I couldn't pass this up Ken. If you have walnut trees that didn't produce nuts last year, any compost at all is too much. The squirrels that feed on walnuts will empty your pots faster than you can fill them. LOL with some tears.

I will leave the bleach question and how much compost under normal conditions to others. I think Steve uses a lot of bleach when potting hostas.

Theresa

I guess I'm not that sanitary, I only use bleach on tools. I did try the bleach soak on some rotting ones that were damaged this winter but they were goners.

I used to put compost in my container mix but I keep some hostas in containers over the winter, and I read somewhere that compost would keep it too wet. So if these were pots you intend on overwintering somewhere and use a lot of compost, I guess I would just try to make sure they stay pretty dry in winter.

I would use zero compost and zero bleach. There is no reason to use bleach on a transplant as bleach can damage them anyway. If you are worried about fungus then use an actual fungicide that won't do plant damage. Compost reduces air space in pots which leads to thinner roots and smaller root systems plus leads to rot over the winter.

nix the compost add mulch. pine fines small mulch fast drainage. perlite and I use a light potting soil. This is what my mix looks like. Welcome to pots. Take back control over your hostas. Side drainage mega holes. Good luck.

i talked with chris ...

i have 3 to 5 year old wood chips... from the tree guy ... nice big chunks of wood.. with some of it breaking down into what i called compost ...

his best suggestion... is that no matter what the mix is.. upon pouring water in the top ... it should trickle out the bottom.. with just enough retention for a happy root growth ...

he suggested in a month or so.. i tip a few out.. and see if i have the big thick root growth.. or the tiny hair roots... if tiny.. repot in coarser mix ... if thick roots.. i did well..

i have a garden sieve.. i may use that to increase chunk size... and reduce wood compost... but still add the bagged professional stuff ... peat, vermiculite, perlite.. and compost....

thx for the pic ilove.. mine is already coarser than that ...

he also pointed out.. on my explaining.. that i have 'dry rot' from last years heat/drought... and that is not a bleach thing... beyond his absolute hatred of that cure ...

damn if words dont mean things.. lol ..

i know exactly the type of compost you guys are leery of... killed a bunch of stuff with it.. years ago ... it was unfinished.. still 'hot'... meaning high nitro ... and including glass for good measure ... what a nightmare .....

ken

ok so i've been using the search function but don't know if i missed another post that gives more detail about what's going on w/ your collection...?

can someone point the way if there is a thread and if not, i'll assume they are shrinking and appear to be rotting away from blight or (as i read), dry rot.

this year has been great/awful for me. massive rain equals massive hosta in some locations and in others, gnat-swarming blight w/ rotted leaves. a few of my rare ones are fully blighted and i can't get near them b/c of a yellow jacket nest in the ground.

i'm going to shoot them from 50' w/ fungicide. lol

hope all goes well for you, ken. if you lost your babies, it would be a huge loss for EVERYONE

10% Bleach is a cure-all for bacterial and fungal blights which may or may not show themselves OVERNIGHT.

Why not bleach? It takes time and is messy. But once done, the plants will grow better.

I do rinse them after bleach treatment.

Having used bleach since the 1970's ( I know you can't break bad habits easily unless you want to!), I still soak them anytime they are bare root.

Only time I won't, is if I don't break the clump and leave it in a dirt ball.

Bruce Banyai

ken, why does some of your collection need saving? you've got us all worried.

p.s. are you coming to the Hallson's gathering this year?

Dry rot on hostas?
Ken, please explain what that is.
I have the 'stinky wet' rot on a large 'Elegans', just cleaned it up, threw out 1 inch of soil and drenched the crown plus surrounding soil with Captan fungicide and thereafter with Bayer Advanced Disease Control. Hope the best!
Bernd

Oh, Ken, I had no idea you were having problems with weather conditions affecting your garden too. What do I know......even the most experienced among us can have "issues."

Your garden, and yourself, are icons of the last 30 years of hosta culture, and we are all rooting for you to get things under control. I bet you were probably sitting in your rocker on the front porch exercising your elbow with a tall cool drink, thinking that nothing exciting was in your future with hosta. One of my favorite sayings is "Be sure you want what you wish for, cause you might get it!"

Then along comes ..... drought, humidity, floods, hail, pestilence .... and you are now filled with trepidation for your garden. You'll save it. And I'm sure you will dive into our pothead hosta culture as successfully as into your sandy ground.

I don't bleach when I get new bare root plants. I don't bleach unless I'm seeing signs of foliar nematodes, and not even with southern blight do I bleach. My DH figured out what readily available ingredient can be used to treat the soil for different afflictions.

