pot it up..

or get it in the ground ...

if you do roses.. you should have enough knowledge to be dangerous ... lol ...

the roots will have to get as big as the plant above .. over the years.. so it will need a lot more room that that little thing ...

unpot .. remove the media.. dig hole.. make a cone of soil in the middle ... [just like i used to do with mail order roses] .... spread the roots around the cone ... crown or pips at soil level .... backfill .. secure it by firming the soil.. and water ...

if you can add some organics to maintain more water in the soil.. go for it..

i never recommend fert at planting ....

or throw it on the driveway w/o the pot.. and it will probably grow .. its a hosta.. pretty bulletproof in my world ...

just do it.

ken

Lucky you! Pineapple Upsidedown Cake is one of my very favorite ones, and does well here. Lift it out and peek at the roots. If it looks pot bound, put it in a slightly larger pot.

-Babka

she got ripped off.. if it PUC is not root bound in a 3 inch square pot ...

unless she got a real small plant for cheap ...

i forgot to mention ... roots down.. pips up ... lol ..

ken

hmmm... never thought about building a cone in the middle. Thanks for the information.

Do you always remove the "media" before planting in the ground?

Does removing media mean shaking it off or rinsing with water?

I saw Chris at Hallsons remove the hostas from the ground, rinse the roots clean and then pot with his soil mix. When I got these home, I dug a hole in the ground, stuck them in the ground, and backfilled with my soil mixture.

You're right about them growing in the driveway. I had a Halycon that I got in the mail from Chris that sat on my kitchen counter for a week that bloomed whole on the counter.

I'll push it out of the container and check the root growth.

How big a pot should I put it in? I think it's too small to go into the garden yet - It's only about 5" tall. It has two bundles of growth (yeah, that's not the right name but I don't know the right name).

I might want to keep this one in a pot. Any recommendations on pots? Babka seems an expert - other than good drainage, what should I look for in a pot? How deep must it be?

I'm getting a little nervous that Captain Kirk and Patriot aren't coming up yet but they're in more shade than Guacamole and that just started a week ago. I would imagine that different types have different timelines. Just a nervous Nellie. My 3 peonies have come up (about 6") so that's a good sign. I was worried about our extremely wet winter. Luckily, the three hosta are in dry shade so they got rain but no pooling and not nearly as much drenching as other areas of the yard.

It's only about 5" tall. It has two bundles of growth

Some folks refer to them as eyes, I prefer to call them shoots. Eyes to me implies something dormant, not something growing.

I'm getting a little nervous that Captain Kirk and Patriot aren't coming up yet

Don't worry about them, they'll be up soon, they're members of the Fortunei family and are notorious for being slow to show their noses. I have 'F. Hyacinthina' showing noses in the yard, but a 'Minuteman' in a different location is still below surface, not worried at all about it. Similarly late to nose up are 'Striptease', 'Gold Standard'. Up here in B.C. my peonies are all up and I expect to see the first them bud-up in about another 2 weeks or so, if not sooner.

Spring is that annual waiting game and we all get anxious and then excited when we see the first signs of the returning perennials. It's just a wonderful time of year...

Pieter

Relax. My Patriot is just barely breaking the soil, and you get colder than I do, so just be patient. I profess to be an expert in growing hosta in pots in Sunnyvale, California ONLY, because that is where all my experience comes from for the past 12 or so years playing with hostas.

I suggest that you pot it up in a one gal sized pot or smaller, with lots of fir bark (80%)and planting mix or compost. I just plop it into the next larger sized pot. Trying to spread the roots and mound the soil is next to impossible in a small pot, with bark, and tends to leave too much space under the crown and it ends up sinking. Once you get it to a size where you feel comfortable planting it in the ground, THEN, wash off all that perlite/peat moss crap that plants come with.

Our "wet" winter down here in the South Bay, took us out of the drought, gave us a whopping total of 5" for the year so far. The folks in the midwest usually laugh at us, when they can get that much in a week or less. Be brave. ;-)

-Babka

Thanks so much for all the advice!

Babka, I'll go get my Pineapple a nice, pretty pot and keep it in a pot for a year. I have the perfect place for it. Now I just need to find out where to get fir bark!

