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| Many of us have hostas that suffered with late April frost and I'm wondering if those plants have outgrown the damage, or if they will look 'sorry' all season. I'm about to cut off damaged leaves from the plants that have leaves to spare, like 'Elegans', 'Liberty', 'Sum and Substance'. But some of my plants only have 10 or so leaves, and I'm suspicious that cutting off 3 just because the edges are ratty isn't a good idea.
Someone here mentioned immediately cutting off the tips of not yet unfurled eyes that had been frost damaged. I wish I had done that - some of the leaves on S&S are quite contorted and irregular looking. I think they might have unfurled more smoothly without their damaged tips.
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Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Fri, May 18, 12 at 12:20
| i dont cut.. i yank ... will you be sterilizing your cutters between each plant??? just do a couple on each plant.. give them a week or two.. do a few more ... you can always take a few more.. you cant staple them back on.. eh??? if right handed.. grab the tip of the leaf with your left had.. pull gently .. with your right hand.. run it down the celery stalk until you are near the crown.. and just yank it out of there ... [unless its just been planted] why bother cutting?? ken |
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Jan - this is one of three recent divisions of plantaginea given to me in Sept. 2011. They were frozen back to the ground twice this spring. Seriously, all I saw was transparent remnants laying on the ground like spoiled lettuce. So I was pleased when I saw them yesterday (5/18) looking this good. Ergo I took its picture.  This indirectly addresses your question. I would assume such a severe loss of leaves due to freezing would be handled by the hosta the same as if the leaves were cut off. My new leaves show none of the kinking, curling and irregularity normally encountered with frozen or frosted leaves. The light color of the leaves is probably due to a shortage of Chlorophyll as a result of the freezing though. I expect them to green-up quickly. My SIL, who is mowing for me got a little too close, do you think? If I were home and able, the weeds behind it wouldn't be there, for sure. I'll let you draw your own conclusions from this. Les |
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| Les - glad to see you are back in the garden, even if weeding isn't on your ist of approved activities for a while! The non-gardener in my house also gets a bit close to some of the hostas when he mows the grass. Tunnel vision - can't see them! Ken - rather like harvesting rhubarb eh? (Does hosta make decent pie I wonder?) I know your crop was seriously frosted - do you have photos of the fighters? |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Fri, May 18, 12 at 19:44
| I know your crop was seriously frosted - do you have photos of the fighters? ==>>> you gotta be kidding.. right?? i am not wasting my time taking pix of damaged hosta.. lol .. check in at the conifer forum .... for my recent pic work... go down thru page 2 ... to not miss any ... the spring gold picea pungens threads ... that is blue spruce for you peeps.. lol .. ken |
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- Posted by moccasinlanding z9A AL (My Page) on Fri, May 18, 12 at 22:18
| Les, I was thinking the green was nearly gold on your plantaginea. Mine is really jet green now...at least the only one with its full set of leaves. My other two plantaginea together in one pot had a bout of foliar nematodes, and after trimming off the damaged leaves, barerooting and giving them a bleach soak and new separate pots, they have a sort of scalped look to them. I'm trying to save them, but might not succeed. There are advantages to keeping plants separate and even in pots, spread them far enough apart to avoid dripping on each other. |
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