need a picture..

hail did NOT kill those plants ...

i suspect lack of water.. drought.. and southern blight...

look where the crown was.. see any tiny orange dots??/

ken

Ken I cant give picture because I threw them in garbage. It cant be drought, even though they were totally dried out, due to the fact that I have been watering my hostas every other day because of heat. All other hostas are doing okay. I guess this gives me permission to buy more. Is it too hot to plant?

Something was preventing the water from getting to the roots of the plant so that it could use it. It's hard to know what that was without a picture. It could have been voles that ate the roots/crown. Did you inspect the roots when you dug it up? Is the soil nice and fluffy in this area? Have you looked for vole holes or tunnels?

It could have been blight or crown rot. If that's the case you would want to treat the soil in the area with a fungicide drench before planting again.

If you can't figure out what it was, then I would suggest you plant a division of a "dime a dozen" Hosta like Lancifolia or Undulata in that hole as a test to see if it's OK to plant there. Don't put an expensive Hosta or a one-of-a-kind seedling in this area until you know it is safe to plant in.

Steve

Thanks. I did not look for voles. I just went out to water plants and saw that these two were just basically laying there in dirt all dried out even though it was watered 2 days ago. To be on safe side I will do a fungicide drench. What type of fungicide do you all recommned. I am new to hostas and up to this point never had serious problems.

if it dried up.. its a water issue.. regardless of how often you watered ...

either you dont water deeply enough

something ate the roots.. [cant process the water]

disease as mentioned.. [roots rotted.. no water movement]

or the tree roots took all the water you put down ... [being out competed for water ...]

so no matter what.. its a water issue ...

dont get defensive.. we arent saying such to make you feel bad.. we are giving you options.. w/o a pic ... so we are completely stabbing in the dark here..

we do want you to succeed ...

ken

Sorry if I sounded defensive, I really am not just confused. I looked on google for blight and my plants looked similiar to some of the pictures. I will dig in garbage and take closer look. Would pouring bleach into soil kill this disease?

Valtorrez,

Personally I wouldn't recommend a fungicide drench unless you have some evidence to show that there was blight or rot in the area. It's just not good gardening practice to treat for something unless you have some idea of what it is. If there is no evidence to be able to figure it out, then I would suggest replanting in the area using a "throwaway" Hosta, and monitoring its growth carefully. If it grows for about a year in that spot without a problem, then replace it with a more attractive plant.

Steve

Thanks Steve I will buy a $5 plant from Home Depot. I was looking at some real nice ones at nursery but do not want to waste money.

Nooooooooooooo! Not Home Depot. You could be making your problem worse by introducing HVX diseases plants. How about a piece divided off one you already have that is healthy?

-Babka

@Val... yeah I agree don't buy a box store hosta... look for the cheapest thing from Hallsons or Naylor Creek and put it there... and yes a bleach/water solution in 1/10 will remove southern blight from the soil... I used it two years ago to save a Blue Cadet that was rotting at the crown... I actually dug up the hosta... cleaned its root with water... then dipped in in the solution...let it set for a minute.. then rinsed it off and replanted it in a pot... I used the rest of my bleach solution to water the ground where it was rotting and later that year planted a High Society there which would be flourishing if it wasn't for the maple roots =)
John

I dont know how to divide my plants. I will look at Hallsons or Naylor or just go to nursery and buy cheapest one. I know I can find one at nursery that is cheap. The ones I usually buy is pricier because I like to buy them already big in size.

Dividing is easy! Check out some of these videos.

-Babka

Here is a link that might be useful: How to divide a hosta

Val,

Do you have a plain green Hosta? Just take a sharp shovel and cut a piece of it off. Make sure you get leaves, petioles (stems to you) crown and roots. Then go put it in the hole at the same level it was growing. Fill in the hole you made next to your old plant with compost or some good organic soil. Water copiously.

That's it.

Steve