I don't believe you will get information that you can extrapolate to the hosta genus. By limiting the pool of information to GE, you sample is going to be too small. It's not going to tell you what you want to know.

I'm assuming you want to know how the angle of the sun affects hosta. I read an article recently (can't remember where) that implied hosta did better in areas with more cloud cover.

bk

go for it ... whats to lose.. as you said.. its a winter project ...

some variables.. latitude.. length of growing season ... min winter temp aka zone ... soil .. water... fert .. the amount of white in the babe chosen .... [that was part of my downfall] .. etc .. ad naseum ...

good luck

ken

I'm game.

GE has been notoriously difficult to grow. The zone 5 peeps seem to have had more success, and I'm sure growth patterns vary from year to year. So your challenge is to grow a successful GE, eh? I wish you luck with this project.

DD

On the Q & Z website Availability pages, GE growing suggestions appear in notes with the 4 inch pot size offering. As I recall, the advice was to leave it fairly rootbound. Check it out. It almost convinced me to try growing one.

I should be very clear about what I am proposing.

It has become apparent that some hostas grow better in different conditions. In fact GE appears to be one of the most sensitive of these hostas. There have been sets of guidelines struck for successfully growing GE but I am not aware of any empirical data to support the guidelines.

What I would like to try to do with the help of the many experienced growers here is to scientifically quantify as well as we are able the various factors which affect the growth of GE specifically.

We will not be able to easily extrapolatle the results to all hostas ... but if the methodology works, the approach could be used for other hostas or groups of hostas.

There seems to be some interest ... I will prepare a survey and try again. All that can be lost is a bit of time and the opportunity.

Doug

Mine is four years old, grown in the absolutely worst spot since it's shaded by other plants. Soil is good though and I give it water regularly. It's not as large as when I first bought it but it does survive zone 2. (that's perlite on the leaves).

Be sure to include soil pH as one of your questions. GE tends to grow fine in highly acidic conditions (lower pH) vs alkaline conditions. If the water you use to supplement your hostas is high in Calcium then that will also have a higher pH and limit the solubility of nutrients.

I'd start with this measurement first when comparing GE in different gardens. The thought used to be that you should grow GE in a pot until it was root bound and that the container had something to do with it, but I always felt it was the peat based, acidic growing media most people used that helped it more.

There are so many different factors that you will want to think about, but the big ones, in my experience, are available nutrients (this is tied to the soil pH), available moisture (and is it natural rainwater or only supplemental water), and amount of soil aeration. The amount of sunlight is not as big of a factor unless that sunlight also increases the soil temperature too much.

Some things to think about. I'd be curious to know the soil pH of gardens like Don Rawson's and others who grow monster plants.

Chris

Hey, I'll try one for the experiment. I have alkaline water and soil (but I grow in pots). I don't expect it to work, though. Will that skew the results, like other experiments?

bk

bkay ... not at all ... give it a whirl ... you may be late for a survey this year but results can be adjusted later to include everyone ... Doug

BK, you mean you will grow a GE?
Okay, if you do it, I might as well too.
Surprisingly enough, my DH reports that our soil is more alkaline here than acidic. So different from all the other places I've lived in Mobile. No wonder the azaleas do not thrive.

My hostas are primarily in pots, but I could get two GE and put one in the ground. There is plenty of room in the Experimental Driveway Bed. I'll have to test that soil for pH.

We have to do heroic bed prep for azaleas that involves removing the soil and adding lots of peat and pine bark. Then, you have to re-do them every 5 years or so. They do make a gorgeous display, though. If you go fifty miles east, you get into sandy, acid soil.

We are stuck with black gummy high alkaline dirt that sticks to everything when wet and turns to concrete when dry. Fortunately, we can grow great trees and not so fortunately, lots of ugly weeds.

bk

If my shipment of hostas ever arrive, it will include one GE. Thought I would give it a try. Have a special spot in the garden for it. Would like to be kept in the loop of this study.

I'm going to order one for the spring. Green Mountain has it, so I'll begin to develop a spring order from them. I'd like to add some smalls, so am going to be asking lots of questions over the winter.

bk

I live in the Pacific NW and have acidic soil. Rhodies / Azaleas LOVE it here. I have a collection of large leaf species Rhodies that I grow.

My GE's do very well.

I have one in shade and one in full sun. Both did very well this year.

The cloud and acid theory seem to ring true for my local.

Margaret