Thanks for the help Dan. One other question, I need help with. Since in the past I have seem a lot of propagating failure at the point just after I have managed to get my cuttings to root. So since my Mahonia cuttings will need to be cut this fall from this years growing season's hardened off wood, and since they will have been so difficut to root; could anyone please advise me on how to mix up the potting soil I will need to prepare for planting any of the cuttings that sprout? Also, if the answer to that is a soil-less mixture like periolite or something else similar, How will I know when they will needed to be transplanted into regular potting soil? Or would it be better not to transplant them into potting soil, but instead to simply plant them outside in a southern facing landscape bed?

So how's it doing?

Joshua, I think it may have been to young or too small to remove from the mother plant. I generally let my pups grow to a pretty substantial size before removing. But I generally have a root or two on the pups when I remove them. Some people leave the pups alone and allow the Aloes to grow in a clump. I have accidentally knocked off pups before they had roots. Some rooted just fine, others did as yours is doing now. I don't know how it looked when you first took it off, but it doesn't look healthy now. Maybe it was already weak before you started.

Hi all, glad to see the conversation is still rolling :) Some have directed questions at me, sorry for the unresponsiveness, I've been busy, I'll try to answer all. erasmus, I usually do keep leaves on the cuttings. I clip them to only about 3 or 2 leaflets and keep maybe 3 or 2 sets of them, the ones that are the top. I discard moldy or spotty leaves. Only for them to drop them all at about the one week mark. It doesn't really seem to matter much whether they have them or not in the end, but I do keep them, for what is worth. I also get rid of any new growth that appears, soon as I see it. I don't want them to direct the reserves of energy they have towards that, I want roots! >:^) When I put them directly on the soil cups, the leaves tend to stay longer, possibly because there's more humidity in the environment (the ziploc). As for light, I've been keeping them on the highest shelf in my kitchen, they don't get any natural light, but they are pretty much at the same level of the light bulb, it doesn't stay on all the time, just whenever you'd normally turn it on. In the past I've had a nice cutting of Cecile Brünner root splendidly in water sitting on a windowsill with plenty of indirect natural light, in the same kitchen. So, again, it doesn't seem to be a hugely important factor. And lastly, about hydration. I normally leave the cuttings that I take in water for a day or two, not out of any functionality that I perceive of it, but out of laziness or waiting to get a certain amount so that I don't get myself dirty to pot a single cutting, lol. If I'm not home, I've had them keep very well in a ziploc with a moistened paper towel for about 24hr. They do fine in the ziploc alone, in shade, for periods of less than 12hrs, though. Rosefolly, I don't measure the amount of bleach that I use. I use clorox in gel form, just a squirt and then fill with water, stir it, leave it a minute or two and then do several rinses until there's very little foam appearing when adding water. If there's some of that gunk already formed, the stream of water helps to wash it away, and after the chlorine wash it sort of turns to pieces, it looks like when paper breaks down in water. I make sure they are all gone before leaving the cutting be. It reforms in like a week; I've noticed it's much more prevalent when you use an opaque cup, so it seems it doesn't enjoy light. I haven't tried using peroxide, but I'm probably going to do so with the burrito method, per Claire's recommendation. Karen, babying a cutting shouldn't be so complicated, though the dedication you're giving them is of course admirable :) What I consider babying is just leaving the cutting in the ziploc in a not so lit not so obscure place inside, until the weather outside is right. I only have from October thru February. If it's still too hot, I open the ziploc a little and put them on a windowsill, so they get indirect sun, until it's planting season. Taking them out any earlier is a suicide mission. Interestingly, I've kept them in the ziplocs, closed, for a few months, even. I've had cuttings persevere in that tiny ecosystem for, believe it or not, 7 months! Of course it's not ideal, just some trivia, lol. Lastly, I've had several treacherous little cuttings make tiny leaves with no roots, even in succession after a previous set falls, like your case. I do hope you've got the real deal going on though! Sending good vibes! vaporvac, as of now I can only report I've moved most of the "water dwellers" to soil, many of them had not developed roots, though many had calloused. I did leave a miniature and an Archduke Charles whose nodes where bulging, pretty sure it'll make good callous. Since I had two cuttings of it, I potted one and left that one in water to see what it does, will report back. And Paul, thank you for stopping by, I'm a little starstruck because your blogs were my introduction to roses. I remember I somehow found a picture of Crépuscule somewhere, and was blown away; took note of the name and then went to google to stare at more, and one of the pictures led to the description of it on your site. I spent a few days going through the other entries after that. :^) I might try the Oasis foam some time. I've found that rooting within the same variety happens quicker in soil/peat than in water, but really I was just doing it this way because I didn't have the chance to get a bag of soil until recently. It's still a fun thing to do, even if not as efficient, sometimes you forget about them and when you check back they've done so much, it's somehow gratifying. It's also nice to know which ones I can put to do their own thing while I make time to go get soil; It's an alternative, even if a selective one, hehe.