I guess I would have left some in ground and put some in pot, especially if I only had that one group.

However, can you lightly dig into the pot and see if the roots are mushy or disintegrated? I think that because you have changed the growing conditions, it might just take a different time to grow if it is still viable. In particular, while pots usually warm up faster than the ground, but maybe the ones in ground are well-established, whereas the ones in pots were not. Speaking of that, it might also be good to put them in pots during the growing season to let them establish more, compared to moving them in at the end of the season.

where are you?? .. snow cover??? .. do the pots freeze solid??? z6 doenst tell me much ...

i would have let them go dryish in fall .. i would have tipped them over on their sides... and i would have protected them from all sun [north side of building].. and i would have experimented with common duplicates ... i would not have fertilized them after mid august... and i would have used a good potting media ... i dont know if you did any of these things ...

brandy has a current topic on media.. check into that ... especially if you like the jeopardy theme ...

i do hope you will try again.. lets practice dividing the old ones.. half back in the ground.. and experiment with the other half... and see if you cant perfect it all ... without losing the newer expensive ones ...

i bet the root of your problem.. was water management in the media .. especially if you used dirt ...

dont give up hosta squared ....

ken

ps: when i said you can throw them on the driveway and they would probably winter over.. i never really said anything about pots.. lol..

pps: what do the roots on the dead ones look like.. just rotting.. rotted months ago ... etc .. any chance at some pix????

I'm sorry you lost your hosta. However, I wouldn't dream of trying to change your mind. Most of us grow in pots because we cannot grow in the ground. We have to make it work, or we have no hosta. If your's will grow in the ground, I would suggest you keep them there.

Had you asked us how to make it work, we might be able to help. I would never try to talk you into trying something against your better judgement.

bk

That's a heavy loss. Can you tell me why you watered heavily at the end of the season? I tend not to water my potted Hosta at the end of the season. I don't want them to go into the winter with a saturated mix, moist, but not saturated.

You mentioned that you put them under an overhang and next to the house. But you didn't say that you tipped the pots on their sides. If you want to keep them from the freeze and thaw cycle that is deadly to Hosta you have to do that.

Have you done an autopsy on the ones that are dead? Take them out of the pots and inspect the roots and crown. Any mushiness in the crowns? Are the roots white and healthy or brown and mushy?

Here's what I would do if I were in your situation. 1. Experiment with potted Hosta that are easily replaceable for you. 2. Start to withdraw water in October and give them no water once they are dormant. 3. In December when the mix has frozen, tip the pots on their sides on the North side of your house. Cover them with wood chips or shredded leaves and/or with a tarp. 4. Put some vole traps or vole bait under the tarp. Keep checking for voles. Remember that snow cover is good, especially constant snow cover.

Then report back to us as to how your pots did over the winter this time.

Steve

Sorry to hear you had so many losses. Another bit of advice would be to pot them early so they are well rooted. Potting them up late in the season isn't a good idea up here in the north, nor is watering well before winter.

Personally I still try to get my potted plants back into the ground somewhere for the winter. A few stayed in pots this past winter and I haven't checked on them but they weren't anything important or I would have tucked them in the ground in October.

Good luck if you try again.

Chris

I actually posted this answer in another thread where you originally asked me what I do. So forgive me if you have already read it, but if you haven't, maybe it will help.

I dig a hole and put the black nursery pots with the hosta in them, in the ground as though planting the hosta. Each pot has its own hole. It is important to make sure the top is level with the surrounding earth so water doesn't sit in it. I put earth on top after it is dormant, and in the spring I cut the side to make sure water doesn't sit. Make sure it the surrounding earth is up tight to the pot - like I said, just like planting a hosta.

Close to when you are expecting them to emerge which was this week for me, I take off the extra dirt to last years level. It was easy to tell where this was because there were leaves, maple keys, etc. there from last fall.

Their roots are well insulated and protected from the foul winter weather. I do this with all sizes from little ones to 5 gallon ones and so far, so good. The first year wasn't very good but once I learned that they don't like to sit in water all has been fine since and I have five or so winters under my belt.

Any ceramic pots, I dry them out, they don't have to be totally dry, just not soaking and then I put them in my garage on cardboard or a shelf.

Thanks for all your responses and so quickly.

To answer your questions:

I meant to say I watered well until they were dormant (October) and put them away damp, not very dry or very wet. Two I lost were established in pots for two years. Some were from ground but well established there. Some were new acquisitions which in hindsight I shouldn't have potted.

