No, but some years I don't even fertilize. Hostas want water, first and foremost. Whatever soil conditions that exist where you live, you have to deal with. Ammend clay and sand, make your space hospitable for Hostas, or any shade plant, for that matter.
They want water!

Got to agree with hostarox, water is the most important thing.

But for those interested, I do grow in very bad conditions and do need to feed the ones in the worse areas. I'll even give you my recipe for free, but any donations will be appreciated, J/K, lol.

Find a farmer, they are more than willing to let you take as much manure as you want for the cost of shoveling it yourself. Cow and horse is good, but rabbit is the all around best, no if, ands, or buts about that, it is pure nitrogen, aka, grows leaves, if you want great corn, use rabbit manure.

Take with you a few trash barrels, fill them, that is all most of us need for a season, drive home.

Get a couple large plastic storage containers and place in a out of the way area of the garden, even plant around them to hide them, I do. Scoop in some manure, about 1/4th the container, fill the rest with water and let it sit for at least a week, less if you get aged manure, aged manure can be used the same day.

Scoop some of this 'tea' into a bucket, again about 1/4th the bucket full, fill the rest with water and then dump along the roots of the hostas, a 5 gallon bucket generally does 6 to 10 hostas depending on the size of the plant. I work several buckets at once, the one I'm using and the one I'm filling with the hose so it is ready when the one I'm using is done.

As you use the 'tea', refill the containers, there is still a lot of nutrients in the manure at the bottom of the container, add more manure as need be, I judge by the color of the tea, when it gets too pale, I add more manure, a nice dark amber color seems to work the best. You can keep these 'tea' brewers going all summer on just a couple trash pails of manure. I do this several times a summer and it only takes me a few hours to do over a thousand hostas.

This not only does a deep, concentrated watering of the hosta roots, but also adds a low dose feeding. I have found that hostas do not need a high concentration of fertilizer, actually do better with low doses.

how about you send me the money .. and i will insure that your hosta are bigger next year... than last ....

i wonder what other snake oil he is selling????

save your money ... i dont want it .. lol ....

and use the SEARCH function and FAQ's for alfalfa tea .... though it is too late now for any fert'ing...

ken

PS: as noted ... WATER >>> WATER >>> WATER !!!!

BTW .... alfalfa is just pre-processed manure .... lol ... and smells a lot better .....

it is rabbit and horse food... buy it in big bags at a good garden store.. or the farm mill ....

ken

My local feed store sells 50lb bag of Alfalfa Pellets for $9.65.

Save your $$$ to buy more hostas! Pushing lots of growth quickly is not generally a good thing, anyway. I'll add my vote to water, water, water...and organic matter. That's it. I'd skip the "tea" and put the compost right on the bed. I don't have time to brew tea and individually water every plant. Plus you miss out on that wonderful organic matter!

If you want to go one step further, alfalfa. It's cheap, organic, and contains a natural growth stimulant.

Hostas are easy...why make it more work than it has to be???

Boy am I glad I didn't send for 'sunshine-4u's recipe! Actually, I wouldn't have because anyone who claims to have info I have to pay for is scamming. I just wondered if ya'll knew what he was pushing. But I think I'll play with Alfalfa next Spring. Have never ever fertilized them. Thanks to everyone for the comments. I know about water - I have the bill to prove it.

Westy1941

Many things will do wonders in pots because they simply are not the soil and can not do the wonderful things that eons of evolution has created. Man is only 5,000 years on this earth but the soil has been evolving much longer.
Does a field or forest need magic bullets?