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How Deep Do You Plant Hosta?

13 years ago

I am worried that some of my hosta might be planted too deep? How do I decide? I purchased a few bare root hosta last year and I am unsure whether I planted them at the correct depth. They are just starting to unfurl. The Great Expectations hosta's leaves are tiny compared with last years. But it was in a pot and I planted it at the same depth as it was in the pot. The rest of them look pretty good. I had planted one Whirlwind too deep and so I moved it up, but it was obvious that it was too deep.

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Comments (9)

woodthrush
13 years ago
Hi Val,
You want the crown to sit just an inch or so below the surface.
Pam
lindac
13 years ago
You want the crowns just AT the soil surface!
I never saw a hosta suffer from being planted an inch too high, but I have seen them die from being planted an inch too deep.
Linda C
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Seedmama, I think I'll always have Neil Sperry's voice in my head telling me what to do and how to do it, and that's a good thing! I do think May 1st was great advice for Dallas and the whole D-FW metro area perhaps even all the way up to the Red River. I still plant them May 1st (but, remember, I am so far south that I have Texas on three sides of me) if the soil temp is consistently 70 degrees and the 10-day forecast doesn't have any wicked cold weather in it. For everyone in OK north of the Arbuckles, I would think May 15th would be a perfect date as long as the soil is warm and the forecast has warm nights in it. If you want to get an early start, Momfryhover, plant them in one or two gallon pots in potting soil and place them someplace warm....a concrete patio or driveway slab would be ideal. You'll have to move them inside on cold nights though. Planting early doesn't get you much growth if the soil and nights are cold because the bulbs just sit there and sulk....or, if it is wet and cold, they rot. For hostas, I don't grow them here since I discovered, after planting 30 of them here our first year, that they are "deer chow". When I planted them in Texas and here, I liked to plant the crown of the smaller ones 1/2" to 1" below the soil surface in black gumbo clay or a little deeper in really well-drained sandy loam. With the really large hostas, you can put the crown 1" to 2" below the soil surface in well-drained loamy soil, but a little more shallow than that in clay. (Really, clay ought to be well-amended for hostas and, in that case, you could plant them 1" to 2" below the soil surface.) I think the whole issue of planting hostas deeply (or how deeply to do it) is more critical in colder climates where repeated winter freezing/thawing of the ground can result in frost heave, wherein plants are literally heaved upward out of the ground and then freeze to death. If you plant the hosta crown just a bit below the soil surface and mulch well (mulch around the plant, but not on top of the crown), the plants should do just fine. Dawn
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val1
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks. I think my new ones might be a little deep, I will check them out tomorrow. If so, do I adjust them now? They are just unfurling.
woodthrush
13 years ago
Linda,
So does that mean you always have an 'eye' stick up above the ground surface? Or do you cover with mulch?
Pam
gardenfanatic2003
13 years ago
Some of my hostas suffered this year because the crowns were exposed over the winter, unbeknownst to me until this spring. I had received them bareroot last year, so I'm interested in this question as well. Obviously, I don't know how deep to plant either.

Deanna
lindac
13 years ago
Plant with the place where the crown and roots join at the surface.
You may add some mulch to keep the crown from drying over the winter....but I have happy healthy hosta with the top of the roots and a lot of the crown exposed....sort of liek a mini banyan tree.....and I had a couple of dwindling and puny Montana aureomarginata which were planted too deep. I moved them last fall and this spring they are going gangbusters.
Some hosta are more sensitive to being planted deep than others. I buried a Krossa regala few years back.......yhr next year it looked puny, the following year, it had a ring of new eyes outside of the old too deep crown, the next year the old crown died and created a hosta atoll and this year the "lagoon" ins porting new eyes.
But all hosta aren't so resiliant.
Linda C
mikey01h
13 years ago
One mistake I initially made when I first began my hosta aficionado was to pull the plant from the pot and stick it directly into the ground (at or at least around the proper depth).
The plant seemed fine the first year or so, then as the original potting mix began to break down; the plant would slowly begin to sink, eventually rotting the plant.
Although I had tilled, and appended the surrounding soil, the old potting mix started decomposing immediately, causing a mushy sink hole.
I had lost quite a few hostas because of this mistake, and now I carefully remove ALL the medium from around the hosta and roots and then plant it into the pre-prepared soil, then if there is any decomposition or soil settling, then the whole area settles togetherÂ
Initially I wanted to minimize the disturbance to the plant and roots, which ended up being a big boo booÂ.
lisasmall
13 years ago
Great description of your Krossa island, LindaC!

Mikey, I've been having hostas sinking too and didn't know why. Your explanation makes perfect sense. I'll bet this is what killed my pretty 'Patriot.' :( Thanks.
ewsjts_comcast_net
11 years ago
I have four "Sum and Substance" hostas which were planted from bare root last year. None of them appear to have (what as a novice) am calling strong structure. The stalk and leaves of 2 of them are totally laying on the ground. The other 2 appear to be struggling to stand erect. None of my other hostas are or have ever done this. Yesterday I went out and put "Natures Helper all around them to get them to stand up. Today, I read that can attract voles. What did I do wrong and what do I need to do to correct these "leaning" plants?

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