I'm in central Ohio, we had record amounts of snow last winter. But the pots were well under a solid set of stairs against south side of house. I really don't think they got snowed on at all. They may have gotten sun causing a freeze/thaw. Not sure as I went south for the winter!

Used a commercial potting mix,

No vole problem.

I didn't want to autopsy yet, hoping that something would still grow. I have poked around into the soil a little. Some roots look OK, Sagae felt kinda mushy. I'm going to give them a little more time before I dig them up to look at the roots.

So, I may try again following your suggestions. I would like a few I can move around. But overall, in the ground really works best for me and that is what I'm sticking with!

I'm classified as zone 6, but I'm in Northern Ohio. Paula's response is almost exactly what I do, as I sink my pots in the garden in the fall after they are dormant, cover with leaves, and don't bother them until mid-April. Never loss any this past Winter. (Over 200 pots of all sizes) Sinking them in the garden is as close to letting Mother Nature take care of them as you can get. Hope you have better luck this year with them.

I lost around 20 of them last year due to too much rain in the spring when the plants were still dormant. Only a few survived. I was really bummed. This winter I was stuck with a bunch of hostas in pots from when I moved last spring and had no place to put them in the ground. I put them all together and covered them with a tarp on the deck after they went dormant. The pots seemed to hold moisture for a better part of the winter, though when the snow began to melt some of that water pooled in a few pots and created ice. I tipped those over so they would drain as the ice thawed. Today I looked through the pots and see a few of them starting to pip, but nothing in most of the pots. I hope they survived.

I think because the pots are in the shade and on the deck exposed to the cold air at night more than the ones in the ground may be why they are taking longer to wake up. I have hostas in the ground an inch or two high already whereas the potted ones are either just starting to poke through or are still sleeping (or dead, hope not). The ground holds the heat in the soil better than in a pot. So, I would give them more time, and as long as the pots aren't wet I think they should be okay. Your weather this year wasn't much more different from ours here in SW Michigan.

I took a pic today of the pots that I planted for the winter in situ. You can see the different levels of soil, that is why I cover them all with dirt after dormancy to ensure they are the same level as the surrounding soil so they don't fill with water. I took off the extra soil this week, now that the extreme cold weather has broken.

Paula, you have a plan, and a lot of energy. As I said in the other thread, I am totally impressed. Plus, relieved that I don't have to deal with ground freezing and thawing. I just try to keep mine cool and dry enough to last 40 days of dormancy.

I'm new to gardening, so I don't have any advice to offer. I learned quite a bit from reading the responses to this post. I just wanted to offer hope. I potted a number of hostas in the summer when I realized I couldn't plant them where I intended to plant them. I didn't do anything special over the winter because I figured the in-ground hostas survive all the winter conditions, so the potted ones should be fine as well. I guess I got lucky then because all of mine are coming up. The potted ones all began to emerge well before the ones that are in the ground. So don't give up on them yet. Hopefully they'll start growing for you.

Here is a pic of my potted hosta, taken a couple days ago. This is not where they were stored over the winter.

Nothing new is coming up. I pulled up one of the Ginsu Knife and it had scrawny, roots, sick and paltry looking. I think it didn't have a strong root system when I potted it. Will give the others a little while longer, though I'm not holding my breath.

I will try some more pots this season. Use the potting mix recipe recommended in another current thread, plant them early in season so they get established in the pots.

My DH reminded me that we have an unheated storage room between our garage and the house and asked why I hadn't put them there? I never even thought about it assuming they would be in our way. But I think I could tolerate that to save them overwinter.

So now another question: what temp do hosta need to stay below to stay dormant over the winter? I'm not sure what the temp in that storage room is, I'm guessing maybe 50 ish.

Last year was my first try with containers. We had a near record snow fall and low temps. I tipped all the pots on their side and covered them all with a good foot of leaves. I uncovered them last week and the pips are all farther along than any in the ground. I don't know what difference the leaf cover made but they do look good. I might add that the soil in the pots is just half garden soil (sandy loam) and half compost. This year I will try the 5-1-1 mix in containers.

hostahosta,

Hostas need 40* F or below for at least 40 days. That space may be too warm. It will certainly cause them to start early and need sunlight. I use a 3 season unheated porch, but it gets well below freezing there. And the plants still start early. It's not a problem for me as there is plenty of sun on the porch in April.

If you are going to use an inside space you need to be able to deal with them coming up before they normally would.

Steve

My friend, Taffany, and I were discussing losses today. She has the opposite story. All 15 of hers that were in the ground are losses. But her pots that she put in her garage for winter storage all survived. So that is what I'm going to be doing for my potted hostas this winter, putting them in a storage unit here where I live.

