I don't cut mine down until the stalks are good and dead next spring. New stalks shoot from the rootball next spring. I have found that leaving the stalks helps me locate the plant next year when everything else is growning like mad and the hibiscus is slow to sprout compared to them. Keeps me from trampling on it.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but.....
Since the stalks are hollow, if you do cut them back and rain/snow gets down in the holes, it can travel to the root area and damage, if not kill the plant.
Barb

Does anyone know if you cut a yellow hibiscus down in the Sarasota, FL area? Your help will be appreciated. Thanks.

I live in Sarasota, and cut several down to the ground. They shoot up like crazy. New growth all over. Now they might take a little while because of the drop in temp, and lack of daylight, but they will come back from a good hack. One I just chopped down with a chainsaw, to the ground, is a nice little bush a month later.

As far as the stems being hollow.....I've been hacking them down for some time, and I have never seen one with a hollow stem/branch. All of mine down here in FL are woody stemmed.

I was going to second the "thing" about hollow stems and I"ve never known mine to have hollow stems no matter, when they're cut back. I like to leave some length of stalk to help anchor any mulch around the plants and do that for most of my herbaceious plantsm as it helps keep various mulches from blowing away in heavy winter storms.

I have a yellow with a brown eye hibiscus and its stems are hollow.they are thorny also and its a mallow type cotton thing.I useually sow it twice march& july so it will bloom till frost.The sun has cooked the 1st one by aug& the 2nd one starts blooming then and gets me till Dec.
I don't cut my woody stems back unless am re working the aea or something.I need to know where they are anyway& when I do cut back....I cut back to 1 ft.now that yellow thing.I just rip it out.Its a white fly attracter when decomsing.I also wait till the stems are wasted cauethe plant draws energy from the stems as it goes to sleep.