I think for a newbie, you would be better sticking to mastering one thing at a time. You have a problem with a topped plant and you are struggling with cuttings so lets solve those first. The black where you topped is the plant trying to heal itself and as long as the black does not spread, it will recover. For cuttings, I have seen hundreds of slight variations to a single theme and the method I prefer is simple and very successful. 1. If your plant is in soil, water is 1 hour before taking succings, you will improve success massively with a well hydrated plant. Other than that, the donor plant must be healthy and bug free. 2. Choose your donor branch. I prefer older, lower branches, these will not amount to as much as higher branches so can be sacrificed. 3. Make your cut. Make sure the section you choose has new growth and a pair of leaves, cut below the next pair of leaves down, making sure there is a pair of leaves/branch on the trimmed section for new growth to grow from. 4. Trim off lowest pair of leaves and dip the tip in rooting gel/compound. 5. Place cutting in rockwool cube/soil. (My success rate is about 99% in rockwool, 80% in soil) I presoak rockwool in a mixtrue of ph/d water, 1ml/l clonex 1 drop/l superthrive & a few grains of Canna Trachaderma. If using rockwool, "flick" the cube to remove access moisture, they should be moist, not soggy. 6. Spray with same solution used for soaking cubes once per day and keep in a propagator. Vents closed for first 2 days, then open by 1/3 per 2 days so after 6 days the vent is fully open. At this point, stop the daily spraying. By day 10 you should be bursting roots from everything in there. 7. Check the cubes/soil is moist daily, NEVER let them dry out If you need any other help, pm me, I am happy to help. W
