In need of some noobie knowledge

13 years ago

Okay so I'm really getting into this hosta thing... and I'm kindly OCD about wanting my hosta to look perfect... and I realize mother nature is a pain sometimes and nothing is ever perfect... but anyways just some easy questions here.... I'm not taking the time for pictures unless somebody would like to see them...

Just to give you an idea of what kinda weather we have had since early spring...

Early spring started off really warm and rainless... I live two hours north of Nashville, TN... we were 10 inches short on average rainfall before the epic flood... which brought 10 inches of rain in less than 2 days... I managed to water my hosta to life... but then came the flood... our yard didn't flood and hold much water...but still... 10 inches of rainfall...my hosta were actually looking decent... but we had like two weeks of gloomy weather after the flood... nothing really has dried out much here... If it weren't for digging and bleaching I would've lost some to petiole rot... the slugs were terrible... I managed to control them with an iron phosphate bait... most of my hosta have been eat on a little... but nothing like last year when I didn't have a clue...we're just now starting to get some good sunshine...even though its been humid and we've had 20-50% chance of rain and thunderstorms everyday...

I have the standard mulch fungus... the stuff you get with most box store mulch during humid weather... dog puke fungus... little mushrooms and such... but my petioles all seem to be strong and not rotting... another note would be that I've moved practically ever hosta around so that its position would suit me... these were planted last year and I had no idea really how they would mature...so they might be suffering some stress from that...

My main concerns would be an abundance of dessication on the lower leaves of my albomarginatas... some on the lower leaves of my other mound forming hosta but none near as bad as the king of slouch...

...the slug damage seems to be dessicating or browning/graying around the edges... is this normal? or could there possibly be a fungus present?

.... some of my honeybells seem to be showing a loss of color in spots... kindly a silvering..looks like frostburn is showing its face?

.....some of my honeybells have some small white dead patches in them....what could this be?

Don't get me wrong... I'm not insanely worried... I realize most of my hostas in these beds are a dime a dozen... and I haven't had them years... just curious as to what some more experienced gardeners may have to say about the plant issues I look at when I look at my hosta closely...

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Comments (6)

i-like-to-grow
Original Author
13 years ago
Okay and here's one I think may be a fungus for sure... I'm gonna go ahead and link some pics while I'm doing it... since I'm OCD I tried to go without doing it...but I couldn't...

Give me your advice peeps...
First two pics possibly slug damage dessicating and silvering.. frostburn?
{{gwi:1041437}}

{{gwi:1041438}}

Second Pic -- Fungus Among Us?
{{gwi:1041439}}

Big White Dead Spots--- whats this?
{{gwi:1041440}}

King of Slouch around the bottom...
{{gwi:1041441}}
bkay2000
13 years ago
I'm a casual hosta gardener, so I can't answer your questions. However, I have a similar problem with the one in the lower picture. It could be the same variety and almost always has some kind of edge damage. I just went out to look at it and this year, it has some small spots on the edge. It's probably 10 years old, so I don't even notice the problem anymore.

For me, the slug damange is always on the edge. It looks like someone took a pair of scissors to the edge (except not straight, of course). If I forget to get the pot feet under them in the spring when they break ground, the slugs always get them. (I have to grow in pots here.)

I don't know about the holes in the middle of the leaves. However, I was just looking at the post entitled "mice". the photos show pictures of a hosta with holes in the leaves. I might ask him/her about it.

Barbara
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
13 years ago
there was cell damage .... causing a cell to burst ...

whether it was from a very superficial frost... a twig falling out of a tree .. a slug ... bug.. whatever ...

it caused cell death.. and then a secondary problem attacked the dying tissue.. either a rust or a fungus ...

there is nothing to do about past injury .. nor anything to do about fixing the secondary problem ...

now that they are fully leafed out.. the first leaves.. the ugly ones now on the ground... can be pulled out.. to make it look a bit neater ... if you are so inclined ...

the ONLY thing you can do.. to quit fixating on this one.. is to buy 100 more.. so you have more to look at.. lol

ken
thisismelissa
13 years ago
oooh, spoken from a true master. Perhaps that's how 1600 hostas have made it into Ken's garden!
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
13 years ago
and after seeing this... and walking my own ...

i would say about 1200 of them look the same or worse ...

really.. if you are fixating over this... you may as well just get out of hosta ...

ken
i-like-to-grow
Original Author
13 years ago
thanks ken... you have come through once again lol... this is exactly what I needed to hear... no I won't get out of hosta... I just needed to know that this was expected lol... once again thanks bro.... the brutal truth is most enlightening
John

In need of some noobie knowledge

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i-like-to-grow
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bkay2000

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i-like-to-growOriginal Author

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