Aly, are you saying you put one hosta in a whiskey barrel? That's way too big a container, at least it would be in my zone. I'm in a whole different gardening world, so I can only tell you what I do with pots. You should put them in a litle bit bigger pot than the one they came in. Otherwise, the pot stays too wet. I've only lost a few and that was from staying too wet in the winter.

Some one more experienced than me will probably chime in as I've only saved one from rot. What I did do i s dig them up, wash all the gunk off them and repot them in smaller pots, dont' keep them too wet and pray.

bkay

Crossing my fingers for you alycia! The bits of green and the good roots seem hopeful signs.

well.. at least the searchable title.. will help anyone else who has similar concerns ...

what did you do with the pot for winter .. cover it?? .. tip it over.. etc???

what is the media mix in the pot..

otherwise ... all you can do.. is wait and see.. since you are too afraid to dig and look

ken

All of the barrels are too big to tip over on there sides and I didn't get to cover them. I had hostas make it previous years with no problems at all in gallon pots so I thought big half barrels would be less worrisome. Although the Ls Beach Bum was in a much smaller pot with even better drainage. As far as the soil mix I can't remember overly well. I do know half was humas for sure then I am a bit fuzzy on the other stuff. I did use some garden soil and I think a cheap potting mix. All last summer all them thrived in the soil. I will go out and dig them all up and see if I can try to save them.

They probably stayed too wet over winter since the barrel wasn't covered. All of the rain and snow stayed in the barrel and not using a loose potting mix that drains well made it hold the water in. The bigger the container, the more water it will hold.

Do what you can to dig out what appears to be alive. Even though the crown may be mushy if you find roots which are alive-white and firm then you may be able to save the plant by repotting into a much smaller pot with a humus rich soil which I would add perlite too to increase drainage which is sold at all the box stores. Don't wait especially if you have rain/snow on the way and cold weather. I'd repot then move plants to a covered/dry area where you can control moisture until you know whether these plants will survive.

Scott

Sorry to read that! Sally and Bob survived, that is important because it will be a beauty!
I think you can douse the plants with a fungicide and hope for the best. Those with crown rot I rinsed off, planted them in pots in a well draining mix, drenched them with a fungicide solution. They came back, but much smaller, and an Eskimo Pie only showed a green leave.
Bernd

Well, that tells me to plant something else in my second whiskey barrel....like bananas or palms or bird of paradise.

Hope your plants make it, Alycia. Zone 3/4 can be pretty tough with no protection, can't it?

Well I dug them all out and most of them seem intact. I pulled out the mushy parts and I let them dry a little. I will repot them tonight. I don't have much hope for Stained Glass but the good news for that is I had another one that I wanted to put in a barrel but decided not to and that one I think is ok. Goodness Gracious I think will be ok. The crown seems fine, it was just the new eyes that were mushy. Also there is a tiny little eye growing up at the base of the crown that is so far unaffected. I happen to have some real nice soil right now because I am doing a garden all in containers this year so I will use that. Then I will stick them on my front porch. Fingers crossed!

More bad news though, I went through all my pots and 90% of my minis died. They were all in the ground last year but I potted them up thinking I would be able to get my hosta garden finally put in(they happened to be right in the middle of everything). But it was not to be, so all of my minis overwintered in the pots. Most every thing else is fine.

Also those dumb squirrels are back putting nuts in my hostas again! arghhhhhh!

Well,I'm not in zone3/4 as you are,but here,I just leave my half whiskey barrels out all winter,uncovered. The hosta in them always return every year with no problems. You need good drainage holes in the bottom,and sometimes the lower sides of the barrels. My soil is just Miracle Grow with some compost,and I just let the tree leaves fall on them,and stay all winter. As for how many hostas,I have Jewel-of-the-Nile in one,with a Palace Purple Heuchera,and the other one has just Pizzazz in it,but no other plants. That is what I do ,but maybe you should ask Janice,who is from Ohio. She has several hostas in whiskey barrels. Phil

Glad to hear most look ok and may survive. Just be careful until it warms in your area and you see growth coming with water and would also recommend a fungicide. Powdered sulfer is cheap and very effective. Easiest to find at your local Agway store. At that time increase water and fertilize so they have every element they need to grow.

