Buried pail experiment 2010

13 years ago

It's my 3rd summer of this experiment and I think you'll see positive results as I did. My reason for this experiment was the root competition under an ash tree. I buried various size hosta in like-size containers. Some are 5 gal pails that have a few inches cut off the top, some are in 15" nursery pots, some smaller.

Some of the original containers didn't have any drainage holes and I have since drilled holes in them from the sides as they were holding water too long.

Reptillian- 5 gal pail, 8 leaves in'08,24 in '09, 47 in '10

Ultramarine-5 g.pail, 25 in'08, 53 in'09, 79 in'10

Bubba- in bag in 5 g pot, 20 in'08, 34 in'09, 117 in'10

Jewel of the Nile-5 g pail, 12 in'08, 19 in'09, 33 in'10

Fragrant Blue- 5 g pail, 25 in'08, 37 in'09, 81 in'10

Minuteman- 5 g pail, 25 in'08, 47 in'09, 62 in'10

Shade Fanfare-in bag in 5g pot-12 in'08, 36 in'09, 60 in'10

August Moon-15" diam pot, 10 in'08, 12 in'09, 52 in'10

Royal Standard-5 g pail, 9 in'08, 33 in'09, 89 in'10

Formal Attire- 5 g pail,6 in'08, 10 in'09, 20 in'10

Abiqua Moonbeam-in bag in 15"pot,10 in'08,14 in'09,61 in'10

Krossa Regal-in bag in 15"pot,8 in'08, 19 in'09, 39 in'10

fort.Hyacinthina-5 g pail, 20 in'08, 41 in'09, 59 in'10

Great Expectations-5 g pail, 7 in'08, 15 in'09, 32 in'10

Spritzer-in bag in 3 g pot,14 in'08, 20 in'09, 36 in'10

Lancifolia- 5 g pail, 30 in'08, 62 in'09, 70 in'10

Lemon Delight-in bag in 3g pot,25 in'08, 45 in'09,83 in '10

Peggy

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Comments (16)

paul_in_mn
13 years ago
Peggy - Great Expectations from 7 leaves to 32 leaves in third year - I'm impressed - any pics?

Paul
jennaj_z4mn
13 years ago
I am curious what kind of potting medium you used. I might try this on a few of my hostas planted along a wooded area. I would love pics too!
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spin out bags and buried pots/HVX
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Steve, thanks for taking the time and making the effort to respond to my questions. I may not perceive risk in the same manner that you do but I do respect your opinions and your right to hold views that might differ from my own. AND I love your sense of humour. Having said that, I did read the material on HVX at the AHS (including the summary report based on Dr. Lockhart's research) several times BEFORE I expressed my opinions above, just to be sure I had my facts straight. I've done a bit more research and I understand that your concerns stem from theories that are not yet confirmed as fact by scientific studies: "AREAS THAT WARRANT FURTHER INVESTIGATION Ã¢ÂÂ¨Ã¯ÂÂRoot/soil contamination issues. We found that clean plants could be contaminated BY SOIL and INFECTED DEBRIS. We need to study what occurs and why." I don't want to belittle your concerns and remember an age when cigarette smoke was not deemed to be a danger to one's health, but I'm of an age now where if I have hostas with confirmed HVX, they may outlive me. Bernd, this is what I said in my posts above and I'm sorry if they were misleading: "I had 3 recently planted Krossa Regal that showed signs of HVX. I removed them and removed more soil than the hostas could have contaminated and planted 3 more KRs. I have also used newspaper to kill grass in new planting beds and have been amazed at how long it takes to decompose the layers. Decomposition depends on the number of layers of newsprint used." The three holes with the 3 new Krossa Regals were not lined with newspaper. I just dug out more soil than the newly planted infected KRs could have contaminated. I did use several layers of newspaper to kill grass for a hosta bed extension in 2010. Animals are digging here all the time. Even today I found newspaper dug up by animals that hasn't decomposed yet in my extended hosta bed. I just wanted to clarify what I said and my position on risk management. My views as stated above have not been changed.
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peggy_hosta
Original Author
13 years ago
Paul, I'll try to post pics tomorrow. I'm not very good at it since photobucket changed the format. I need to mow tonight as family is coming for a reunion tomorrow eve.
Jenna, I use the same soil/dirt that I just dug out of that hole.
Peggy
schoolb1
13 years ago
Wow,worth giving a try
Judy
gardengirl_nancy
13 years ago
WOW those are VERY IMPRESSIVE numbers! I'd say it works great.
thisismelissa
13 years ago
Peggy.... Thanks for sharing the results. I have an area I am considering planting, but the presence of a large silver maple is what's stopping me. I'm going to give some serious thought to your technique!
on_greenthumb
13 years ago
This may sound silly, but why did you bag some of the hostas and not others?
florabundance
13 years ago
Hey Peggy,

Thanks for the data/trial. It sounds like a winner!

Jean
pearlgirl
13 years ago
Hi, Peggy...you just answered my questions also. Thanks for
the info.
Margaret
greenthumbz4mn
13 years ago
I'm impressed with your results. My question though is can you leave the plants in their containers indefinitely, or will they outgrow their pails???? Mary
Carole Westgaard
13 years ago
I don't get it - if there are too many roots, how do you get them out of the way of the pot? I fight every size root there is on this planet - from as big as an elephant leg to threads - millions in one square foot that make it impossible to dig. How do you get them in the ground? Only thing I could do is saw the roots but I'm afraid it would kill the trees.

Westy
peggy_hosta
Original Author
13 years ago
The reason that I put some in plastic bags in the pots was because those pots were former plant containers from a nursery that have 4-5 holes in the bottom of the pot. The plastic will keep the roots from getting into my hosta roots.
I did encounter some medium size roots when digging the holes so I just dug a little farther off to one side. Most of the roots are small and easy to chop out.
I'm not sure what I will do once some of these plants get to their mature size.
Peggy
peggy_hosta
Original Author
12 years ago
Another year has past and the buried pail hostas have all increased. Here's a list of about half of the previous year. The mosquitos were hungry!
The first number on each line is 2008
Second number 2009
Third number 2010
Fourth 2011
Ultramarine 25-53-79-83
Bubba 20-34-117-90
Jewel of the Nile 12-19-33-38
Shade Fanfare 12-36-55-60
August Moon 10-12-52-66
Royal Standard 9-33-89-100+
Abiqua Moonbeam 10-14-61-69
Krossa Regal 8-19-39-53
Spritzer 14-20-36-61
Lemon Delight 25-45-83-100+
The leaves all look good and appropriate size for the cultivar. And of course, I baby them with a lot of warm lake water.
Peggy
hostaLes
12 years ago
Re: Digging in "rooty" dirt, I have broken shovel handles, used full size axes, matics and finally found a good old post hole digger does the best. I keep my edges sharp. But an elephant leg size root - move the hole.

Les
igmommy
12 years ago
So, you're counting leaves, not eyes? I use the spin-out bags. Don't the roots get into the holes in the containers? I've had maple roots jump the bags and that's even when I left an inch or so above ground. They can get squished down. I check every spring now and cut any that jumped in there. And, if you put plastic, how does it drain?
peggy_hosta
Original Author
12 years ago
Keana, I drilled holes in most of the pots about 6" from the top. I'm sure some ash roots are creeping in there, but much less competition than without.
I counted the leaves because it was easy to do without disturbing the plants and the mosquitos.
Peggy

Buried pail experiment 2010

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