can see in the turface, you reminded me of a method I started using last season. I used those tongue depressor/craft sticks as sort of a low-tech moisture meter and it actually helped me alot in monitoring the moisture in my cups.

I would stick one of those down the side of my cups and just pull it out to see if the wood below the soil line looked damp or not. If it did, I wouldn't water. If it looked dry AND the cup was light I would add a little water on just one side of the cup.

Toward the end of the season I even started putting one of those sticks down each side (two sticks, one opposite the other) of my cups or pots.

I don't know if this will work for everyone or not but it sure helped me in guaging the moisture levels of my containers. I plan to start my season off this time using these from the get-go.

Just one more note. GTO, if you un-pot that cutting, check the wood, and if it hasn't rotted yet, there may still be a slim chance of survival by re-potting in less wet "soil". May work, may not. 

Another point to consider.....If you've had a "tent" over the cup and then kept the tent off for too long, this alone may be enough to make the leaves droop. If that's the case then re-covering the cup should correct the problem.

But as has been mentioned, this is more likely a classic error of over-watering (a mistake we've all made). If so, unfortunately, this may already be a case of "a moment of silence" for that cutting. Sorry man. 

You have nothing to lose I would put alot of holes around the cup almost to the point that it looks like a collinder. Allowing air into any sustainable roots and allowing the moisture out. Then I would remove the green stems and leaves back at the hardwood to shift the energy from growing leaves and new growth back into producing roots.  Open the top up a bit to allow condensation to leave the cup but just for a few days then replace. Nothing ventured nothing gained. If the plant is a gonner it will die no matter what but there is always a chance.. Another thing I have done is to remove the cutting cut off the lower section and reroot it in a bag start again rememebr you only need one node to get roots. Look up "one node wonders" ..

Thanks, I will do that when I get home from work. I do have holes poked in it, I will do more and try what you recommend. It can't hurt. I guess it is good practice to hone my gardening skills.
Northeastnebie, what part of Jersey are you in? I am in Mercer county. I would like to hear what has worked for you here.

I have had some cuttings do just such that.

Hi GTO,

Why not do what Gorgi and NEN suggested?  It's a good learning situation and when you experiment, who knows what you might discover?

noss

I trimmed off the green, and poked a bunch more holes in it last night and proped open the bag a little last night. If there is a little bud near the dirt I should cover it up to or over that?

if it is just a small bud leave it for now and use it as a visual aid as to what is going on with your scion.