Round up will kill your grass....and if your are careful not to get it on the hosta leaves, it's safe to use in a flower bed....lots better for plants than chopping at their roots.
As for the apples, I have never noticed much of a problem. I say don't sweat the small stuff....they are, after all plants growing in the great ot of doors. If you take down the tree to protect them from falling apples, then you will get a hail storm that really shreds them.
Just take what comes.
Linda C

Big chuckle about the hail. Oh yes, Roundup. Bought some last year but afraid to mess with it. An environmental purist on another group I used to politely (I thought) participate in until somebody said I was dumb as a box of rocks, well I did respond and they aren't moderated lol. She weeds her two properties by hand and doesn't like people like me who use pesticides. But I hadn't used any yet! My oh my if I weeded by hand that's all I'd do all growing season and my lot isn't that big, well it's not an option. She probably had the right tools but still. I had asked a perfectly legitimate albeit dumb question like do I use roundup full strength or dilute it when I "paint" with it and do I mix over the toilet, sidewalk or what (that part was dumber than dumb). I will mix in the driveway out back where it doesn't matter if some spills. Guess I didn't need to go there. I'm afraid to mess with those things but am going to have to anyway for other things, in moderation. I don't have a good sprayer though. My son has sprayed for me w/a backpack and I went ahead and covered plants but he is stressed so I don't like to bug him unless I'm desperate.

Yes, the Roundup I need to learn to use. What do you use to spray it with? That spray bottle of Ortho whatever will be ok for some spots but it might not even work. PLUS oh that grass may look subdued now but it WILL be back with a vengeance. So timely advice. I hope I cut deeply enough to stop a few of the runners, can do that periodically now that I know how. If only we had gotten the pre-emergent down in time.

Most of the grass I had cleared before I set in the plants, and hopefully the roots haven't done too much yet but I did have to get close to one or two hostas.

I'm kind of relieved about the apples, won't worry about it any more now and enjoy the fruits of my labor. I actually pick the ripe ones up now rather than let them rot in the street and terrace like I sometimes did. It looks a lot neater, not perfect, but neater. My neighbors & acquaintances go by and cannot believe what has gotten into me with all the changes going on here. While I was struggling, some guy walked by across the street with a wheelbarrow and rake and complimented me. Oh that was while I was fighting with the tiller on the hill. I wanted to ask him what he was up to but decided to skip it, had to stay focussed.

Sure appreciate the help and encouragement, I don't know where I'd be otherwise with some of this.

i used to do hosta under apple ...

apples dont fall until october.. long past prime hosta time ... forget about that problem ... the more you water the hosta.. the better the apples will hold onto the tree ...

i presume you wont be spraying the tree ... if so .. the spray might make them look ugly .. mar the surface ... but otherwise it wont bother them ...

but without spray.. my apple had rust.. and it made little reddish splotches on the hosta.. probably where the slug bit into the leaf... no apple .. no problem.. just ugly ...

the biggest problem is the apples fibrous root system .... over 2 or 3 years.. the plants started to dwindle from the invasion of the apples root system .... you will have to 'pop' some of them out to sever the apple roots ...

plant some better trees so that in the long run ... you can get rid of the apple ... you have to plan ahead when building shade ...

i have no clue what bottle thing you are referring to ...

but with a fibrous root system ... broadcast all water.. if you water only the hosta... take a guess where the tree will grow roots ...

and for the same reason.. i wouldnt till under such a tree ... whatever.. its done.. dont worry about it ... theya re hosta ....

ken

I have Hostas under my apple tree also and never have a problem. As Ken said, they fall so late.

I was concerned that they would start to rot and the 'apple muck' would attract more slugs etc. I do remove quite a few of the apples while they are still tiny and green. This gives the others more room to mature and reduces the weight on the branches of the tree. I love the tree and don't want it to split.

Helps the apples, helps the hostas (less rotting apples under the tree) and does not take as much time as it sounds. I take a five gallon bucket and grab as many as I can reach.

Lot to digest there. The tree is in decline, and I don't do much any more with the apples, have never sprayed them, most are too high now. I do have an apple picker when the kids start climbing the thing, but the top half broke off so it won't reach as high as it should.

All these years and I can't remember when the bigger, ripe ones start to drop, how dumb is that? I hear them at night here by my computer when the window is open. The green ones I don't bother about, just let them fall, may or may not pick them up depending on time & energy. Suckers are a problem in the other little garden near the tree; I'm always whacking them.

Sigh, I never water the terrace so suckers have never appeared there. Maybe the tiller edger will go deep enough to sever the runner if they do.

I can't grow any more trees, am out of room for them.

The bottle business is on the other thread I started, probably on page 2 now, subject something like do these hostas look like they are going to make it, can't remember, am tired. It's a good idea, and when I'm not running to the hardware store for stupid reasons like I bought a connector for two hoses and could not turn the on off thingies, didn't want to force them with pliers and break them off or whatever, fingers sore from arthritis. The guy got them loose for me and I can turn them now. I buy a soaker hose for the front, start setting it up and ready to attach the laundry hose as an extender so it won't start the drip until it is in the garden. It's like two female connectors, and I need a female male on the ends because of the way the soaker hose is set up. I was so frustrated. Now I have to go back to the hardware store to see if there is some kind of adapter and return one soaker hose I bought for another garden because my neighbor loaned me his again, but I'm not enthusiastic about using it because it makes it much harder to weed.

You partly bury a 2-litre bottle with a slit in the bottom and put water in the top to set up a slow drip, upping the chances that the water won't flow down the hill but water more deeply is essentially what that was about. Then I wrote what I did in this thread about putting the slit in the cap and opening up the bottom to make filling them easier.

I forgot to water the hostas tonight. So much to do. Problems with everything, hard to stay on top of it all. They'll be fine.

I want to lay a nice edging now that I have it cleaned up and am too tired to even think about it. Some kind of bricks, more work, maybe in the fall.

It will probably be a little like my cat laying in a sunny spot in my garden this morning - right on top of Eskimo Pie! Drat that Cat. I scolded her and propped up the flattened hosta...I don't think the cat cares....

Well, that would be frustrating, too, but I'm thinking it should be ok. Little dickens. I've lost my last two cats and miss them so much, one a month ago and my all-time favorite in Aug of 2005, about 16 & 21 respectively, don't grieve about it so much any more, but don't want any more housecats because I'm getting old and if something happens, it would be hard to find a good home for them, especially an older cat.

That's enough cat talk, I guess. I'm feeling so sad today because I can't keep up with it by myself like I see my neighbors have their yards. They all have partners to help and are young and strong.