Joe, you might want to look at this . http://www.hostalibrary.org/diseases/Blight.html

It does sound like southern blight but not the right time of year, voles seem more likely. It is not hard to diagnose southern blight though.

Here is a link that might be useful: Southern Blight

Are the leaves still green when this happens? If so,it sounds like voles,a little critter that looks like a mouse with a short tail. They burrow under the hosta,and eat the roots and crowns,and the leaves just fall over with nothing to support them. Next time,look at what's left of the plant and you should see maybe even teeth marks on the petioles! Sometimes,you can find one with a little bit of crown left,and maybe some small roots. If so,you can re-plant these and the hosta will come back. Plant it,however in another place in your garden! I've done this many times,when I had vole damage. Phil

Thanks all for your replies- based on what I've seen, I'd lean toward Phil's voles. Relatively speaking, we haven't had a particularly hot/humid summer in CT, and when we did certainly not prolonged where southern blight seems to thrive. I lost my first hosta (Great Expectations) around July, but my most recent 2 (Gold Standards) in Sept. The petioles have no fungus or other images I've seen with the blight, and the leaves were indeed in decent shape (as Phil asks) when they fell flat. So it all kind of points to voles but the hosta that have been hit are scattered all around the yard- I just can't believe I have that many voles around yet I don't see any pushing up of soil in the lawn as you often see with voles. We do have tons of chipmunks though- could they do this kind of damage as well?
Thanks again- Joe

Joe,
Moles push up the soil. Voles have little tunnels about the size of a half dollar. Moles eat worms and grubs. Voles eat Hostas!Know your enemy! Beee the Vole !~ Beee the Vole!

Denny
Aka "The Volester"

Thanks for clarrifying the Vole/Mole issue. So, what does one do if they have a Vole problem?

Joe

Joe,
Just go up to the top of the page and enter vole in the search tab then hit the little red go button.There are several Hosta Vole threads as you scroll down. You are not alone! Voles are damaging to Hostas and must be eliminated asap!

Denny

I had the same thing happen to one of my hostas. I went out one morning and all the leaves werr laying on the top of the ground. No roots but a few small side shoots still with roots. I removed them and dug down about a foot and found a tunnel. I put some gopher poison in the run and now my little shoots are looking better too. I blamed it on chipmonks which I have lots of.

The saga continues.....this weekend I noticed mounded dirt piles in front of 3 (until now untouched) hostas. I tugged on the leaves and the crowns of all 3 nearly came right out of the ground. While I still think I probably do have Voles, I don't think they'd be digging up soil like this, right? Any ideas out there what this might be and if/how it's related to the loss of my hostas? This is painfully frustrating as I watch nearly a dozen mature Hosta vanish.

bearj,
Kinda sounds like chippies but I have had voles leave little mounds as well especially if they have used a mole tunnel as a super highway to the Hostas. The best way to tell is by the diameter of the hole.Half dollar size or smaller is a vole hole larger less tidy holes are usually chippies. I posted on how to make a hillbilly chippie trap that really works.You can find it in the search line. Try to get the critter before the foliage goes away because it is much harder to catch early damage without the leaves and stems as a visual indicator of activity.

Good Luck!
Denny