Gardening and Horticulture - stem cuttings rotting!

any help is appreciated.
I've tried various methods of stem cutting propagation--perlite, sand, in the plastic bag, out of the plastic bag, indirect light, bright light...---and still they all have rotted.
any suggestions or insight into what's going wrong?
thanks

donelld,
It sounds as though you've tried the correct options.
What species are you trying to propagate? Maybe you've selected a difficult plant to try. Have you been using rooting hormone powder?
Usually, I try to keep the soil damp, the container covered (plastic bags), but with some air circulation.
fred

It should be noted that some plants cannot be propagated by stem cutting, but just in case it does the following procedure usually works with me:
-Prepare a glass bottle filled with water. Bottles with narrow neck (like soft drink bottles) are the most ideal.
-Add a pinch of salt and mix well. This will prevent the stem from deteriorating.
-Place the cutting in the bottle and leave it for a day or two.
-Remove the stem and dip 1 inch of it in rooting compound. Mainly used to prevent infection.
-Cut off extra leaves. This is very important since it prevents dehydration.
-Prepare a container with compost and water it a bit so as to keep it damp but not soggy.
-Place the stem and press in order to remove excessive air.
-Keep the container in a shaded placed.

Usually stem cutting takes weeks to put on new leaves. Sometimes I waited even months.

I have been rooting, air layering, and grafting for over 3 decades. Rootone powder was the rooting hormone we used. However I came accross a product that gives me 100% on soft wood cuttings and 60% on hard wood cuttings. the name of the product is (dip and Grow) I have never had roots as fast and as strong with anything. I use sunshine mix potting soil it is expensive but the trash you get at the discount plant outlets are full of fungus gnat larve and they eat the rootlets and then they rot and stunt, try it I think you will be surprised. Marturo