How do you know a hosta is large enough to divide?
prairiemoon2 z6b MA
16 years ago
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Hosta_Haven
16 years agoJanice
16 years agoRelated Discussions
How much land do you have and is it enough?
Comments (36)I'll chime in here as the Grinch, I guess. Although I'm married, I do all the gardening and the majority of the home maintenance, including all the financial/investing decisions. Also about 99% of the driving, too! I like doing all those things, so it's no big deal. We have a 1/6 acre urban lot and landscaped it into a very nice assortment of cottage-like, separate garden beds broken up by useful hardscape (2 patios and large storage shed/lanai). We both retired early, and gardening is my exercise. Weeding 2000 sq. ft. by hand, up and down hill, means I always have a bottle of Aleve in the medicine chest, LOL. It's beautiful and fun, but frankly, when we sell this property in oh, five to seven yrs from now, all I'll miss is being able to pick fresh Meyer lemons year-round. We've already investigated a number of senior communities and will pick one to move into after this place. No upkeep, no fuss, 24/7 med techs on site, and able to walk out, lock the door, and go traveling without worrying about the house being empty. If I want to keep gardening, there are community gardens all around that are begging for volunteers. My spouse had a major stroke at 50. I won't live more than 15 minutes drive from our HMO hospitals. He wouldn't be alive today if I hadn't been able to get him into emergency in 10 minutes flat (and that was at the height of rush hour!). We both love living in the city. We've got great neighbors and an incredible variety of friends. So much to do, so much to see, and since we both retired early, all the time to enjoy it. No kids and I even gave up pets a few years ago. Too much hassle and lots of $$$ as they aged and needed (expensive) care. Our neighbors/friends have pets; if we want to pet a dog or cat, we can pet theirs and not have to pay the food and vet bills. We never made as much $$$ as others we knew, so had to make decisions about what we wanted and what we can afford. We decided we wanted to spend time on the things we enjoy: a lot of books, great food (whether I make it at home or we dine out, which we do very often), a comfy home and a lot of good friends whom we see as often as possible. Even our modest urban property is a lot of work to handle for one person. Taking care of more RE wasn't how we wanted to enjoy our free time, especially as we age. Living in the city gives us an amazing breadth of choices - not just where to eat but where to live and how. As we have watched our older friends age, we see how more and more, they are simplifying their lives down to the activities they truly enjoy and the people they most want to spend time with. To us, that doesn't include sticking expensive pills down a sick animal's throat or being 85 yrs old and trying to hunch over to weed a 50' long flowerbed that is only one of fifteen others needing attention. Now, if others are up to it, I think that's wonderful! More power to them, I say. But that's not for me or my spouse. Ten years from now I want to have even more time for enjoying life with friends and family, not less. We want to create more shared memories with the people we love, not make it harder to do so....See MoreDividing extra large Hostas?
Comments (16)Welcome to Hosta dividing 101!!!! It sounds like you have large clumps of Hostas so here we go. You should gently tie up the leaves of the plant so you can see where to dig the plant out. How large a root ball you want is up to you but I would dig about 6 inches from the edge of the clump all the way around loosing the ground with the spade as you go. Lift the clump and yes you can pull on the plant itself to remove it from the hole. Shake as much soil off as you can and remove the plant to a tarp to start the dividing process. Look through the clump for natural dividing lines and start cutting,pulling the root ball apart as you go. It will sometines start to divide just by pulling, depending on how much soil is on the plant. Now you have 2 clunps and if you want to divide again repeat the process. If these are large hosta you are dividing when you replant it will be necessary to tie up the leaves to insure that the plant can take water back up into the leaves faster to recover from the shock of being divided.. Water well when you replant and often to help new root growth. If you have never done hosta dividing before don't worry about having to cut through the crown of the hosta if the plant is a large one. It will recover. For small hosta you can usually get the dirt to come off easily and then do the same process but you may not have to cut but you can if you want to. Any hosta division that has even a small part of the crown attached to it will grow so plant them!! Hope this helps all of you newbies!! I was one myself at one time! When man first walked upright!!!! LOL LOl Connie...See Moreoverwintering hostas--how big is big enough?
Comments (12)i will yell ... THIS IS VERY ZONE DEPENDENT ... i have lived my whole life in z5 MICHIGAN ... and that is NOT NC ... read ... learn.. contemplate ... but then figure out how it works in your climate ... for me.. small pots ... can go in and out of dormancy.. if we get that typical 3 to 5 day period in february ... where we hit 60 degrees for the period ... and then return to near zero until mid march .... a hosta that goes in and out of dormancy.. in winter .. IN MI ... will eventually rot/die .. ESPECIALLY ... if it come in and out of dormancy ... the mild winter we had 2 winters ago was a nightmare ... anyway ... take 10 little quart pots... which would thaw in 20 minutes.. and instead .. pot and all pot. them into a short 5 or 10 gallon pot... and all of a sudden you have a large wad of soil.. that will stay frozen until the ground starts to thaw ... so what i was talking about.. FOR MI ... anywhere north of the MI-OH border ... is to create a mass of potting media.. that will retain the cold ... though i enjoy being the be all.. and end all .... of THEORY ... i want you to insure that you then think about how.. where you are.. is different than where i am.. and fine tune the IDEAS i provide ... one other IDEA ... with small pots.. is how to water a dormant hosta.. in a small pot ... in MI ... if i watered with a watering can ... i could freeze the whole root mass.. into an ice cube.. because it would freeze.. before it drained ... so the suggestion is to put some snow.. or an ice cube on the media.. and if a warm day rolls around.. a day where the media might thaw a bit... the frozen material.. will keep the soil cooler.. but more importantly ... will melt according to the warmth ... providing water.. when the media can use the water ... so no matter where you are.. watering in winter is something you need think about .... but the bottom line.. no matter where you are is : GET THEM DORMANT; AND KEEP THEM DORMANT ... and you will win ... i thought i had another suggestion .... but the coffee buzz just kicked in ..... and my hair is sweating .. lol ... i will come back when i think of it ... ken...See MorePhotos of dividing large mature hosta clumps
Comments (9)eOld 1900's greenhouse /field nursery cleanliness operating procedures required bleaching pots/tools/accessories with dilute bleach ( 10% or less solutions) to kill any pathogenic bacteria/soilborne fungi that would quickly attack plant roots. With that background our family has done this since opening the family greenhouse in the 1920's and the nursery business subsequent. My mother began bleaching hosta divisions when that was the only way to propagate them (before tc) and had very good success with overall plant disease control. I have done the same since.. After dividing, using cool water to dilute, leave roots in diluted bleach solution up to one hour or until the root tissues smell of bleach when you remove them. Remove and air dry then replant. Avoid bleach solution temps getting warm, leaving them to soak in the sun or letting them soak too long so the tissue as the root issue will get soft....See Morejel48
16 years agoprairiemoon2 z6b MA
16 years agoJanice
16 years agoprairiemoon2 z6b MA
16 years agoesther_opal
16 years agoWendyB 5A/MA
16 years agodigs57
16 years agoesther_opal
16 years ago
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