I clone directly in soil successfully. I think u just have to be accurate in ur methods. Here is what I do, I prepare party cups with soil & thoroughly wet until draining out the bottom; then I premake the hole for the cutting. I then take the cuttings & immediately place in a cup of water. Then I take them out, & cut off the excess leaves above so there is at least one notch that will go under the soil. I then make the diaganol cut on the bottom & one cut on the bottom of the stem, in the middle, maybe 1/8 of an inch deep. I dip in Clonex for a minute, then put in hole in soil & gently press the soil down & around stem to make sure there is good contact. I then put them in "my humidity tent" which is simply a plastic bin with a white plastic garbage bag over it, that has 2 slices in it for vent holes. I place it right in the room that the vegging or flowering plants are in, off to the side, so they recieve a little indirect light. I lift the garbage bag about 3 times a day to mist the leaves & mist the top of the garbage bag. They get the same dark time as the plants recieve in the main room. If the top soil in the cup gets dry I mist the top of the soil quite well, but I am not watering these until they have rooted which is about a week, at least. At about 10 days, is when I remove them from the humidity tent & at that point I am still keeping them in the indirect light for about another week, then they get moved closer for full light.