Scott

That's funny you should mention it actually I got the idea from Janice. You know I think I will add some drainage holes in there this year. All that rain last year probably didn't help!

The only time I've done a hosta in a whiskey barrel, I lost it to crown rot too. And it was a true driveway hosta.... Royal Standard.

If you don't tip it or cover it, you're pretty much asking for crown rot.

I brought home two fresh whiskey barrels, and I mean you could still smell the Jack Daniels in them. I left them in the car, and when DH went to use it, he said the whiskey smell was so strong he could not chance driving with them in there. Yeah, if he'd been pulled over.......busted!!!

But he drilled 5 big holes in one of them and I put a very large bird of paradise in it. The other one sits upended and undrilled so far, but maybe SIX holes would be better if I decide to plant hosta in it?

No single hosta I have could fill a whiskey barrel, but several quite possibly would work for a year or two with maybe three small/medium sized new plants. If I have to change those, then maybe the more mature S&S would work alone in a whiskey barrel.

Alycia, I hope you have a wood drill bit, at least an inch in size to put holes in your whiskey barrel this time?
Glad all your plants did not turn to mush, but losing all the little guys has to be distressing.

I know this is way off topic, but I had some of those half barrels in my yard when I moved in, the termites had eaten the bottom out of them, and some were in our house !

I wouldn't leave any wood on the ground around the house here, its like throwing down a welcome mat, I am not sure you have that problem there.. But I thought I would mention it.

I have a large hosta in a half barrel - its a NOID - a large shovelful given to me by a friend. It fills the barrel quite well and has rather long leaves that drape over -- rather elegant. It has been there for perhaps 5 years and I have never done anything to protect it in winter. Once again it looks really healthy this spring. Perhaps climate is the main difference. I had planned to cover it last winter (after reading the forum) but didn't get that done.

Leafwatcher, no problem with a whiskey barrel drainage if it has no bottom, for whatever reason.

Oh yeah, termites subterranean and Formosan are issues here, big time. Having pretreatment of the home site is a requirement before construction. Did not know they were a problem up in zone 5, since my DH (from MA) really knew nothing about them.

Treated wood is all that can take ground contact here in south Alabama, and that for only a relatively short period of time. Some wood, however, is more resistant than others. Such as cypress, cedar, and redwood--although I've never had anything redwood. My favorite is cypress. But fence posts traditionally were cedar before modern treatments were available. Don't know if creosote was used on the farm for posts or not, do you? I can still remember the smell of it. Naval stores was a big part of the pine forests industry for centuries, but I'm not that close to the Carolinas where it was a big part of the economy.

Jan, after five years in the whiskey barrel, I suspect even in your climate there is "good drainage" due to rotting wood if not insect damage. Surely you freeze more solidly than we do (no ground freeze at all here). Was this a milder winter than most you have?

Yes, my barrel certainly wouldn't hold whiskey. So perhaps its decrepit condition protects the hostas come what may. And we had a very mild winter -- our snow blower only got used a half dozen times or so and we rarely had to scrape the windshields! Activities you can't relate to eh!!!
Jan

Moccasin,

My S&S is 4 or 5 years old and in a 16" pot. It does just fine. It's about 40" across.

bkay

I noticed that after 15 years two oak whiskey barrels had rotted from the wet soil in it. I keep hydrangeas in those. The new ones I lined with polyethylene foil, also the bottom, and put them on several patio blocks, because soil contact would invite tree roots again to get in and let the wood rot.

In the frozen North we do not want to let water stand on the crowns with thawing and freezing, so we tip all pots/barrels or cover them during winter.
Bernd