I have been wondering for a while now about this topic. If you were to take a cutting off of a plant that is diseased, would the plant that grows from the cutting inherit the disease from the mother plant? We have a few azaleas hiding the foundation and they all have started to die with in the last year. I don't know whether it's from root rot or some sort of disease other than root rot. What is your take on this?
It all depends on what the "disease" is. Phytophora sp. root rot is a possible culprit, and this fungus actually restricts the cambium layer of the stems and would not be present in a soft wood cutting. However, the cutting you take would most likely be too nutrient deficient from whatever is damaging the rest of the plant to be able to survive the propagation process.
