best bet is pot it in a smallish pot with light soil or soilless mix and put it somewhere where you will see it every day and water as necessary. Never let it get dried out and never let is sit too wet.

other good options - dunk it in very dilute bleach mix and or use a fungicide on the remaining fragment of the crown. Rootone might also be beneficial.

on the other hand - I'd toss this one...

I think I'm going to hang on to it, just because it's my first experience with crown root on a hosta, and I need to get it right before I loose one that I actually care about! Thanks for the info.

the only ones i have had that rotted... were ones that were shipped in the heat of summer .... talk about stress ...

i suspect that perhaps they werent dug and potted at a prime time ...

and that perhaps.. the knife wasnt cleansed between plants ...

rot is not really an issue for zone 5 and cooler.. it can happen.. but its rare ...

that is why it is called SOUTHERN blight ....

ergo .... it has to be something the seller did ... IMHO ... [its NEVER my fault].. lol ...

ken

I agree with ken. I received 2 hosta from a respected source and two of them developed the
'rot' right away. The leaves just sort of melted and the icky stuff that happens at the base
became something unmistakeable.

I emailed the 'source' and was told that it would probably be all right--and neither of them survived.
I didn't insist on a refund--but now, I know I should have. I was sooo new at this hosta mania, that at the time,
I just didn't think I could be so certain it wasn't something I had or had not done that caused it.
Now--I know better!!

The communication wasn't that great either--cryptic and short incomplete sentences, as though
it wasn't worth the effort to discuss the matter!

Don't ask me who it was, because it must be a rare occurence as many people do still order
from this 'source'! I do not!

I feel it was a matter of integrity that failed! I don't do well with that! :o/

Ken, I got this hosta fairly early in the year (mid-spring), but I think I might have over-mulched, to compensate for the dry weather. Is it possible to over-mulch a hosta (without loosing sight of it)? I tried to be sure it wasn't buried deeper than it was when I got it.

Also, does the rot impact the other Hosta or plants in my garden?

the most rot i ever had.. was probably associated with hosta... grown in warmer regions.. or in a greenhouse.. divided prior to being mailed ..... sent to me early in spring.. WHEN THE SOIL WAS STILL BASICALLY COLD ....

it was perhaps... a hardening off issue ...

after that.. i started potting them if i rec'd them in early spring.. keeping them in the garage ... and planting when the soil temps increased ...

you cant take a greenhouse forced, lushly growing hosta.. and put it back to cold nights and cold soil ....

back them.. almost all hosta were mailed as fresh cut divisions ...

i also suspected that hyper-fertilization as related to the above was also an issue ...

what caused this problem was that if you REALLY WANTED EVERYTHING ON YOUR LIST .... you had to take the first deliveries .... whether or not the timing was proper .... so i would receive plants.. months in advance of proper planting time ....

ken

I guess I missed an obvious comment on this... I don't think you should assume you have Crown Rot... you might just have a rotted crown.

As Ken points out, hostas can rot if they are not handled well... cold, wet soil... buried too deep... heavy soil in a pot keeping it too wet and hot... lots of things can get a hosta to rot in a pot.

And then there is Southern Blight... which from the descriptions I've read over the years may be similar but there may also be a particular kind of fungus involved... otherwise there wouldn't be the advice about discarding soil and such...

in any case, Zilis suggestion for dealing with it, from the Handbook is

"dig infected plants... remove any leaf tissue, and soak clump in a 10-20% bleach solution for 1-2 hours, repot and isolate for 3 months, remove any soil that would have been in contact with the affected plant; in nursery settings spray or drench with fungicides once symptoms appear."

and one note... comments like Zilis have lead to considerable confusion about bleach solutions. The bleach we buy in the store is already diluted, as you will find by reading the label. Ignore that. When a gardener says a 10% bleach solution, they are saying take your store-bought bleach and mix it 1 part to 9 parts water...