7 cuttings from the same tree, same variety, in the same soil, in the same pot, in the same greenhouse with the same water. So, as nearly as possible, they are identical in every respect. 3 rooted well, two have leaves, and are barely rooted, 1 did nothing, and one rotted.

I don't do a lot of cuttings this way, as a group, but did in this case.

is that perlite stuck to the roots, or is it rkn nodules? 

many of these look like tip cuttings...is my observation correct?  the only one which looks not to be a tip is the first cutting.

i would love to see this repeated with cuttings from a full branch, where the pieces were separated out as tip, middle, collar for each branch, and see if there are similarities between each of those three sections.

Jon
Dramatic differences!

Though you had very similar cuttings and conditions, the variations could be due to a few factors I can think of:

Diameter and length of cuttings (though most look similar)
Tip or mid-branch cutting (though most look to be tip cuttings)
Position of branch on tree regarding sun/shade exposure, and/or uppermost or lower braches
Position of cuttings in greenhouse pot, as some cuttings touching the sides exposed to sun could root faster in cooler months, and in the warmer months they could get their roots burned touching the plastic pot walls

Perlite, not RKN.

These were from a small tree, so sunlight, exposure, etc during growth would have been relatively equal.

No direct sunlight exposure during rooting. No difference in sunlight during rooting. Greenhouse is covered on sunny sides with black plastic to provide solar heating, so all light is indirect. Small heater maintained greenhouse at about 72F. All cuttings equally distributed around the pot, equidistant from the pot walls, with the exception of one in the middle of the pot (didn't notice which one).

Jon
BTW the last four of these cuttings behaved like my cuttings but quite a few of these later become good plants and that is good enough for me (& some of them even get root-bound later). I guess we have to put up with the situation (after trying our best to improve it).

This is very interesting.  I have about 38 cutting that I started on June 3rd.  Every cutting exploded with roots in my soil mixture and 5 inch roots exploding in air.  You guys have got to see these pictures.  The cuttings rooted easily because they just came off the tree.  I did not wash them at all.  They just too off.  Plus I have them in my gargage on the floor where the temperature has been over 80 degrees daily.  I open and mist the cuttings daily.  I'm going to have to transplant these in gallon containers but I got so many roots at the top and bottom that I don't know if I should just bury the entire cutting or wait till leaves start or cut the cutting and half and bury each one.  Right now they are all moster roots.  I'll post some pic later so you can see.  Dennis