What is happening???

[cdh]

Ok so a few things. I do not recommend watering them with aquarium water. That’s fine after they are established but that water carries allot of stuff in it that can cause rot on newly rooted cuttings. You have to remember a newly rooted cutting is not the same as an established tree that is actively growing. The seed starter and perlite is fine but Promix HP if you can swing that is better for rooting. One big benefit is that it is neutral and you have charge it up with their ratios of fertilizer that are more suited. Heating mats are fine but once they start to actively grow turn the heating mats off as sometimes they can cook the roots with too much heat. Really try watering with distilled water until they start to take off. Keeping things sterile and only allowing the beneficial bacteria’s and fungus to take over the rooting medium is the best way to keep the rood zone from becoming anaerobic. Did the medium have a weird smell to it at all on the ones that are showing signed of stress?

Isn't promix just peat and perlite, i.e., seed-starting mix and perlite? Or is the distinction in the coarseness of the mix?

 

[cdh]

When I have over watered if I can get it outside it helps because it's warm and windy and dry here. Also when I have "popped" it with a plastic bag I have also removed the bag and put it in a warm place and also put a fan next to it to help dry it out. I also have removed it and repotted it carefully with drier soil. Some times it has worked but I have drowned a few that I haven't been able to revive. I am so glad yours is recovering. It's sad when they die

I don't think you can really drown roots with wet soil or water alone. Roots will grow submerged in water--as long as the water is aerated a bit (as tap water or recently poured water is). The "drowning" happens when something like mold is using up the oxygen around the roots, which leads to (1) the roots suffocating and (2) anaerobic conditions causing root rot. That's where you get the sewer-like smells from. Cuttings that haven't rooted yet are a different story--they'll just rot, not drown.

 

[Jigfig]

I don't think you can really drown roots with wet soil or water alone. Roots will grow submerged in water--as long as the water is aerated a bit (as tap water or recently poured water is). The "drowning" happens when something like mold is using up the oxygen around the roots, which leads to (1) the roots suffocating and (2) anaerobic conditions causing root rot. That's where you get the sewer-like smells from. Cuttings that haven't rooted yet are a different story--they'll just rot, not drown.

Makes sense to me. Based off that principle I’ve used a small rod and poked holes in my media when it stayed wet for several days. Maybe I was being paranoid idk, but I never had any bad smells and my trees never declined in any way. I assumed it helped.

 

[scott_va]

Absolutely. Overwatering eliminates air pockets in the soil that roots depend on.