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Cold damage, long term effects?

9 years ago

It's been a severe winter, and long cold spring for many of us. As my hosta are finally starting to unfurl, I'm seeing cold damage on many of them. As the leaves unfurl, I get surprised. Some that I thought had heavy damage, look pretty good. Others that I thought were mildly damaged are terrible with deformed and miscolored leaves.

I've never had this before! How will this affect them for the following years? I know they won't look great this year, but does it set them back for next year?

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Comments (9)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
hey

you are a bit vague on the level of damage ...

if completely gelatinous ... leave it all until it dries ... then lift it out of there.. dormant buds will trigger.. and in a few weeks it will reflush ... one year.. this happened twice.. and you are right.. the following year... they were smaller all around ... i speculate.. they used to too much stored energy ... and couldnt recover .... but they eventually did ...

as the pips elongate.. the leaves are curled around each other ... and often the damage is just the outer most leaves ... and not complete.. to turn them into hosta jello .. lol ... again ... leave them be.. as even a partially damaged green leaf.. can photosynthesize .... if need be.. crack them open to allow the interior ones to unfurl ... in a few weeks.. as more leaves appear ... you can just yank off the worst looking ones ... to make the clump look better ... and you might be surprised.. in late june.. how few need to be removed.. to make the plant look a lot better ...

the biggest mistake.. IMHO ... is to insist on 'fixing' it all too soon ... and making it worse .. by breaking or harming newly emerging leaves ...

the worst year.. was when they got froze .. recovered.. and were pummeled by a mid june hail storm ...

let them sort themselves out.. before you take action .. is the best advice i can give...

ken
User
9 years ago
I have some which were apparently cold damaged, but the leaves unfurled and keep on staying green. It is when the hosta gives up on a leaf, and it wilts down to the edge of the pot, I pull it off from the base of the petiole. Twist and yank. Not much effort required.

I know how you feel about never having a fine looking hosta. It will take some time, but it will be restored to beauty. Maybe next year, but like Ken says, possibly before this year is over if nothing else happens to it.

My example is None Lovelier, which is shown 3/13/14 emerging early. Oops, it got bit and is now sporting some deformed leaves. I'm leaving those, to see if the new ones look normal. Meanwhile, I keep the plant isolated (it's in a pot) in case it is something besides cold damage, something like a virus.
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bkay2000
9 years ago
They recover fairly well, fairly quickly.

bk

Invincible 03/20/14
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Invinclble today

Honeybells 03/20/14
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Honeybells today

Sugar and Cream 03/20/14

Sugar and Cream today (Some of that is insect damage)
dg
9 years ago
Are the translucent areas on this leaf from cold damage?
bkay2000
9 years ago
Yes. My So Sweet gets that fairly regularly, as it's the first one up.

bk
hostahosta
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for the info.
dg
9 years ago
Yes, thanks Bkay!
jadie88
9 years ago
Those are encouraging shots, Mocc! I have several that are looking discolored and sad from our late freeze. For the worst ones, I did have to pull away the damaged outer leaf to let the others unfurl like Ken said...a couple got pretty crumpled from trying to come up through the mangled pip.
User
9 years ago
Here is Summer Music damaged from cold.

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