thanks Dingo. its not cold out tonight the low is 52. Today the high was 68. Good idea about trucking around the trees but I already heeled 25 paw paws in the ground, rinsed off 25 dogwoods and paper bagged them with 50 paw paw and 50 arborvitae. I put 25 arobrvitae 25 dogwood and 25 paw paw in a bucket of fresh water. I will plant the ones in water first thing in the morning. Hopefully I can get them all in the ground. I have a couple injuries from the military that have been getting worse the last couple years, or I would've been able to get all these trees in the first day.

I found an absolutely beautiful Jade in a dumpster when I was tossing my trash. I pulled it out and after trimming a bit it was absolutely fantastic. I proceeded to over water it and practically kill it. It got so bad that I thought it was a goner...and then I did the unthinkable. I cut off the entire matted and ruined root ball. The whole thing. I let it air a few days and stuck it in an awful mixture of street dirt. 6-months later, it is making a huge comeback. I barely water it now and give it a shower every six weeks or so to blow away any mites or whatever crawlies happen on it. It is doing fine. I happened on another specimen with an 8-inch trunk and I broke it up to make about 5 new plants with 4-inch trunks (the 8-inch was rotting). I'm hoping to get at least 3 of those rooted using the same method. Re-rooting a 4-inch trunk gave me some confidence with Jades. They seem to be really resilient if you sorta be a little mean to them ;-)

I think you'd be surprised how healthy roots can appear and still be rotting. Have you cut any of the fatter ones close to the base? I would and see the color inside. The base of that stem looks quite unhappy.

Its hard to say with any certainty what is the cause. The typical reason is related to being too wet or too heavy of a soil mix. Which based on your description was unlikely. There could be other reasons beyond that like a bad cutting (rot was not apparent but was already there), bad cut (not properly callused), and/or seasonal issues (too cool and not during growing season). Sorry but that may be the best I can say. My preference is to start cuttings in the springtime on a heat mat with natural light. IMO light is less important than warmth.