I'm looking for help in propagating a Pieris japonica at my parent's
house. I started several weeks ago with several soft-wood cuttings.
Stripped all but a few leaves, dipped in hormone and placed in some
soil-less mix. All died.

Try some summer cuttings, too. Pieris is slow to root anyhow, and
seems to like a little bottom heat. FWIW, I prefer straight sand for
rooting cuttings. Many commercial growers favor perlite. Also,
make your cuts with a very sharp blade... a new single edge razor blade
is a good choice.

Any possibility of setting up a mist bench? Raise the humidity around the
cuttings to cut the transpiration losses, and keep the air moving so you
don't have a fungus factory starting.

Kay