Do you cut your clamata's or leave them whole on trellis in the fall

Depends on what variety of the clematis. I leave mine until the new growth begins in the spring.This way only the dead vine get cut and not the growth for the potential flower

most people I know cut them off once the leaves start looking brownish and they always return the next year.

i cut my clematis back about half way.

I used to do as Janet, and cut away only the dead vines in the spring, but it is hard to tell the dead ones. I have cut what I thought was a dead vine, and found that I also was cutting off green side shoots. So last year I cut them all back to the ground in the Fall, and they grew very rapidly in the Spring, filled out nicely and flowered beautifully in the Summer.

I leave them because new growth comes back on these in spring

we cut ours down every year and they come back big and beautiful in the spring and actually bloom twice a year in our area in GA

I have done both. We live in the nw corner of Ohio so we do get some nasty weather in the weather. I have in the past if not cut back take the plant down and kinda wrap it around itself and leave on the ground.

I leave them. New growth will sprout on the old and dried vines.