Hosta Care
Planting
Put this plant into an organic soil – or one enriched with peat moss. This is a woodland plant and it loves a rich soil full of organic matter and natural nutrients. It loves regular and deep waterings as well. If it's happy, the amount of time you'll spend on hosta care will go down.
Plant so the crowns/eyes of the plant are just below or just “at” the soil line. Do not cover these eyes with a great deal of soil as they are the growing points for new leaves.
Best Growing Conditions
Hosta grow best in part-shade to shade. Yes, I know that some gardeners put them in the sun but watch the leaves on those plants as they fade away during the summer heat when compared to the leaves of plants that are happily sitting in the shade.
Pruning
Prune this plant only in the fall after frost has whacked it back. No other pruning is needed or desired (other than deadheading – see below)
Deadheading
The spent flowers can be deadheaded – the stems can be cut off as far down into the foliage as you can reach – immediately after they have finished blooming.
You can allow the seed to mature and self-sow. You’ll get new baby plants but understand they will not come true from seed and rarely look like the hybrid mother plant.
Wintering
Hosta are usually hardy into USDA zone 3. This is one tough plant but it does not appreciate late frosts. If your plant has thrown new leaves and these are frosted, it will be distinctly unhappy about producing more (if a brand new plant installed too early in the spring, you may lose the plant at this point). If the plant is established and in good shape, it will unhappily produce more leaves but often not as thick as the first set. I note that most hosta only throw one set of leaves a season so if you damage them or allow them to be slug-food, what you see – is what you get and no amount of hosta care will help you out here.
Pests
The major pest of hosta are slugs. These can be controlled by dusting diatomaceous earth around the plants or obtaining a bait containing iron phosphate.
Diatomaceous earth is a natural product – it is the leftover skeleton of dead sea-creatures (diatoms) and the shells are tiny and razor-sharp if you’re a slug. If you’re a human, the microscopic particles feel like talcum powder, harmless to pets and humans.
Iron phosphate is a particularly lethal compound for slugs (but they love to eat it) that is totally non-toxic to pets, children or adults. It is a naturally occurring compound in soils.
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How to stop rabbits from eating my hostas. The rabbits eat only my solid green hostas. They eat the leaves first. Then the stems down to the ground. I don't have deer, I only have rabbits, squirrels ...
hosta pale leaves my hosta are about ten yrs old, but for the past 2 seasons the leaves have turned paper thin white and then brown. They come up quickly and get very large-...
Loss of Shade for Hostas Our two large cherry trees died and were removed. The beautiful hostas planted below them are now fully exposed. Two newly-planted native Carolinian species ...
LOSS OF COLOR AND BRIGHTNESS
The white edges of my hosta were once crisp and bright but now are dull and narrower. The leaves look pale.
Doug says it sounds as if they're getting ...
Cutting back flowers
If the flowers are not important to me, can I cut back the stems before they bloom instead of waiting until after blooming to "deadhead"?
Doug says ...
thinning out
The hosta have spread out and are covering a larger part of the bed than we would like. How do we "cut" it back, thin it out.
Thankyou
Doug says ...
Hail Damaged Hosta Leaves
An end of May thunderstorm brought heavy rain and HAIL which shredded the leaves of my hosta.
Will the plants recover this season or must I wait until ...
My hostas are way too big! Can I just cut off some of the leaves and stems from around the outsides of some really huge hostas or must I try to divide them? Dividing them when they ...
striped hostas lost their stripes
I have hostas planted in an area that received good sunlight, and they have lost their stripes, they are now dark green.
Doug says 1) hosta want ...
brown tips on hostas
What can I do about the brown tips on my hostas that are beginning to appear on them
Doug says it's cultural - sounds as if you have a heavier soil ...
hosta are different sizes
one of my hostas has huge leaves and the other one planted only a few feet away..is sparce and not mounded and full..is there something I can do?
Doug ...
Hostas care. I have a beautiful hostas with green center leaves and white edging. It is approximately 3 years old and is quite large. My problem is that it grows a ...
Hosta growth problems. What would cause hosta to grow in a scattered pattern rather than in a clump? The centers of the plants don't seem to be emerging this year and the plants ...
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