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Perennials Hostas

Problem with too much hot sun -- query

2 years ago

I had to remove a "small" elm tree last year, which had been a decent partial-shade for some long-established hostas. Knowing that most folk would tell me to simply relocate the hostas and plant sun-lovers here, that is not my query, lol.

For this year, I am thinking of installing temporary 50% shade cloth to foil the hot afternoon sun (from 1pm-6pm). Will this percentage be good enough, in your opinion? Will it make conditions better for the plants?

Thanks for a reply!

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Comments (5)

tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
2 years ago
You may want to let them fend for themselves with a bit more water this year. You might be surprised which do well and limit the number that need to be moved.

tj
roxanna7 thanked tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
djacob Z6a SE WI
2 years ago
Like tj said, even sun loving hostas have to acclimate to the light conditions in a yard, i had several last year that burned on me pretty quick so I covered with umbrellas. this year they are doing fine. also check out Rawson Lists in the Library. there is a list that will tell you which are sun tolerant.

debra
roxanna7 thanked djacob Z6a SE WI
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The pot is not at all overly heavy when I lift it. I really don't think overwatering is the problem based on that. As far as lifting it out, I'll have to see if looks like that can be done without doing major damage. If not I'd rather wait until it starts drying back for the winter before I risk tearing it apart, but I'll experiment with that today and let you know. We did have a very wet spring but it has not gotten any more water since then than in the three previous summers. Babka.....some of my pots can easily go every other day with no watering or some without total leaf cover over the pot and smaller pots can get most of the water they need from the sprayers, but some get dry daily, I assume from the heavy root growth. This time of the year in Texas even some drought tolerant plants in the ground can show heat stress in two days with no water. I've not used any bark in my pots since over the last 3 plus years I have not seen any problem with drainage. Part of that may be that drying out from the heat IMO pretty much overrides the drainage issue. However, this year I changed media on some of my new plants to an organic potting soil with expanded shale mixed in to see how that works. Some of those pots are really drying out fast in the summer, so we'll see how that goes. They are all new plants with smaller root systems so I have seen no problem at all so far. Kristen.....I have seen the posts about not doing overhead watering, but one of the last studies I read said that the problem with that was that you could splash the nematodes from plant to plant and not that overhead watering actually caused the nematodes. However I suppose they could splash leaf to leaf. I am not at all as knowledgable as most people here so maybe someone else will chime in on that.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
notice that placement depends on angle of sun at mid day ... so you might want to figure out best placement.. which might not be directly above ...

this is what i built for the kids back int eh day.. do you think they played up it???

its going on 20 years.. thru MI winters ...

ken

notice that placement depends on angle of sun at mid day ... so you might want to figire out best placement.. which might not be directly above ...

in this pic we are standing due south ... so its morning when i took this shot.. so presume evening is the opposite.. and mid day would be right under about one third of the way back ...

hey deb... my kids got dirty here .. what do you make to that ... we ran a hose on it from the far side.. up hill and they would wallow in the mud pit 6 to 8 hours a day ...

ken
roxanna7 thanked ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
beverlymnz4
2 years ago
We have 60% shade cloth over our propagation bed for seedlings. Its enough except that we should have sited it 4 feet south of where it is due to the angle of the sun at the hottest part of day. I have not had much luck with hosta in full sun. I just can't see watering that much.
roxanna7 thanked beverlymnz4
seagreen_turtle Z5b/6a SE Michigan
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Not that related to your question but I have a bright yellow hosta that is incredibly happy with lots of sun. Neighbor had a large maple that they removed that was shading it. It was rather bedraggled looking until after the tree's removal. Now it's a perfect, very large, very bright specimen. But that's the only hosta I have that is like that. The rest that are various shades of green and blue-green get quite a bit of shade in the summer.
roxanna7 thanked seagreen_turtle Z5b/6a SE Michigan

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