Hi everyone, I am thankful to have found this incredible collection of knowledge and fellow plant lovers! I'm kind of desperate...a series of kind of unfortunate events has left me with a pretty rotted Albo cutting that's only been in my possession for three days. It arrived the evening of June 16th with a mostly rotted aerial root, which I was advised to cut back. I did, and I left it open to air for a couple of hours before placing in lightly moistened sphagnum to root. A nagging feeling today led me to inspect the cutting...sure enough, the aerial root remains have furthered rotted. I resected what rotted material I could and now have the cutting open to air...I mean, is there even a rooting method out there that wouldn't cause this to re-rot? I'm at a complete loss and feel like such an idiot. Is this basically a goner given the proximity to the node? Do I even contact the seller at this point or is this just on my ignorance? Thanks so much for any guidance.

You have been a victim of what some of us more experienced aroid growers call a node-flipper.
I am not sure you will be able to salvage this. But, never say never. The rot seems to have gone into the meristem and hollowed it out.
If they had been generous enough to give you at least one more node above the leaf you would have had a better chance.
Be honest...did you buy this from overseas? Or from a seller here in the US? (who probably imported it from overseas and almost immediately resold it).
All of these cuttings that people post photos of and ask for help with look exactly the same. They are the same diameter, the same cut (one node, maybe one root if they did not remove that).
You will have the best chance of success if you treat the plant with a fungicide like Captan, or alternately buy some Auxin (Rooting hormone) that contains fungicide. The most commonly available in the US is RootOne-F.

Moisten the cutting in water and dip the WHOLE THING, where all those cut off roots are, in the powder, shake off any huge excess and place it in damp sphagnum. Keep the moss 'just damp' not wet.

See that thingie that looks like a sort if eye in photo 3? That is likely your next new root. Make sure you get some Auxin on that.

Keep it in bright light, keep it warm, do not use a heat mat or put it in a plastic bag but do try and keep some good air circulation around it. With luck, and a great deal of patience, you may get this to work. If it succumbs anyway, you will at least have tried.

I can offer you this graphic, which was made by some fellow aroid growers who moderate aroid forums to address just this specific situation that you find yourself in. It may be 'too little too late' because the information would have been more valuable before you committed to the purchase, but if this cutting fails and you decide to buy another, it may help you in the future.

Welcome to the site, and I am sorry that your first post had to be about this! If you have an interest in aroids, there is a small group of us on the Philodendrons and Monstera etc forum who would welcome your participation.

.

Hi Gina1960,

Thank you so much for your reply and expertise. I will confess that I'd been lurking in this forum for a few days and was hoping I'd see a reply from you this morning! I will definitely check out the aroid group as they are simply my favorite plant family!

I think that the most disappointing part about this experience has been that I purchased from a reputable U.S. seller. I made the decision to reach out to them this morning; although I know it's been several days since I received the cutting, I just can't get over the disappointment. It was a huge site restock event in support of the BLM movement and I purchased a cutting wherein no photos were listed...just the item. Thinking of all of the fantastic things I'd heard about the nursery, I had no hesitations; however, I now see how naive that was, especially considering the purchase price.

Thank you so much for your guidance...I am going to let him air out through today and hopefully try again in re-mossing tomorrow AM. Do you have any recommendations or personal preferences on the type of container to use? I'm almost tempted to switch out my mason jar for a terra cotta pot...I'm sure I'll be re-moistening the moss far more frequently than I'd like to, but perhaps that'd be preferential in this case? I am going to try my very best to revive this little guy and hope for the best. If nothing else, he will serve as an (expensive) lesson learned and I will enjoy his beautiful leaf for as long as I can!

I would take a clear plastic drink cup, like a used Starbucks cup, cut or punch holes in thebnttom and use that. It will allow you to see your root progress, and its easy to remove the plant later.