At my last apartment I aquired some aloe plants that were abandoned behind the trash cans. I asked a nighbor if they belonged to anyone and he said the tenant before me just left them. I was shocked that they were alive and semi-okay sitting in planters with about 5% soil in the bottom, not getting watered and in almost total shade. They seemed like a pretty resiliant plant to me and that was good news since I was very new to gardening and my green thumb wasn't green at all. I put some in planters inside, planted some in the ground and even lopped all the shoots? branches? leaves? ( dont even know what to call them ) I lopped all the " apendages " off of the plant down to the core and chopped 2" off the bottom and stuck it in the ground as an experiment to see if it would actually bounce back. It did and all the rest did fine too. When I moved to a new place I took 2 of the aloe plants with me and they have lived inside and outside as well and are doing great. Now because they seem so easy to care for, I'm pretty surprised that I'm having zero luck with propagation. I've tried with about 15 apendages, some dipped in rooting hormone, some not and I can't get any of them to grow roots or grow any bigger than what I cut off. They all turn yellow, shrivel up and get hard or when I check the roots the bottom has turned darker ( sometimes brownish, sometimes brownish/yellowish ) and paper thin but no roots, nothing. I'm using soil made for cactus/succulents and only misting the cuttings here and there. Anyone have any idea what I'm doing wrong? Thanks!