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Cottage Gardens

Dividing Hostas

midnightsmum (Z4, ON)

11 years ago

I am helping a friend get her gardens back into shape. Her neighoubour has offered some variegated hosta for the back shady area!! Great, but I seem to remember a post a couple of years ago about hosta needing to be split at a particular time of year, or they wouldn't assume their rosette shape. Does anybody know if this is true??

tia, Nancy.

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Comments (5)

woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
11 years ago
The easiest time to divide them is in spring just as the tightly furled spears of leaves appear. It's easy then to see where to cut the mass into chunks. There is no way you could divide most of mine at this point without doing them a lot of damage - but then most of mine are the big ones; it might still be possible to divide the smaller ones but they probably would look a bit lop-sided for the rest of the summer.
cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
11 years ago
Hi, Nancy.

I agree with Woody that spring is best when they are still furled, but really, you can divide hosta almost any time. I would avoid doing it during any heat wave, however, and water water water! They may not end up looking their best this year, but they should be okay. Hey, I just received a new order of hosta yesterday, so I would go ahead. What is better than hosta? Especially free hosta!!!
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oh ira .. so many words.. so little time ... i hope i answer your questions.. because by the time i got halfway thru.. i w as already composing this reply in my head ... and may have missed something.. lol.. repeat your question if i missed something .... [i think it was a coffee buzz thing.. lol] ... that picture is older than time.. there used to be a link at the library for such pix .... check the link below for dividing.. first off.. as to the diagram.. who in the heck plants their hosta with the crowns 4 inches underground.. so that you have to pull back that much soil???.. that ought to tell yo how old school this is ... second.. the number of buds a plant puts out.. is a function of its root mass ... you are NEVER going to 'trigger' more buds than the roots can grow ... so ask yourself.. what exactly would be the point of doing this??? leave your plants alone.. and when they mature.. you will have more than enough.. and you can not 'force' early maturity.. but cutting them up .. eh??? there are three parts to a hosta ... the leaves above.. the roots below.. in the middle is a potato like structure ... part of which is the basal plate .. when you cut that potato.. that plate.. you can trigger a bud on each side of the cut.. or cut twice for 4.. or 4 times for 16.. etc ... but as i note.. what about the root mass??.. and why leave it in the ground.. just do it like at the link ... [you will end up with 16 MICRO plants!!! .. because of the lack of root mass]] this is so old school.. only zumbar perfected it.. GRHS .... if you want more.. dig your hosta up.. do surgery.. and go for it ..... like at the link ... i too.. long ago.. thought this was some magical potion for cutting the maturity curve.. it isnt.. grow the roots .... and the plant will follow.. field of dreams and all that.. all that said .. if you are the experimenter type.. well.. go for it.. dont let me stop you .... ken Here is a link that might be useful: link
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I was told years ago it takes about six weeks for a plant to settle in before frost...so I believe six weeks out from our first frost date is the optimum time. Hosta's will survive about anytime you divide them. I am not one who worries about what they look like "the rest of the season". If I have the time and the weather is great I do it. Next year they will look fine. I have people gushing all the time over the fullness of my gardens. When I offer to pass a few along and they hem and haw about "the rest of the season" I figure they don't want them bad enough and find someone who does.
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Sometimes we just have to imagine how good it will look in the end. It is daunting but now that you have dug out so much the ground will be easier to work. I would go through the soil meticulously searching out all pieces of the LOV, including under the patio stones. Some here will say spray it with round up when they have emerged. How you do it is up to you. I am a digger. I like to know that I got as much out as humanly possible. When a missed piece shows up I get it out immediately. I would suggest that you swish the Hostas in a pail of water (or wheel barrow etc.) to make sure there are no LOV roots mixed with them. Here is the area I did. It was completely full of LOV all 35x12 feet of it. The LOV was growing into the Hostas at the far right. This was in 2014. I planted later in the same year.This pic was taken in 2015 of the same bed standing by the Hostas at the far right in the first pic. It was a tough job but very satisfying. Can't wait to see it this year!
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midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
Original Author
11 years ago
lol - I agree - especially a free hosta. I think the one in mind would be happy to have a bit of root space and new soil to the side of it!!

Thanks, Nancy.
cindysunshine
11 years ago
I sometimes like to just do them later in the year when the foliage is looking bedraggled anyway. I cut them back and divide and by the following spring they come up in a nice round clump again.

It is hot and dry here on my hill and they are not ideal for me, but I do have them very successful on the back deck with hydrangeas where it gets some shade. I guess that's why mine tend to be bedraggled later in the season.
ianna
11 years ago
I agree that one can divide hostas anytime. however for me the best times are spring when it's dormant or fall when it's going dormant. For this time of the year, you need to water the plants well before division. Do it during an overcast sky. It's been rainy in Toronto this past week - that is the kind of weather that suitable for divisions or transplanting. Tomorrow however is going to be too hot.

You can minimize the damange if you just wish to reduce the size of the plant but not uproot the entire plant. I would use a knife and cut the outer plants from the mother plant. And then take a trowel or shovel to remove the plant from the rest. The mother plant will remain.

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