Why did baby hosta shoot die?

14 years ago

Hi. I'm new to hostas. I planted several divisions given to me by a colleague, some of which had roots and some of which did not. I planted them under a burgundy plum tree, after tilling and enriching the soil with compost. It is shady much of the day. The rooted ones were albapicta (a small varigated hosta) and the unrooted ones with just a bulb at the bottom were large blue-green unknowns. After a couple of weeks, the rootless ones sent up a new leaf. We've had rain nearly every day for several weeks, but there is very good drainage where the hostas are. Some of the hostas sporting the new leaf (the original ones had died off) developed a brown/yellow edge and died. One hosta which I planted as a root only sent up a little green shoot and that also died. What is going on, please? The golden tiara whole plant and one of the transplanted blue-green plants flowered, so the environment must be hosta-friendly, I would think.

Comments (4)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
lack of water ...

perhaps due to lack of roots .... transplant is hard when done at what is NOT the most appropriate time ... and done by newbies ...

the heat of summer has hit.. its not the best time to be reducing the root mass ..

regardless ... try to drown them ... and dont be surprised if they pop back up in a few weeks ...

insure that drainage is proper ... though we try to drown them ... they are not pond plants ...

it concerns me that you describe a bulb.. as hosta have no bulbs... if it is lack of a proper term.. crown .. then you have a hosta..

if there is an actual bulb.. then you might not have a hosta ....

severe leaf burn .. is consistent with dividing.. and lack of water ... they are basically sacrificing the leaves.. to get the roots working ....

a picture would be worth another thousand words of speculation..

welcome to GWeb...

ken
esther_b
Original Author
14 years ago
Ah! I spy another baby shoot coming up from where the first baby shoot died. NYC has been drowning in almost daily thunderstorms, and I have been watering when it wasn't. By "bulb", I meant a whitish fleshy swelling at the bottom of the stems, but minus any visible roots. And, don't worry, they are definitely hostas. I am a science teacher and I surely know the difference. The rest of my garden is doing great and looks absolutely glorious. Thanks for your kind reply, it helps to explain a lot.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
super... you can barely kill them if you try ...

there are 3 basic components to a hosta ....

roots ....

leaves ...

and the potato like structure between them.. and that is the CROWN ....

if you have even the slightest amount of all three ... in theory.. you have a new hosta ...

whether or not it is viable... all depends on your application of the PROPER tlc ...

now give me a 500 word essay on the theme.. lol ...

ken
esther_b
Original Author
14 years ago
OK, so the "bulb" part is a crown. Now I know, thank you. Toward the "drowning" you recommended, I just bought a new hose, a regular garden hose, to replace the curly hose I had. It was of such a small diameter that the water pressure forced water out of every brass fitting and I'd end up more soaked than the plants I was trying to water! I used that new hose to water my garden tonight, plus the hostas. The Golden Tiara, Diamond Tiara, and nameless blue-green big-leaved hosta my colleague gave me are all blooming purple flowers. The new baby leaf continues to grow and is a nice green instead of yellowing--so far. Of the 2 hosta roots in a plastic bag of "Wide Brim" I bought at Home Depot when they were 50% off, the new baby leaf is the result. The second root never sprouted. And one of the rootless crowns with a couple leaves that I planted (part of my colleague's gift of hosta divisions) never sent up a new leaf. All the other divisions he gave me sent up new leaves.

So, hopefully next year I will have some nice hostas to enjoy, more than the scraggly taggly crew I started out with this year.