Hi Mark. Just leave it alone. I'm always amazed at young hosta plants and the fact they don't look the way they should. Why? They are young. The roots can only support so much plant...ya know? The stalks and foliage out of the ground are a result of the root system. With that said...if it was new last year...unless you dug it off a mature specimen out of the ground...the plant/pot you bought from a nursery was likely fertilized to make the leaves bigger, lusher, and taller than they would have been left to it's own accord. People want to walk out of the store thinking they bought a really big plant for the money. Give it a couple years. And, with THAT said, I can also vouch for the messed up weather this year. I'm seeing deformed leaves, melted out leaves, drawstring effect...just misc oddities here & there. I chalk it up to the extreme weather fluctuations we had this year. Nothing you can do about it other than take notes on what's interesting and odd, enjoy them for what they are, don't expect perfection, and work on new beds for next years' purchases. Also, with all the above said, if it's not variegated this year, there's a chance it's a dud. My GA lost all it's variegation after the first year. It's on it's 3rd year now, and if you get really, REALLY close up knowing what you're looking for, you can kinda make out the variegation. It's all blueish green and growing nicely. I've made peace with the situation...generally. Gayle

We had a particularly cold, wet spring. Even when the days began warming, we had some pretty cool nights. I think we may have acquired some pests that we normally don't see, at least not in the abundance we have this year. The Northern Cricket, also known as the Mole Cricket. Has anyone ever even heard of it before? I have the problem you are describing with my Daylilies. Their foliage began yellowing, then browning, then falling down dead very early in the season. And it has only gotten worse with time. I noticed a strange looking bug on one of the flower stalks and looked it up in my bug book. It was a Mole Cricket, and the map showed that the entire State of Minnesota was potentially host to this cricket. It is brownish black and its rear end has a tail that looks like a pincher sort of thing. The front legs are large for a bug and are built for digging. My book says that they will burrow into the ground around a plant and will feet on bulbs, roots, and tubers. They will also climb plants, or jump up on them, and gnaw stalks. I had already noticed that I had a lot of tiny cricket sort of things hopping around my flower garden. I think they were just that small because they were newly hatched because when I tried the remedy my book suggested, a much larger cricket came scurrying out - one large enough to clearly see all the physical characteristics my book described. My book said to mix hot pepper and mild soap in water and douse the plant. I don't know if they meant tobasco or cayenne, so I put some of both in. I also don't know if a mixture like that can burn a plant or if things like earthworms are bothered by it too. I can tell you that big cricket was mighty unhappy. It skittered and rolled around for a while and then dove into the dirt. I have no idea if this is a repellent or if it is lethal. Also, because there is already so much damage to my daylilies I have no way of knowing if it is helping anything. I am going to do my best to get as much of the dead and dying foliage off, and then watch to see if the foliage just keeps browning and dying off at the same rate. My daylilies have looked this bad very late in the fall as things start going dormant, but they began looking like this almost from the moment they appeared in the spring. I wish I could post a picture so you could see if this is the same kind of die-off you are experiencing. I have put the mixture on just one of my daylilies, the one where I saw the cricket up on the stalk, but I am going to do it to all of them. My flower garden is about 75 percent daylilies. Two of my hostas look just about as bad, so I may treat them too. I would be interested to know if any Minnesota gardeners were aware of this cricket before and how they handled it. I share your dismay. It is hard to watch our plants struggle like this. Carmellia

Rats, the forum messed up my images... Here are some pictures of the originally affected plant. Here are some pictures of the "healthy" plant's affected leaves.

Hey guys, cheers for the responses. Checked my tap water pH. seems to be off the scale high alkalinity. like 15. the soil seems to be around 7 if dry. im going to grab some sulfuric acid and treat the water and see if that makes a dif. been reading a fair bit n see that high alkalinity impairs plants ability to absorbe nutrients so could be that. I fertilise usually around every 8 or nine days with a weak mix of powdered tomato fertilizer which seems to work an absolute treat but now some of my new plants have copped it bad... pots or ground doesnt matter. the soil is just sand. no water retention. get a hot day and its all over. even moisture levels is hard as i can go from wet in the morning to completely dry and wilted while im at work. I'll play with the pH though and get back to you. more photos this arvo of the latest casualties.