I see that you are in Z5 N.E. Ohio so dormancy is not a problem. Hostas can survive quite well without any fertilizer but enjoy a top dressing of compost. What type of soil are they planted in? An unimproved hard clay soil will impactly them greatly as water has a hard time getting to the roots. Are they getting enough water? These are questions that really address ideal growing conditions for size. 20 year old hostas should have reached their maximum size YEARS ago, not disappear entirely. What type of tree are they planted under? Maples, for example, have a shallow, dense, fibrous root system and are notorious for choking out underplantings and robbing them of nutrients and water. The dense canopy doesn't allow a lot of sunlight (even hostas need some). What varieties of hosta are disappearing? Maybe you've been unlucky with some of your selections. If you've read this forum much, you've found that some varieties give many, even very accomplished growers problems and they dwindle to nothing. Some people have trouble with "mini" hostas under trees and need to move them to a pot or hypertufa (sp?). Your other question is not "off topic". Regarding mulch, I prefer anything organic. IMO, I think rubber mulches are awful...they never break down and add nothing to the soil! Because I'm frugal, whenever I need mulch I send my arborist an e-mail and he brings me a truck-load of shredded tree trimmings free! I know he'll never send anything from diseased trees and the price is right! Now I must admit this isn't as "pretty" as mulch you pay hundreds$$/truckload but my yard is very "woodsy" so it looks fine. Of course, if I need to dress up my yard for say, a garden tour, I can always add some bags of pretty stuff for "lipstick & rouge". Please give us more info so we can be of more help. Char

My Google advanced search shows only 20 new posts in the last 24 hours. It typically shows 90 or so. There must be something going awry.

It happened to me the other day, too. I don't start posts very often, so I thought maybe I was doing something wrong. The post appeared twice, so I deleted one, they both disappeared. So I typed it again and posted. Again, it showed up twice here, but also on the cooking forum and the gardening forum that I often read. But when I came back to this forum, the duplicate was gone. Checked the other forums, and it was gone from them, too. Just the one post was here, where it belonged. I have no idea what was going on, but I know others have commented on there being double posts. There is obviously a fluke in the work somewhere. Rusty

It doesn't surprise me they disappeared. In addition to the now filtered words (although still blatantly obvious as to their spelling and meaning), there was nothing remotely funny about either, let alone 'hilarious'. Unless you find demeaning celebrities is a source of great humor. I find them both to be quite offensive.........something one would expect to see on a sleazy facebook page but not in a (hopefully) more sophisticated and moderated setting.