I went to several places in town that have nice hosta beds and nearly all of them report losses and having to have them replaced. It's so sad. We were just hit one after the other here this winter so they didn't have a chance.

You're all so helpful. And patient to listen to my ongoing story of woe.

Steve: I guess the storage room is out. I also have a 3 season unheated porch, north side of house. Not my first choice to put them there, but might consider it.

Old dirt: I have lots of leaves (live basically in the woods) Were they protected in any other way? Near house? Overhead protection? Or just out in the open?

They were on a raised bed with a wire enclosure which helped to keep the leaves together. I actually use this enclosure for cutting flowers in the summer. Other than that they were totally in the open. I think last fall when I posted here my plans for this, folks thought it was overkill and just extra work. It may have been but I didn't do any of them different to compare the results (maybe next year.)

Old dirt, right side up.

bk

Hey, hostahosta, I was outside this morning looking at my potted hostas and I am now just starting to see some eyes swelling on a few. Savannah Supreme is the farthest along with pips actually breaking the soil line. The crowns on some of the others seem firm still, but no sign of waking yet. Crossing my fingers and hoping more will wake and that yours will soon be too.

Karen

oh it hurts to lose those beauties. I love the look of potted hosta so I thought I would try it also. had about 8-10 gorgeous plants in pots that I tipped and covered with rugs and straw. it seems like not much survives -27 and I lost all of them. possibly maybe something will come from a root or two. funkie gardens opens may 1st so maybe a trip next weekend.

Hostahosta,
This is the first year I had hosta in pots and I put them on my 3 season porch. It's also on the north side of my house, and they stayed frozen pretty much all winter. It worked out pretty well, I put them along the outer facing wall and they were out of the way.
I wouldn't lose hope for yours yet though, mine are just now showing some pips, its just been so cold!

Post Mortem:

I finally did the post mortem. I had given them enough time to do any miracles. I found only wet, wormy, roots. So my losses were due to a moisture/drainage problem. Still frustrated, but I have moved on. All my hosta are going into the ground now. I'm done with hosta in pots. (At least until I change my mind!) And I'm filling my decorative containers with annuals.

I've been reading that many of you lost potted hosta this past winter too. Hopefully next winter won't be as bad.

After losing many hostas in pots two years in a row, I'm done with hostas in pots with the exception to try another Praying Hands in the same pot the one I had for four years had lived in. I think the cold was too much coupled with too much moisture having wicked its way into the pot. The survivors are going into the ground somewhere.

Karen

I'm still analyzing the reasons I lost the hostas that were in pots.

100% of the ones that were tipped on their sides came back. I put them on their side in a row along the back side of the house. I tucked them tightly next to each other so that the bottom of one pot was tucked into the top of the next.

I had about 30 that were left in the gardens, right side up. All of those came back.

It was the ones under the deck that were lost. I think it was the 4 feet of snow on the deck that melted into the pots that was the culprit. My DH told me (after it was too late), that a lot of the pots under the deck had a couple of inches of water on top that eventually froze.

Two that I thought were dead actually showed signs of life today.

My gardens wouldn't look the same if I didn't have hostas in pots. However, I am going to reduce the amount of ones that I have in pots significantly!

Gesila

I lost 3 in pots also. The hosta I "planted" into the vegetable patch in the fall came through fine but the ones left in their pot, on their sides did not. I could be the potting medium and drainage, although I had some come through other years. It was a particularly cold winter in Minnesota. However, still won't give up growing hosta in pots. I have room for 16 medium and some smalls in my vegetable patch and I may have to limit myself to that, at least for the fancies. I could try to overwinter some expendables in pots again. If it works, great. If not, oh well.

Happy potting,
Beverly

Just found this thread and I'm hoping that someone that has wintered their Hosta on a 3 season porch can give me some advice. We are moving mid August and I've got about a dozen Hosta in pots that I will need to winter. Our new house has a 3 season porch and I see that some of you have wintered your Hosta successfully there. Did you cover them? Did you tip them on their sides? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

You only need to tip them on their sides if they are going to get wet. The freezing and thawing will crack a ceramic pot, plus they don't like to sit in water.

start your own post.. and include where you are.. where you are going.. zone of both ... media in pots ... and any info that might allow us to help you

hosta need dormancy ... and whether the porches allows that.. is the question ...

and if the hundred answers here didnt answer your question.. then its time to go specific on your circumstances.. and start your own post

ken