We had a very wet winter for us (thankfully)and ended the drought. I don't have to feel guilty watering the lawn this summer! Everything else is on a very water friendly drip system so I never feel guilty there.

Pieter, thanks for the info on the different strains of hosta and how some are later than others. I'll stop obsessing.

One last question for those in warmer climates. When you plant in the ground, do you put the eyes at ground level? I was told to do this with the peonies so they get enough winter chill. I just planted one that came already growing in a pot. I used a hose and washed off the top soil until I could see the eyes then planted with the eyes even with the surrounding soil. In the future, do I do the same with hosta? When I got the first one I didn't know anything about them and had no idea they needed the chill. I was much more concerned about my summer heat.

Thanks very much!!! Once everything comes up I'll try to post a picture of my hostas in CA.

Debbie

when i moved here.. i brought 1500 potted hosta ... in promix.. heavy peat media ...

rototilled to 12 inches .. and slipped the hosta out of the pot .. and stuck the media in the native sand ...

over the years.. many cared not a bit.. and thrived.. then i started getting fairy rings [the middle dying in EXACTLY the size of the pot/media] .. and out right loss ...

the problem is that the sand was wicking all the moisture out of the peat media .. especially come july and august ... when the sand was really hot ...

so.. it is best.. to plant them in native soil ... and not leave that wad of media ...

thought the better your soil.. the less it matters ...

===>>>>>

by making the cone.. and really firming it up.. you can .. hopefully .. set and retain the plant at the PROPER PLANTING DEPTH ....

if some of your hosta.. end up planted too deep ... THEY COME UP LATE ... and many will suffer ...in the long run ...

if and when they come up .. and they are late.. then they need to be dug up.. and replanted AT THE APPROPRIATE DEPTH ...

the pips.. eyes .. NEED TO BE AT SOIL LEVEL ... not one inch lower ...

THERE are 3 parts to a hosta.. the roots.. and the leaves .. and between the two.. is a potato like thingee called the crown ... and the crown .. like an iris.. is at soil level ...

another way to tell if they are too deep .. is that if the3y are supposed to be 12 inches tall .. and yours is say.. 8 inches.. and just look squat ... then you poke around.. and see if you can find the crown.. most times.. you will find it a couple inches too deep ....

====>>>>

chris grows his in mother earth ... i dont know what his potting media is ...

====>>>>

you do not need to remove 100% ... just shake off the majority of the media .... if it is severely root bound.. use the hose ...

===>>>

potting media is not soil ... if you want to pot them .. use a PROPER MEDIA ... new post if you cant find old posts on that topic ... if no one above suggested what kind ..

===>>>>

did i miss any other questions???

ken

You can get fir bark mulch at OSH (West Coast) or most nurseries, or big box stores. If you don't want a whole lot of it, just get a small bag of "fine" Orchid Bark.

-Babka

Pineapple Upsidedown Cake looks ABSOLUTELY STUNNING in a pot that is a vivid royal blue. I had mine planted in a great ceramic pot for a year and I LOVED how it looks in that pot! I'd have done it again the next year, but I was too lazy to dig it out of its winter home... now it permanently lives in that spot!

Thanks so much for all the help! Yes, a bright blue pot would look great.

I'll be heading to OSH on Sat to get fir bark. Thanks for the advice on what to plant it in. I would have made a mistake!

Ken, I bet mine are too deep. Is winter the best time to dig them up and put them at the right depth? If so, I'll mark it on the calendar for next Jan. That's when it's the coldest here and the perennials are asleep.

Thanks so much for all the help!

I may get addicted to hosta!

lets play archeologist.. and go pick and brush around.. and see if they are down there ...

IF THEY ARE PLANTED TOO DEPP .. raise them IMMEDIATELY ...

dig as far around as possible ... lift out on shovel ... set aside.. work off some of the soil on top ... throw some soil into the hole.. then drop the plant back in ... and then just move back the high soil ... w/o disturbing the roots too much ... no need to fully bare root it ...

i have no clue why you would wait 10 months to fix the issue..

ken