Every Fall I cut back my Tropical Hibiscus - H. rosa-sinensis and keep some of the cuttings for insurance. I spent about an hour this afternoon potting up the cuttings that rooted - the time it takes for them to root has been pretty consistent over the years, about 2½ to 3 months. I use fine vermiculite for the rooting medium and cell flats, no rooting hormone and get about a 85% success rate on roots forming and about 10% that don't root but the cuttings are still viable. The cuttings stay in the greenhouse the whole time and are subject to the fluctuating temperatures .. Around the end of January is when I pot up the rooted ones and the viable unrooted ones (on the right in 2nd picture) in potting mix.

85% is a great success rate under any circumstances. Growing them in fall and winter with fluctuating temps is excellent.

Indeed! The hardest/stubbornest one to root is Cherry Appaloosa .. don't know why - most of the failures are Cherry Appaloosa.

Question, I've taken some cuttings from my large Hibiscus (unknown name, it's a large red flower) and placed them in a jar with some water and liquid root stimulator. The water is changed every week or so. Of course I can't remember how far back I did this but I believe it was early Jan. The leaves are still green on the cuttings but I haven't seen any roots yet. Am I doing this wrong or should I just give them more time?

I was collecting leaves by the road back around the middle of November last year, and when I dumped them out there were some hibiscus cuttings in one of the bags along with the leaves.
So I just stuck a few of them in one of my little beds and I noticed today that there are some new green shoots coming out of one of the stems.
So as long as you have green leaves I would say just give them more time.
This is what they looked like when I planted them, I have no idea what variety they might be. I don't even know if they are tropical or perennial. Being they have made it this far though the winter(even though our coldest weather is yet to come) I am hoping they are perennial.


This is the new growth showing on one stem today.

Chris, I've never tried rooting hibiscus in water, but as long as the leaves look healthy just give it more time or stick them in some potting mix.

Thanks Anne, so you just mix up some potting mix and put them in? I noticed what looked like some tiny roots at the bottom of the stem where I'd cut it off the plant. I'll give them awhile and see what happens. If the leaves stay green I'll put them in the potting mix.

Chris if what you are seeing looks like the picture then it's about to make roots .. I've always called them 'pre-roots'.

Thanks for the photo Anne, I'll take a close look tomorrow at them. I know my Brugs cuttings that I have in water get lots of these before they root.

Congrats on your continued success!
Do you have any other tips for success? I just potted 6 cuttings for rooting, and I've never done it before. *fingers crossed* help all goes well. I took cuttings from 3 different plants (2 of each).
-Hawaiian Red
-Perfectly Peach
-unknown large yellow flower with red center

Thanks James! Just keep the potting mix on the dry side of moist and I always cut any large leaves in half width wise. Considering your zone, it's a bit late in the season to be rooting these guys so keep them out of direct sun.

Thanks, Anne! Yeah, I wasn't intending on starting cuttings. It was one of those, right place right time kind of things, and I wasn't going to say no to some free hibiscus cuttings--especially the Perfectly Peach.

Should I treat them identical to my plumeria cuttings? I didn't know if they would need special treatment. I root plumeria cuttings all the time. I didn't know if these needed to be kept more moist?

In my experience the H. rosa-sinensis doesn't really need anything special - any buds that form you'll want to cut off - it take a great deal of energy for plants to make flowers and you want that energy to go into making roots. I don't let my cuttings flower until it has a really good root system going.