The bed this hosta is in with three other healthy looking hostas. Here's the bed. Sorry for the fuzzy picture. This Patriot got a hasty planting into that hole last fall after being dug up from someplace in the yard. It looked fine this spring. It is one of the Lowe's hostas and the bed is in the quarantine area of the yard. It tested negative for HVX with an Agdia strip when I got it last fall.
I don't think the watering to that bed has been even and I first took this to be lack of water stress. I don't think that's all there is too it. Any ideas? I was wondering if the flatid leafhoppers might be transmitting diseases.
Our big annual party was last weekend and tomorrow will be the first chance I get to do some serious gardening. I've been in make pretty mode for weeks.
Kathy

Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures of flatid plant hoppers

i see the pistol grip in your pic...

i suggest you get a watering wand .. see link ... i prefer the 3 footer ...

water as you will ... and then dig a small hole.. 3 to 6 inches deep ... and water until you have moistened THE SOIL to AT LEAST 3 inches DEEP ... and maintain that moisture thru the whole growing season ... 6 inches would be preferred ...

and try to water the whole bed.. rather than just the individual plants... as if you dont.. you will attract tree roots to the individual plants ...

not many heavy water users thrive.. by shooting them with water .. you simply cant get water deep into the soil ...

and with the longer wand.. i rarely actually wet the leaves ... i water the soil ... you really cant complain about leaf damage or disease ... if you are constantly shooting the leaves ...

ken

ps: presuming your are right handed.. slink the hose under your left armpit.. around your back .. and over your right shoulder... and let the hose on your shoulder hold the weight of the wand/hose/water ... or you might end up with CTS ... this also helps dragging the hose.. as you are using your whole torso and legs to do such ... as leverage ... reverse if left handed ...

Here is a link that might be useful: link

It looks like "drying up" disease to me. ;-) The leaves appear to be drying up from the top down, rather than a rot at the base of the petioles. You said it was hastily planted last fall. Could it be planted too high or too deep?

IF you cannot contort yourself with that hose as Ken describes above, do whatever it takes to make sure that hosta is getting the water it needs. It may not show you much more on the surface this season, but July/August is root growing time so don't worry.

-Babka

Ok, the Patriot gets more water. This sandy hillside can get so dry, and we have had less than a quarter of an inch of rain in the last 6 weeks. Ken, that is an old noodle head waterer, not a pistol grip. I readjusted the heads to water the Patriot more. Finishing the irrigation system is one of the big projects for the rest of the summer. I only have three out of over 150 hostas that are in trouble and they are all in out of the way places that I may have overlooked on my hand watering days.
Thanks for the comments,
Kathy

dig holes by those 3 ... AND FIND OUT HOW DRY THE SOIL IS AT DEPTH ...

and then you will KNOW why they are.. as they are ...

you cant fix something.. thru guessing ...

what is the irrigation system ... i hope its not lawn sprinklers .... or you will have a hard time.. keeping blues.. blue.. for the season ... they dont take kindly to overhead watering ....

perhaps a new post.. if you want to discuss irrigation ...

ken

ps: you are not a real gardener.. until you own a water wand ... hows that for throwing down the gauntlet.. lol ... do whatever you want.. i dont care.. i am just kidding around... maybe... lol

Ok, I dug around these hostas in the bed with the miserable Patriot. It was dry by all of them down to six inches. The Patriot popped out of the ground easily and I moved it down the hill where I thought it would be moister. Then when I tried to water it all the petioles fell off at the crown. There is something wrong with this hosta other than under watering.
I tested it again for HVX with an Agdia strip and got a negative result.

{{!gwi}}

Here's the pic.

Then I noticed a well established, irrigated (drip) Undulata Albomarginata with some dried up leaves. They all seem to be from one eye and they broke off at the base of the petiole when I gently tugged on them. Is this crown rot?

Here's the bed the Undulata is in, next to my Frances Williams which looks the best it has ever looked.
Kathy

Could be crown rot. Are the roots only a few inches long, and looks as if they have rotted off? Can the plant be pulled up from the soil with out much effort if you hadn't dug it up? Did the roots look rotted even with the dry soil? Take care of it as soon as you see the drying of the leaves, whether it is from voles, roots, crown rot, the flatid plant hoppers or no rain. I was begging for rain back in Jun and so far have only had TEN minutes of rain.

Also have tons of the flatid plant hoppers and they also destroy the stems of the plants.

Beautiful Frances Williams by the way. Protect HER at all cost!!

This post was edited by plantbug on Thu, Jul 10, 14 at 21:33

This has been a bad year for hostas,but the only problem I ever have with hostas is the weather. Not voles,rabbits,deer,or anything else. Only the weather,period! The freeze this year in April did more damage than all the previous years combined,and that happened in only one night! Other than that,your hostas looks like lack of water,to me. Mine never get that way,because rain falls on them every year. Phil

I believe it is southern blight, and I have a few that have it as well. I really need to spray them this weekend. Last weekend I should have done it but I was carefully digging out a diseased Elvis Lives (now I guess I can call that one Elvis Died) and spreading 6 yards of mulch.