Plant bug, I don't know the answer to this. If you don't get an answer here try the seed forum. Those people know alot of this stuff. Otherwise, contact the donor of the plant; they might have more information.

Beverly

One thing for surre,Plantbug;don't put them outside yet. They won't be able to handle the late freezes! You can already buy bare-root hostas at Wal Mart now,but I can't grow them because it's too early. But,in my defense,all they had were plants I already have. Keep your plants inside for awhile yet. Phil

treat them like any other houseplant until they can go outside frost free ..

it should NOT be all that big a deal for you in z7 ...
but i had trouble with such in z5 MI ... where they would have to stay indoors until nearly june ...

check out bkays post about freeze damage .. where i just waxed poetic about the garage ... you would have to temper them.. to insure you dont shock them.. but there is no reason they need to be in the house ...

they wont mind cold ..... they just cant frost/freeze ... [well ... they can .... but they wont be pretty anymore.. lol]

ken

Some hybridizers bring in potted hostas to wake them up early, so they will bloom early and are then available for hybridizing with other hostas which bloom at that same time. These hostas are then under artificial light, probably 12 hrs on and 12 hrs off light..

I have 50 or so hosta seedlings under fluorescent light 24 hours every day, but that is different. I expect some hostas arriving soon which I will pot then and put under light so that they bloom earlier. You see having hostas under light is nothing special, they will survive it until there are no more frosts outside. Then when you bring them outside you need to harden them off, like the first week under a shade tree only a few hours outside each day.
Bernd

Thanks guys and gals. Some of the leaves are turning brown, maybe I am not watering enough because of being so dry in the house.

plantbug

Your brown leaves might be from the shock of moving from a greenhouse environment to your house.

For a comparison, my seedlings are standing in 1/4 to 1/2 inch of water which also contains a weak fertilizer. Fluorescent lights are 1 to 2 inches above leaves. The humidity is high because I have hung old towels around the shelve with the trays.
Bernd

Hostas are grown as houseplants in Japan. Don't see why they can't be grown for a few weeks indoors until they can get planted out safely. I've bought forced hostas that were at garden shows for a few years now, they do fine in a bright window (east facing is good) until it's warm outside. The biggest mistake is like with other houseplants, overwatering. Don't water them until the soil is dry when you stick your finger in it up to your first joint, and make sure they are not sitting in a tray with standing water.

Sandy

its about going from that high humidity.. perfect temp greenhouse..

to a house that goes from 72 during the day.. to 65 at night.. and for most of us.. with a forced air furnace.. which if we are lucky keeps humidity around 25% ...

it wouldnt bother me if the oldest.. outer leaves brown ...

but i would not want to drown it.. its probably not media moisture.. its humidity ...

and as noted ... if you carried it outside.. in transport.. temp shock

ken

So they like the humidity, but not so much the really hot outdoors in direct sun. Well, given that in the summer I keep the house about 80, and the condensate pipe of the a/c unit outdoors is literally pouring water from the pipe, it has to work hard to deal with moisture in our air. So I'm thinking now that our remodel which will add a wall of windows on the EAST SIDE, might be a nice spot to keep some indoor hosta, and perhaps think about forcing them early......although perhaps it would not give them enough dormant time to add to their root systems.

Oh. My brain is in overload right now, gotta think about this later.

"Fiddle dee-dee," said Miz Scarlett, "I'll think about this tomorrow."