I've not seen that before either. My first guess is sunburn, scald, ouch. Especially hot sun immediately after a shower?... Since it is a thick-leaved hosta the thinning process is slower?? but being that the outer leaf is the only one affected, could something like cold have affected it while unfurling or is that leaf more exposed than the others to the elements? Hmmmm..a sorry, no help here :(

Yea - my money is on a critter too

Jo......I have it hidden from any afternoon sun, and it doesn't get much morning sun. Heck, we have barely seen any sun for weeks! I don't think that's what happened. However, the &$)*&@## bugs have been terrible this year. I have a ton of leaf damage to some of my hostas, but this one is unique.

I remember you said virtually no sun.. I thought maybe a freak sunburst, lol .. .just a stab in the dark...bad things happening to nice hosta :(

It looks like the gnawing happened a while ago and the plant is sealing off the damage both mid-leaf and the edges. Also, is that some sort of sap I see? Now there's some unintentional alliteration.

tj

tj.....that's too funny! I don't have any trees that drop sap so no issue there. I looked at a picture I took on May 3 and there was no damage at that time. I also took another close look at the other 3 leaves and there is zip damage of that sort to any of them. I guess I'm going to lean critter damage.

Jo....maybe it was damaged due to a burst of my sparkling personality?

Lol! Yup, and the spark spread like fire! Reminds me of soldering... Lol

Rotfl kind of LOL love your humour, guy! I don't like whoever the critter may be that is raining on your hosta! You thinking of cutting out that half of the leaf in our imitable hosta-nerd style so we can sleep at night dreaming of pretty hostas? It's ok, we can poke fun at ourselves first and beat everyone to it, Ha! Lol

What kind of bug leaves a purple footprint? Well, it looks purple to me.

Santa, it looks vaguely similar to a sucking insect I had a couple of years ago. Chris identified it, but I forgot what it was. I'm having computer gremlins today. So the camera won't spit out the photos I took of the Praying Hands with the same damage today I had then. I don't know if you can see it here, it's an old photos,

but it's the best I can do until my computer geek is here on Thursday.

You treat it with a systemic insecticide. But actually, I had no more damage after the initial damage.

bk

bk......that is exactly what the damage looks like. What product did you treat with?

What's the deal with all of our Texas hosta eaters this year? I have so much leaf damage from things, although it has seemed to have slowed down some. Yesterday I looked into the center of my Francee and saw several new leaves that had 25-50% of them totally devoured. At this point I'm just waiting for a deer to jump over my fence into the back yard.

Donna...it's definitely a grey color.

Jo....so far I have resisted going outside with my flashlight for checking out any new damage! Maybe I'll buy 35 night vision cameras to place over each plant and set up a hosta bug security guard center in the house. Of course my wife may have me committed.........

I checked this morning, no additional damage. My June Spirit has a lot of pinholes in it but doesn't look like the same type of damage.

Some years are just bad for insects. I can't remember when it was, but there was one year everyone was devoured with cut worms, all over the U.S. We've been very cool and wet all year. I'm having problems with rot as well as insects. I have some cutworm damage this year. Of course, they ate my plantaginea's second eye, and it was struggling already.

I didn't treat for the sucking bug as I never had anymore problem with it. Chris said to buy a systemic spray and I bought Captain Jack's but never used it. My Praying Hands has the damage now, but nothing else does. I noticed the damage last week, but I haven't seen anymore.

You don't go out with a flashlight to see new damage, you go out to find the critter that's eating your hosta. They are eating it at night, so that's when you look. Then, you throw it on the ground and stomp on it. The night feeders are cut worms, army worms and slugs.

bk

so none of us.. can remember what bug eats only one or two of the three layers of a hosta leaf ...

i havent seen chris here.. this spring ... wonder why ..????

ken

ha Thanks, bk. I'll have my boot boots at the ready. I don't really want to spray if I don't have to. I try to stay away from that stuff as much as possible. Are you still having bug problems this year? Mine is much better that a month ago but they are still after me.

You guys have had a tremendous amount of rain. When Lavon goes from 50% full last year to 100% plus full now you know you've been deluged. We have had more than normal but nowhere close to the Dallas and North/Northeast Texas area.

Looks like chewing/sucking damage to me too. Cat. Jack's Bug Brew (spinosad, bacteria found in an old rum distillery) and remember you must spray the backsides of the leaves. Often the really small critters are hiding there.

Yesterday I noticed small holes on my tomato leaves that looked just like slug/snail handiwork, and it took a magnifying glass to discover the dirt spec sized little inch worms. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh.

-Babka

I have heard lots of talk about spinosad on an organic gardening radio show here in SA. I'll pick some up. Thanks for that, Babka.

The best part about Capt. Jack's Bug Brew is that it doesn't affect the glaucous bloom on the leaves, so when I use it on my blues it dries and disappears. I hate to spray anything on my hostas, because we have hard water and it leaves water spots, but with this stuff in a tank sprayer it disappears.

-Babka

You can mix this or anything else with store-bought water to prevent those nasty hard water stains. I have that same problem.

I see that sell it at my local Lowe's. I don't see pill bugs on the list. Any experience with this stuff working on them?

Santa- Geez, I never thought of using bottled water for spraying. Good idea. Thanks! Lately, I've just been getting the redi-mixed spray bottle that I carry each morning as I stroll around examining leaves. For some reason I am getting thrips this year. Shake and spray, shake and spray.

Gotta find something else if pill bugs are gaining on you. I've never had damage from them (that I know of).

-Babka

I use Sluggo Plus for pill bugs. That has been my only enemy before this year.

I had the same thought on the Capt Jack's...the ready to go bottle.

"Maybe I'll buy 35 night vision cameras to place over each plant and set up a hosta bug security guard center in the house."

I don't want your DW to commit you, but I would LOVE it if you did this, LOL! I bet a lot of us would be surprised by what goes on out there at night.

Before the hail I was getting more than usual cutworm damage, but by the time I see it, they're usually gone. Good luck finding your culprit.

For now (knock on simulated wood grain) the suspected cutworm problem has ceased. Also haven't seen any recent slug damage. This hole in the leaf thing is the most recent issue. It rained most of the day yesterday so we'll see what that brings out of the woodwork.

Babka.....FYI.....I bought a bottle of Capt Jack's. As a test I put about 10 pill bugs, an army or cut worm (whatever it was) and two earwigs in a small bucket. I sprayed them with the Capt Jack's. It killed the worm and some of the pill bugs. No affect at all on the earwigs. The pill bugs are tearing me up this year, munching on new growth. The Sluggo Plus hasn't stopped them, maybe this will. You say it has no affect on the hosta leaves, even the small, new leaves?

I was thinking this issue came up a few years ago, and some nuclear genetic botanist

[a.k.a. 'I stayed at a holiday inn express last night'] said something about portions of the leaf just can't carry out their photosynthetic duties … and thus the grey splotchiness.

Or perhaps it was a conversation I had with someone once at a MG training session.

dave