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question about cutting back foliage now?

14 years ago

Hi everyone, I have a quick question hopefully you all can help me with. Some of my hostas look like crap from the slugs, and have brown edges. I was wondering if I could cut the foliage back now? will they grow back nicely and pretty quickly? Or will I kinda make them poop out till next spring? I have some beautiful ones, and it makes me so mad to see the ucky foliage instead of nice pretty leaves. I'm scared to experiment without some advice first.

thanks,

Daniella

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Comments (9)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
it is useless.. unless you solve the slug issue first..

whats your plan in that regard ....

we are coming into root growing season.. every leaf.. pretty or not.. is a factory to produce food.. which will be stored in the new roots .. and that is the food that will power them out of the ground next spring ...

if you interfere SIGNIFICANTLY with this.. and they waste the power reflushing .. instead of storing .. then you will have smaller hosta next year ...

this is no different than if a hail storm did the damage ...

ergo... sooooooo .... i guess i wouldnt do it... but i wouldnt hesitate to take one or two of the worst leaves off.. and see if that doesnt help 'the look' ....

all hosta will reflush later in the season.. so you might want to wait until they do it naturally .. and then take a few of the uglies off ...

so whats the slug plan???

and you will sterilize your clippers and hands in between plants.. if virus is an issue in your garden ....

ken
daniellalell
Original Author
14 years ago
oh yeah, definite sterilization.
thank you Ken.
Most are flowering right now, I see some have new leaves coming up. I guess I will leave them be. I will be digging up a couple to put in pots on the front porch, hopefully the slugs wont bother them there. But anyway, mainly for slugs I use Ortho Bug Getta Snail & Slug Killer. I was obsessed with protecting the Brugmansias this year, and forgot all about the poor hostas. I remembered the hostas too late. The slugs are terrible this year, so far this month we have only had 3 dry days, so the slugs are really partying in this monsoon. I threw some pellets down, but there are some I don't want to use the pellets on because those hostas are too close to the pond..right along the edge, and I dont want to risk some poison getting in there..I love my fishies alive, lol.
I guess I'll put some organic traps there, not beer as we dont drink..I have to look up what else I can use..any ideas?
Thanks :)
Daniella
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Frank, After reading your OP, I think you are definitely talking about daylilies, since you said you already cut down the stems (which are called scapes on the daylily plant.) Since you still have foliage growing, you indeed have daylilies. If you cut true lilies back to the ground you would have no foliage left, since the foliage on a true lily grows from the lily stalk. As was mentioned by daylilydayzed, daylilies do not grow from bulbs - only true lilies do. True lilies should be trimmed (after blooming) so that 2/3 of the stem is still standing. Then the stalks are cut back to the ground in fall, after all foliage turns brown. But your question is about daylily foliage, and I'm getting off subject. It appears to me that different people cut back their foliage at different times, depending on their location/pest problems/disease problems. Here in my zone 5, I leave all daylily foliage on the plant throughout the winter, because it helps insulate against freezing temps. I rarely have pest or disease problems, so I'm not worried about the dying & browned foliage surrounding the crown. In the Spring I try to remove as much of the dead foliage as possible. However, if I don't get around to removing it until the following Fall, (because of my own laziness), the plant doesn't suffer ill effects. the new foliage finds it's way through the old dried up leaves just fine - it just looks unsightly, if located in the front of a border/garden. Julie
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botanybabe
14 years ago
Slugs hate copper. A ring of copper pennies or copper wire around each hosta is said to work pretty well, unless you have mulch, and then the slugs just crawl under the mulch and under the copper.

Lainey
lindac
14 years ago
Safe baits like Sluggo and escargo work very well....and there are many Iron phosphate baits that don't poison other critters.
But to answer your question...no, don't cut the leaves.
Linda C
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
check the FAQ's for diluted ammonia or vinegar ... cheap and effective.. and safe ... at 10% ...

ken
daniellalell
Original Author
14 years ago
thanks everyone.
I have tried the copper b4. I happened to have a big ol spool of it from crafting so decided to try it last year..it didnt work. Neither did the pennies, and after awhile my youngest just went around collecting them like she was finding treasure, lol. neither did any other safe method I tried..but I didnt know about the ammonia or vinegar..gonna look that up, thanks!! those and the DE are the only things I didnt do..I didnt use DE cuz I cant find it anywhere around here, and I dont want to pay shipping for it.
thank you!
Daniella
Babka NorCal 9b
14 years ago
Sluggo works and it is safe. We have snails and slugs year round here and Sluggo keeps my hostas hole free.

-Babka
hosta_freak
14 years ago
Diatomaceous earth could be found at a pool supply store,(not the kind you play on a table)but swimming pool filters sometimes use it to filter pool water. Phil
daniellalell
Original Author
14 years ago
thanks Babka.
Phil, as far as I know, you shouldn't use that kind in the garden..I don't know why? But I always had heard you are supposed to use food grade in the garden.

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