Hi Laura,
I can tell you what I did and what results I've had. I took somewhat soft green wood cuttings from the very ends of branches, removed any blooms or buds, removed all leaves except 2 or 3. I then dipped in rooting hormone and stuck them into a small pot with regular potting mix. I know you are really supposed to put them in vermiculite/sand mix or just vermiculite but I just winged it and hoped for the best. They have not died but they haven't put on any growth either. I am now doing some other hibiscus cuttings the same way except I put them into a cactus potting mix (more airy than regular) and tented them with a plastic bag. I had all of them in indirect sun. So far the tented ones look very good. But it's only been about a week.
I am now off to find some info on when to harvest seeds after cross pollinating. I just crossed a red single standard with my orange double. Not anything I planned, I was taking a walk and saw a nice red single and decided to try it out of curiosity.
Good luck!
Lynne

I take green or semi-hardwood cuttings from non-blooming terminal growth and either stick them in a glass of water OR in rooting hormone, soil and a ziplock baggie (don't let the foliage touch the plastic). They then go in a window sill that gets bright indirect light or under growlights for 14 hours a day.

Cuttings can take anywhere from 10 days to 6 months to root.

All I know is they seem to take forever to root. I have one in a glass vase and it has had small white nubs for over a month. I put a pinch of hormone in the water to see if that would speed things up at all....doesn't seem to.

Tom

they actually root better in soil. I use equal parts of peat moss and perlite, and they root very easily.

They root best when temps are constantly 70 degrees or more. Semi-hardwood and softwood cuttings seem to root quicker, but the hardwood cuttings will root, only take much longer.

Took these ROS cutting a couple of weeks ago and put them in rockwool cubes outside on a sheltered patio, got plenty of roots showing already. No tenting, just made sure they didn't dry out. Dipped in root hormone.
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oh wow...where does one get rockwool cubes? pam

I always found as someone else said, that they do best from semi-hardwood cuttings, in potting mix under gro'lites with constant light and covered of course,but they do take a minimum of about a month to start making rootgrowth, and longer before transplanting to a larger container. I think people tend to overestimate how many different types of plants will "actually" root just in water at all, and for the most part those that don't like to root in water will prefer a sterile soiless mix to root. I've always taken the position that, though some plants root readily in water, that move to potting mix is a big shock to the roots , since it is so different from growing in water, and also should the roots be in water too long, they have a tendency to get very tangled, when removing them from the water for their move to potting mix, so many are damaged or at the vary least, it's extremely difficult to untangle those roots, so that they may be evenly spread in the new potting mix. That being the case, many of those roots produced in the water are damaged in the transplanting.

What are you referring to when you say ROS?

Louise

(ROS) Rose of Sharon

does anyone know what I should do with my large standard hibiscus tree, i have it in my sunny window. It is not very bushy and it has nice dark green leaves at the ends of the stems which is the new growth and it blooms everyday but the base of the stems aren't as leafy and the leaves are not nearly as big. Should I cut off the new growth? Would that make it more bushy? Would it still flower as much and will it fill in more?