Over the last few years I've moved quite a few hostas into the bags. As usual I'm making mistakes and learning as I go. The bags do repel the roots but in my opinion they are shaped wrong and too small. The large size seem like they could hold a large but not an extra large. The plants that have been in my woods for several years and are being strangled have grown wide and shallow. I guess they could be forced to head down? Don't know about that but they seem to want to spread. Last year in order to accomodate a few struggling large plants Faye and I cut some of the large bags, she sewed half of another large bag to it and made what appears below. The regular large is on the right, the larger more shallow one is on the left. That size worked better for me since I can not dig down that much where these plants are. When I ran out of the ones she's made I did a few with just a flat piece of the fabric, raised at the edges with large branches, logs or whatever to create a bowl effect. I now realize my mistake about that. I wrapped the fabric over the log to anchor it and thought that was just fine. The other day I dug out a hosta in a medium sized bag in order to move it to more sun. Since when I originally planted it it was too tall I didn't cut the top off I folded it over. That left the inside part outside, see below. Although the roots won't grow into the dark side they sure will grow into the inside part of the fabric and head over the top and continue to try to choke the life out of the plant. I have a lot of fixing to do. The bags I've gotten have been ordered in the states and picked up when I'm down there. Someone posted the shipping charge in Canada from somewhere in Ontario to somewhere else in Ontario and it basically doubled the cost. I wish landscape fabric worked but it doesn't. So...now that I'm unhappy with the shape of the bags I'm trying something else. I had a package of 25 medium (read small) bags that I hadn't used. They look to me like they'd hold something the size of a tiara. I've cut them all open, glued two together to make a square and cut the bottom off of various sizes of plastic pots, storage containers, a broken water softener and an old hot water heater (for the largest size). I figure I only need the fabric on the bottom. The sides of the pots will repel the roots. I'm gluing the fabric on and holding it there overnight with duct tape. I'm making them shallow in order to fit in the garden. I'll let you know how it works out.

Keanna, gorgeous plantings! Melissa, I'd give it a shot with the bags under the tree. That spot would make a lovely bed, and you know what you're doing, so your odds of success are great. Also, you know what they say...can't build out anymore? Build UP! I'm thinking of something like the way idiothe did his multi-level mini displays in this thread at the link. Let me be clear. I'm not saying build up INSTEAD of a bed under the tree. I'm saying do BOTH! (grin) Michelle Here is a link that might be useful: multi-level mini displays

I just bought some "spin-out" bags made by Texel (Tex-r Agroliner) from Acme-Mackenzie Nursery Supply. I e-mailed Matt Rocky (matt@mnsinc.cc) for pricing. I found the prices on their bags and the shipping very reasonable after some shopping around. I bought the 7 gallons (13" in diameter x 11 3/4" tall) and the 15 gallons (17" in diameter x 15 1/2" tall) bags. The 15 gallons bags are alitte tall so I cut 2"-3" off and turned down an inch or 2. I even turn down an inch or 2 on the 7 gallon bags. I fill the bags within an inch or so from the top. This still leaves a 8"-9" deep hole for the roots which seems enough. This is my first experiance with the bags, so I'll see how they pan out. For your info 5 gallon bags - 9"x9'x12"deep - opening=81 square inches 7 gallon bags - 13" diameter x 11 3/4"deep - opening = 121 square inches 10 gallon bags - 11"x11"x16"deep - opening = 121 square inches 15 gallons bags - 17" diameter x 15 1/2"deep - opening = 227 square inches Randy

I wouldn't call myself an "expert". I planted all my hosta around my dreaded maples in spin-out bags last spring. After watching my hostas dwindle to nothing for years, I had to try something! So far this year, everything looks good. Absolutely all of them increased in size. I wanted to make sure that my hosta had plenty of room, so I planted the giant and large in 10 gallon bags. The mediums and smalls I planted in the 5 gallon size and the extra smalls and some coral bells I planted in the one gallon size. I couldn't tell you if they ever outgrow the bag. Mine haven't been in them long enough to tell. I hope not! I've only moved one that was in a bag so far because it wasn't happy in the spot it was in. It was way to heavy to lift the bag. So, I ended up digging it out of the bag, moving it and replacing it with a different hosta in the same bag. Here are a few pointers: Don't forget to turn the bag inside out. You want the black side out. These bags were originally designed for nurseries to plant trees/shrubs in to keep the root ball from being stressed when dug up for potting. The copper sulfate on the black side of the bag repells roots, so you want it on the outside to prevent tree roots from getting inside the bag. The bags are really way too deep. I placed the bags as deep as I thought necessary for hosta roots, planted the hosta, then cut off all but an inch or so at ground level. You want to make sure to leave at least an inch above ground level so the tree roots don't get in over the top of the bag. I hid the uglyness by mulching around the ring left above ground. Here's something else that I did wrong and now I'm going to have to try to correct it.......when planting the bag, make sure that the soil is compacted. All of mine sunk, so now the soil level is lower inside the bag than the outside. It doesn't seem to be affecting the growth of the hosta, but I wish I'd thought of that...it looks kind of funny. I'm not really sure how I'm going to correct this without digging them up and doing them over, which I don't want to do. I hate to disturb them now. I'm afraid it's going to set them back and I've waited so long to have mature ones. Anyone have any ideas?