It's probably hard water stains from when they water the plants.

Karen

It looks like a preventative fungicide spray - what you would apply to prevent powdery mildew and other fungus problems. You could just write and ask them, but that's what it looks like to me.

I agree. That doesn't look like PM to me. Looks like residue from some kind of overhead watering or fertilizing.

Thanks so much Karen, Ctopher and Melissa. I have sent e-mail to Bluestone with a link to my pictures and relayed what you have said. I have asked them to tell me what they think could have caused it and what I should do to treat the plants. I’ll post when I find out. Thanks!! River

Hi, RiverCrossroads!
Good to have another hosta grower from the marginal zones of the south.

Do you have other hosta already growing in your garden? Or, are you relatively new to the wonders of hosta? One of the things I have to watch out for (used to be zoned 8b but they changed our zone to 9a) is air circulation, since our high humidity seems to hold moisture around the plants. A worse threat than powdery mildew is southern blight, which likes hot humid stagnant air to do its dirty work. But keeping air circulation is a bit of a problem, isn't it.

Hope you return with pictures of your hosta as they respond to your garden conditions.

Hi RiverCrossroads - Always fun to welcome a new poster to the hosta forum. There's lots to learn here, and great people to share, and tons of tempting pictures. Hope you will like us well enough to stick around!!
Jan

20 years.. and 1600 hosta later..

i cant recall .. for the life of me.. powdery mildew on a single one ...'

has anyone actually dealt with such on hosta ???

looks like water or preventive chem spray ...

welcome... hope you come back ...

i hope you ordered more than two june from bluestone ...

ken

ps: HEY!!!!! i just went back to look at her pix.. anyone else think that doesnt look like june???? .. maybe its been years since i have seen an immature one.. but.. weird ....

That's not powdery mildew. First hand experience with PW from when I used to try to grow zinnias...and from seeing it every year on my lilacs. I've never had any problems with powdery mildew on a hosta.

What you have there is either hard water deposits and or chemical/ fertilizer residue. Nothing to worry about.

And I agree with Ken...not sure those are June hosta. Mine are still youngsters...tissue culture plants purchased in 2011...and I don't recall them ever looking like yours, river_crossroads.

i realized.. late last night.. one reason they look off.. there is no glaucous coating ...

the blue on any hosta.. is a waxy glaucous coating... that actually reflects the sky ....

many things.. like overhead watering.. wear it off fast.. leaving a green hosta behind.. nothing wrong with that.. it will be back ... next flush.. or next year ....

and the spots.. may be remnants of that coating ... among the other suggestions ...

there is another new post on june... look and see.. what i mean ..

ken

Hi all, thanks for your help and your warm welcome! Very relieved that my new hostas should be ok. If I can find pictures of my other hosta in bloom last summer I will start a new thread, keeping this one for ‘June.’

Pictures taken, June 4 & 5, 2013. These 2 new hosta arrived Friday and this is Wednesday so I think they are looking good.

In reading posts here I am flabbergasted that people can grow so many hostas. Do you have very shady yards or is it that w/o the intense sun that we have in the south, you can grow hostas in areas that are only marginally shady? Do you not have slugs and snails like we do? Here you would have to spend an absolute fortune (in Sluggo, eggs for eggshells, metal Slug Shields) to have so many hostas. You would have to collect eggshells from a school cafeteria to grow so many hostas at a reasonable cost! What 's the secret?

Thanks for your concern, Ken, but I looked at the other thread on ‘June’ and that looks like what I have (as ordered). The new foliage on my new plants looks like the ‘June’ in the perennials thread that motivated me to buy it when I saw it on sale. Compare my pics to the young, very bright ‘June,’ dates confusing as this thread starts in May 2011, click here and look for Marquest's post on 5/10/13, about 2 yrs after the thread starts.

moccasinlanding, "Good to have another hosta grower from the marginal zones of the south. "
Hi mocassinlanding, a compatriote! Water mocassins? I am still 8b tho I used to be at the top of it and now am at the bottom, z9 now starts further north than before. Yes, hostas are unusual here and I have only seen them sold at Lowe’s where plants are often not really for our climate. Hope to find pics of my other hosta. It was a division from my neighbor several years ago - friends and neighbors are my fave “shopping source” as I know what I “buy” there will grow in my climate.

"A worse threat than powdery mildew is southern blight, which likes hot humid stagnant air."
Good to know, Moccasinlanding, I need to cut some shrubbery back anyway.

Hi Jan.ON, one summer I spent 2 wonderful weeks taking a French course in la ville de Quebec. We had a couple of warm days and people would sigh and say “Si humide.” I would smile and keep my mouth shut. Nothing compared to our humidity! I remember the delicious fresh blueberries from a valley in Canada.

Hi, ci_lantro: "Nothing to worry about." Thanks, big relief! The season for cilantro is so short here that I now have something called Vietnamese Cilantro (Rau Ram), not a real cilantro at all but a delicious perennial herb that is handling the heat so far.

Thanks again Karen, Ctopher and Melissa. Bluestone wrote me that they have forwarded my e-mail to one of their growers to answer. Delay not a prob as I got answers here and plants looking better! Hope to see you all again when I find my pictures from last summer. Best, River