ill have to look for some rooting hormone cause unless its an accident of a leaf falling out and landing in the same pot with its mother (which to my surprise when picking up the leave) started to sprout a baby! - but when trying from fresh leaves in there own soil after a few days (i've even tried just putting them into the dirt without waiting) i've had absolutely no luck just a bunch of shriveled leaves :( ... some of my plants I have saved from being mistreated at small stores where they are never watered and all ripped apart and stretching for sun I've specifically bought and brought home so when they are nursed back to health I can try prop-ing with but have had no luck and now some of my plants are looking a little skanky with not many leaves on them, and I'm super worried to start pulling more until they kinda recover... but its not too attractive to have leaveless plants with long stems left sitting on the windowsill lol! but what can I say - I seem to have more luck by accident then by actually trying!

Sounds like root rot. have you got pictures. You might want to unearth it and check the condition of the roots. If they are goners, one might want to re root the plant if it is a rerooter. Pictures are good.

Note that spraying twice a day with water opens you up for fungal disease. That might be a good tactic in a desert environment, but I wouldn't do it in Queens. A wash-down at first is great, then I would spray something like neem or permethrin. Then repeat that every few days for a while. If your plants survive the next couple of weeks, the problem should subside as the weather gets less conducive to the mites.

They look like my cuttings do, so don't seem to have a problem to me. :) I'm just starting out myself, but the best root growth I got out of cuttings (though mine were bigger whole plants) was when I propped each of them upright in a small cup with a crumpled paper towel at the bottom (the cups were tall, so the paper towel lifted them up gently so all their weight wasn't resting on the bottom leaves) and put them in a windowsill. So the plants/leaves got sunlight, but the stem inside the cup was shaded. I gave them no water until they had at least a bunch or two of good roots growing, then I've been misting the inside of the cup every once in a while. So far, so good! I'm actually wondering when I should plant them at this point... It also depends on the species for how soon you see root growth -- one of my cup cuttings still hasn't grown a thing, though the plant still looks the same as the day I cut it, minus one lower leaf that dried up. It's the very first one I cut, too, so it's been out the longest.