Hi Peggy,I have done numerous trades and it has always been for a good sized single eye with healthy set of roots attached.Unless specified it is for mainly single eye.Make sure you list your hostas you have in your Members Page trade area so people know what you already have.A lot will not respond if you dont have a listing of what you have.Hope this helps,Phil

one eye.. or two if you are just going to mangle the second ...

but in reality ... its the second and third trade.. where friends are made.. and additional eyes can be bargained for ....

if a stranger asks for a hosta .... i give them one golden tiara ...

if a friend says they NEED GT ... they will likely get 100 ....

see what i mean ...

ken

PS: on the initial trade.. you dont even know if you will get some in return.. so why send more than one .. eh????

I just sent my first 5 boxes out to various people from GW, and received my first trade from GW. It was beautiful, healthy SINGLE eyes with good root systems, carefully packaged and labeled. Exactly what we agreed upon.

Unless you SAY you're giving more than one division, then don't.

here is what i menat...

i killed.. or pandoras box committed suicide .. 8 small plants ...

i traded a clump of PB.. for whatever the other person wanted ...

in theory i got one.. THAT SURVIVED. and they got lots.. everyone was happy ...

as an atty .... CLARIFY YOUR BARGAIN IN ADVANCE.... no one is left with hurt feelings thereafter ...

in other words... ASK YOUR TRADING PARTNER.. not us

ken

The way I understand it, there is a whorl of leaves with a crown and roots. In the trade, this composite is called a "division." There can be many eyes (mostly dormant) on a division. So if you trade for an "eye" you are trading for only a teeny piece of the division and you may or may not get a leaf and/or roots. At one time, each division was an eye, but not once it gets leaves and roots. If I am wrong about this, somebody let me know.

Like Mr. Attorney, Ken, said, clarify your bargain, and make sure you are both using the same words with the same definitions. This is why in contracts, the attorneys define all the principal words at the beginning of the contract. They have to do something for their big bucks.

But whether I am right or wrong about the definition of "eye" and "division", the point is if you had arranged a trade with me and asked for an "eye," an eye is what you would get. But I would probably ask you before finalizing the trade, if you meant to get the whole division.

That said, most of the time, trades are division for division. BUT if I am trading a premium hosta like Candy Dish and you are trading an older hosta like Gold Standard, a fair trade between us might be more like 10 Gold Standards to 1 Candy Dish. It's up to the parties to work it out.

Lainey

Lainey, you opened up a hornet's nest I suspect. In common Hostaholic parlance an 'eye' is the shoot on a piece of crown with roots attached. Never mind whether or not this is technically the correct term -which it isn't- but it is common in most Hostaholic's vocabulary. There are apical buds, or dormant 'eyes', and once those swell and open up to show emerging leaves they become shoots, but just because that's technically more correct I'm afraid that's like swimming up stream, or worse.

I have participated in a fair number of trades over the past three years and personally I will send at least one shoot, but prefer to send 2 or 3 shoots, simply because that's what I'd like to receive: do unto others as you'd have done to you. It may be somewhat easier to do for me since I divide a given plant one year and typically do not use those divisions for trade or sale until the next year, at which point they likely have more then one shoot anyway.

What I have found to be an issue seemingly with most trades is proper identification. The last 3 trades I have received, each at least 7 or 8 different cultivars, there was one plant in each that was improperly identified, typically because the sender had originally received/purchased the plant labeled incorrectly. For that reason I prefer to exchange pictures of the plants under consideration first, before the trade actually takes place. My recipient will in fact get pictures of the very plants I am proposing to send.

Pieter

Doesn't the Hosta Bible say something like an "eye for an eye?"

Sorry, I couldn't resist. I have a different viewpoint on trading. If I have more than one eye to spare, I send a few. If I don't have much to spare, I send just one eye. It all works out in the end.

Daniel

I have never traded online, and after reading this I guess that I never will, dormant eyes? why would you take that into consideration? for hosta people, an "eye" is a GROWING shoot (plant) this is just stupid, but I do agree with 10 gold stardard "eyes" for one "whatever hosta". (or maybe 1000 shiny green leafed ones for the same "whatever hosta", but that would be an insane trade or the one "whatever hosta" owner was stupid)

Thankyou Lainey and Pieter!! AND LOL Daniel!!!

Paul

PS does this have anything to do with the Hosta trade that went on this spring? I didnt join in on it. I find it hard to part with my babies.

A single eye division is commonly one growing, leafed out crown. If it has dormant eyes, I don't think they even come into consideration when trading.

I agree on making sure you have a properly ID'd hosta to trade. If you buy one without a label, then leave it un-named. Having 100 people guess at it's name doe not make it so. There are a lot of un-named seedlings that are sold cheap.

Paul, I don't think this has anything to do with the swap.
I thought that was excellent. Peggy just wanted to know
what was an acceptable trade. And like guessing at an unnamed hosta, she got all different answers - lol
Pam

Thanks for all the input. I was thinking of 2 "eyes" when I will do my trading. Shortly I will post my trade-aways on my board. Those dang slugs showed up for dinner this past week!!Makes the hostas look unsightly.
Peggy