Cuttings often go into very small containers, and if we are dealing with gritty mix, it's very hard to keep small containers properly watered. You have to water way too often for most people, or put the pots into a very humid environment till the cuttings are well-rooted. You COULD root into something other than gritty mix the plants will be growing in as adults - it could be water, perlite or a perlite-based mix, whatever), but then the plant has to deal with the shock of being transplanted into a very different medium if you want gritty for them. I do not have lots of experience, but even theoretically it does not sound appealing to me at all to do this when the plant needs all its energy to grow, not to adjust to the new medium. Remember your last house move - was that a fun experience? Exactly. So, I do the next best thing I know to minimize medium changes - the rubbermaid greenhouse thing I've learned on these forums. I put mine on a heating pad as I'd like to crank the temp up a bit. Humidity inside is really easy to maintain at any constantly high level, so then gritty mix is not a problem in small containers. I find watering does not need to be done till day 6 or so in gritty mix because of the high humidity. It works well for me and the cuttings. 11 of 12 different hoya cuttings have rooted by the end of week 3, and the last one is doing fine above ground, just taking its time underneath, I guess. 22 more cuttings are coming this week, so I'll have a bigger statistical sample soon. :-) Then when they are well rooted, gradually peel back the plastic cover like an inch a day or whatever and start treating them like adult plants, and that is all the change the plants have to deal with - much less drastic than repotting, and easier for you, too. Even when you do need to repot, plants barely blink when the type of medium is not changed. Speaking of gritty mix in small containers - I would not use those for plants with roots either, except maybe cacti/succulents - those may be fine. I just can't water that often and a couple of plants are really struggling with me in those situations while absolute majority of my other plants love gritty mix. Some notable exceptions are most calatheas, alocasia poly and tradescantias (zebrina and spathacea) - all of those love constantly moist medium, which looks like I cannot provide in gritty mix (I kind of draw the line at watering every three days). It's a fun experience learning all these things practically, and I hope it helps.

No Webs That is what is puzzling. See those Swollen, humped up veins? Under a loupe, those swollen veins are pale brown rather than bright green. The first damage to leaves is swelling and browning along main veins. There are strings of what look like pearls along the veins. The brown areas spread out on the tips, making the corky, burnt edges to the leaves. There are smaller bug versions that scurry along the stems. The bigger bugs wiggle in the brown areas, like ticks. I think it is Mites. There are flat mites that don't make webs. I made a homemade miticide. I am spraying every few days. Even if these plants don't make it, I may make something I can afford, obtain and that works for an future infestation. The hot water knocked the bugs down enough that I have time to play before the plants croak. I may have to contact the Master Gardener for positive ID. This post was edited by lucky123 on Thu, Apr 10, 14 at 15:50

Aphids are one of those odd bugs that fly at certain points in the on-going life cycle and don't at others. They probably few in at one point last year, and are now living permanently in/on the tree. If you can find a bunch of ladybugs and release them near the tree it might help, 'though maybe not for this year - I'm not sure how long the ladybug cycle is - since ladybug nymphs eat aphids, and the LBs will lay eggs where there is a goodly supply of aphids. Otherwise, a sharp spray of water will wash off a lot of them, - once off the plant, the crawling ones can't get back. Leaves infested with aphids will curl, so that's probably the answer to that. If you can look closely at any of the curled leaves, there are - or were - probably a "nice" population of aphids on the back. For scale photos, if you use Google and hit the Images icon above the "box", you should get more than you want to look at. Just be sure to specify insects, or you will get all sorts of other strange things!

As you seem to be indicating, sooty mold is, indeed, an aftereffect of the whiteflies. It grows on their honeydew excrement. So whitefly control will prevent further sooty mold. As for removing existing mold, a light horticultural spray oil will loosen it, and it will curl up. Then a blast from a hose will remove it. If this is an outdoor tree that could experience frost, I'd not use oil in winter. Wait until after any danger of frost.