Water level in my Hosta Hospital

7 years ago

I a previous thread, Ken Adrian warned me not to submerge the crowns on my vole-eaten hostas as I put them in water to try to encourage some root growth. In some cases, there are no roots left whatsoever. In those cases, I may have them in too much water, I sure don't know. I also don't know how well the photos will show what's going on, but it you have any comments, please feel free to give advice. Thanks.

Last year, Francee was 34" in diameter. The bowl on the right has some roots left, so I may repot.

Last year, Earth Angel was 29" in diameter. There are no roots left.

Last year, Atlantis was 54" in diameter (and 60" in 2014). The tops were eaten by deer, and only very short roots were left by the voles.

Maraschino Cherry was 43"; very few, very short roots.

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Comments (5)

stephanie_h12
7 years ago
Good luck! I hope it works and you get lots of healthy roots.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
7 years ago
the crowns are right.. at the surface... but i dont know why you need the 4 inches of water under them .... i think i suggested a half inch of water or so ...

and i suggest 2 experiments ...

cut the leaves off one bunch ... leave just celery stalks .... in the water system ...

i would also hope you have some potting media around ... wet it .... put the crown at the bottom of the pot ... and fill it to about an inch ... use the pot to hold up the celery stick ...

and they should be in shade.. 24/7 ...

i learned more.. experimenting.. than i ever read in books ... pre WWW

i think you are erring toward too much water ....

ken
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Hey.....I was sitting here falling off my chair, DH asks what 'tis, and I read this thread to him. Just so he'll know I'm not the ONLY ONE with "this small problem." His comment: "You're all crazy......" with a smile on his face. Ahhh, this is the best laugh I've had all week. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, my first order of the year will ship March 23d from Naylor. I think I have enough pots. My DH will be up in MA closing the sale of his house (yes, market is picking up and from first day offered to closing will be about 5-6 weeks). So, what I'm saying is, he won't know I got any more new ones. What total does that make: about 324.....but WHO'S COUNTING NOW..... we'll see how many if any I lost over the winter to rot or squirrels.
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first.. link them to your other post about your new wall.. this group will be highly entertained by it ... second.. some guy ... i cant recall who ... did a post titled .. MOVING A FULLY LEAFED OUT HOSTA ... or some such.. perhaps if you review it.. you might glean some tidbits of knowledge.. see link .... if they have been regressing for 3 years.. crikey woman.. dig them up and find out whats going on .... based on the other post.. i am surprised you of all peeps.. havent already done that ... lol ... a dormant hosta.. in frozen soil ... especially if snow cover.. doest freakin care how cold winter is ... its simply irrelevant.. IMHO ... its the warm winters... when they might go in and out of dormancy... that wreak havoc with dormant plants.. because they dont stay dormant all winter .... with snow.. dont forget.. its a great insulator... and and air temps dont affect soil under snow.. frozen is frozen.. and there is no wind chill ... anyway... my hosta friends.. especially you warm zone peeps.. i will yell... SHE HAD SNOW INT EH FORECAST FOR THE LAST FEW DAYS ... lol ... ken ps: 95% of us.. mail order hosta .. lets these old turds die.. and order up some newer.. better hosta... blimey ... lifes to short to deal with these 50 year old cultivars ... review the last 50 pages of hosta posts in this forum for some great pix ... etc ... rotflmbo .... Here is a link that might be useful: link
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On the subject of planting leaves. I did this same thing this summer. I had been to my local nursery for the late season sale and spotted an American Hero that appeared to be sporting. Sadly I already had one in the ground at home so i passed over it in favor of expanding my collection with many others. The plant in question had two "crowns" (correct term for hosta divisions?) that were fully two inches taller than the rest of the regular white centered leaves and were dark green with even darker green margins. I told myself it was probably just reverting and i probably wouldn't want that particular plant anyway. Of course i looked it up when i got home and discovered American Hero to be a sport of Revolution(a plant with even more white than AH). I went back the next weekend, found it and bought it. I brought it home with the idea of splitting the larger division off and planting it separately. Imagine my shock when the two tops simply popped off with the slightest manipulation of the crown and fell to the ground. I was somewhat depressed and just put the AH in the ground hoping that what was beneath those tops will return in the spring and just set the two amputations off to the side. The next day i returned to the scene of the crime and as I was examining the amputated crowns I noticed some cracks in the soil near my Whirlwind and thought what the heck. Stuck em in the cracks,packed em in, gave em a drink and proceeded to watch them for two months in which they never wilted and even outlasted many of my non-abused plants when the colder weather showed up. Needless to say I was impressed and have my fingers crossed for next spring. So, no, Sheila you are not alone P.S. my mom is from Bloomfield and my dad hails from Yankton.
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Here in the UK in the garden centres you can find the very common hostas sold bare rooted in a plastic bag surrounded with a bit of wood shavings, a pretty picture on the outside hanging from a peg next to Dahlia tubers. In Holland the Dutch wholesale growers dig the hostas from the field, wash, dry and divide into single divisions. They pack them in boxes of 50 and then freeze them until they receive an order. They are delivered in this state with instructions to allow them to defrost completely before planting. From what I recall freezing was in reality holding at -3 C. A couple of years ago I germinated some Hosta seed in flats fairly late in the season. Come winter I left them in the greenhouse totally dry for around 4 to 5 months. Spring time I watered them and back they came. I'm talking really tiny seedlings with barely two leaves! The only point I'm trying to make here is the ability of this plant to tolerate all kinds of conditions during dormancy. This year I plan to take a few duplicate plants once they die back, remove all the media and leave them dry on a bench in the garage till spring. I want to see if they can survive and grow on the next season. Dave
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luckyladyslipper
Original Author
7 years ago
Yes, you did say half an inch. In the case of Francee and Earth Angel, I used vases so that the leaves wouldn't fall over, but also wouldn't be squeezed too much. For some reason, Maraschino Cherry seemed to sit comfortably in the shallow container.

Atlantis has no leaves left (thanks to the deer who got there even before the voles), so I used a shallow plastic tub with about an inch of water. There seemed to be a few roots sort of at the top of the crown, and I thought they needed access to the water.

When you suggest experimenting with cutting off the leaves, is that to see if they can put more energy into root-making if there is no leaf to feed?

And regarding the potting medium: is that a suggestion for planting them after some roots begin to appear, or is that the second experiment you referred to? Did you use the term 'potting media' to differentiate a soil-less mixture from potting soil?

Sorry to be so clueless. Growing hostas has been rather effortless for me in the past. This year has been awful. First deer and rabbits, then drought, then some family issues, now voles and pill bugs. If this had been my first attempt at gardening, I would give up. But I really appreciate your suggestions.
luckyladyslipper
Original Author
7 years ago
And I will move them all to the north side of the house tomorrow to give them shade 24/7.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
7 years ago
cutting off the leaves, is that to see if they can put more energy into root-making if there is no leaf to feed?

==>>> i like to teach.. so dont worry about the clueless thing .. you wont be by the time we are done ...

hosta leaves sweat ... give off water ...you dont have roots to provide water ... eh ... so they are going to yellow and desiccate anyway ....

but leaves also convert sun to food to grow roots .. and the stalks are green... so they will process some food ... while reducing water loss ...

they probably have stored food in what crown is left ????? ... but it still wont hurt to leave the stalks ...

i hope Bruce/chris chimes in.. and corrects me if i am wrong ...

ken
luckyladyslipper thanked ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

Water level in my Hosta Hospital

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Water level in my Hosta Hospital

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