Question
I have fallen in love with the Jacaranda's Towering high Flowering Beauty!  Those delicate and graceful bunches of purple flowers.  I long to have a few of my own to trim, dwarf, and have as household plants.  But I continue to fail at propagating clippings from softwood & hardwood cuttings.  I've tried several different types of soil/sand mixtures, I've made a make-shift propagation box using a fish tank for the glass top, and even tried open air/outdoor planting of the clippings.  I don't understand what is happening, All of the leaves fall off in a matter of days, even in the fish tank where its moist all the time.  My hardwood cuttings grow a white fungus around the cut area's and the softwood clippings turn black and mushy like over ripe banana peelings.  What changes can I make to my methods to improve my complete failures?

Answer
Hi Daniel,
Thanx for your question.

Propagating by cuttings
Take 5-6 inch cuttings from an immature tree in June. Stick the cuttings in a container with an ordinary mixture of sand and potting compost. Water the soil thoroughly and cover the container with plastic or glass to prevent drying out. The soil temperature should be 70?77癋. A propagating box gives the best results. Until the new plants have formed roots they should be kept out of the sun. As soon as growth starts and roots begin to develop, give them more light. After about a month, re-pot into larger pots. For the first 14 days after re-potting, keep the plants in the shade before moving them to more light.

I think the key is, you must remove all but the last few leaves on the cutting.  Take the cuttings in June.  Use a rooting hormone available at most nurseries.  You can use a light coating of milled sphagnum moss on top of the growing medium to keep fungal growths down.  Keep the bottom warm and keep the plants out of direct sunlight.  These trees are also easily grown from seed but it takes 5 years or longer for flowers.  I hope this helps.
Tom