First off, I bought ZeroTol in a ready-to-spray bottle. DH found it, and used it, then discovered that the ingredients were hydrogen peroxide and a perchlorate to accelerate the reaction, and you'd wind up with simple water at the end. He noted in a technical blog that some major Maryland hospital with problems in their operating room got rid of everything except the hydrogen peroxide/perchlorate mopping routine done by ROBOTS, and the infection rates went way way down. That confirmed the value of the peroxide....but even with NO accellerating perchlorate, it works for the garden....just get the biggest bottle of peroxide, or try to find it in powder form and mix it....

that is what I'm understanding ..... only I want HIM to write it down for me.....but Ken, for you I shall tell it off the top of my head...anyone who finds holes in this description, let me know, because I don't know beans about chemistry...my DH has an advanced degree in it ... but getting him to write the thinking down so I can understand it is a bit tricky.

Another product he got to save our Italian cypress which do NOT like a lot of rain and humidity, so they get a soil borne fungus that will lead to a scale and eventual death, and it is Daconil Fungicide concentrate (got it at Amazon in small bottles). He sprays that on the SOIL monthly.

He is also going to spray with something all my hosta this month, and show me how to do it next month. I think that is my preventative medicine for southern blight and perhaps foliar nematodes as well. But I might be asking for a panacea when there is none. I figure the mixed or diluted peroxide won't hurt the roots or set them back, like the bleach can. And it is really cheap to try it.

Ken, I have a few suggestions for your consideration as you pot up your hosta.

I'd advise against using sphagnum peat moss or vermiculite in large percentages for the potting medium. Both hold water/moisture and make the potting medium too heavy. I'd use this type of peat sparingly if you choose to add it. For what it's worth, in my medium I use 80% pine bark fines, 20% perlite and a really small amount of cotton burr compost.

I agree, when you water, it should drain on through right away. There will be enough water retention in the composted wood chunks.

I put my pots on bricks (as pot feet) so drainage isn't slowed down or blocked. Holes in the side of the pot can help eliminate the need for pot feet.

The tip about checking roots is a great idea.

Add Miracle Grow (or other fert) at 1/2 dosage to the water when you water your potted hosta.

Be careful the pot is not in direct sunlight. Direct sun will heat up pots quickly, especially terracotta, concrete or stone or black nursery grade plastic. To get around that, if grouped together often they will shade each others pots.

Also, plant the hosta in the pot so the crown is very high. On some of mine you can see roots under the crown, which might seem a little extreme, but threat of rot worries me more. The pic is of Rainforest Sunrise.

Some of the crowd that are container growers put in a "wick" that is reverse action for soggy potting medium. The wick length reaches from mid planting medium (in the pot under the plant) out of a drainage hole to the earth. Apparently when the wick makes solid contact with Mother Earth, gravity draws excess moisture, which tends to pool the lower 1/3 of the pot medium. The theory/science is solid for using wicks in pots and you may be interested in reading about it in the link below.

Anyhoo, best of luck with your "pot" experience ;-)
hth,
Deb

Here is a link that might be useful: container soils and water movement

thanks all ...

everything.. and i mean every single plant i ever bleached... died ...

i know i did it right ... 10% .. 10 mins.. etc ....

so the issue will always be.. if it was too far gone ... before i tried to save it... in other words.. it wasnt really the bleach that killed it.. or failed to save it ....

so i am very leery of the bleach treatment... and some things are just not changeable.. lol.. like my stubborn old head ....

AND I KNEW BRUCE WOULD CHIME IN OTHERWISE ... lol .. he's the one who taught me about it.. so many decades ago ... him and pauline must have gone thru train loads of the stuff.. lol...

ya know.. one day.. i did have 1650 odd potted hosta.. and i moved them 65 miles SW ... and swore i would never do it again .... and thru a combination of problems.. i am contemplating doing it again... with whatever is left ... is there any sanity ???

again... thx.. all ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: change days to hosta and weep ....

so ken...have you really lost that many? give us more info. did you just notice it or what's going on?

So why do I always use the same bleach solution and mine grow?

Maybe tougher tissue? Maybe....

Maybe nothing we can figure out easily, as it has to have worked for all these years, or I wouldn't have the stock I have today!

Zerotrol is very low strength peroxide when you finally use it, not sure any better or cheaper than drug store peroxide for cleaning wounds.

I worked in the biological business too long to change from bleach.

Bruce

Good lord, Ken, that is the saddest song Willie Nelson ever recorded. What a moody blues tune.

I'm getting out of the last post that you are contemplating another move for various reasons, and I suppose that is what has you in a funk. I know the feeling. I told my DH that we'd not be moving again, this was IT. Takes a lot out of you to move, but sometimes it is better to start anew. Now that the housing market is improving, more people are doing it.

I guess you want to use wood chips because you have them, but even partially composted chips can tie up nitrogen. You can use them in a pinch, just be aware you may need to fert more. Leave out the compost for the drainage issues already mentioned. Even it it drains well at first, the compost will break down and clog things up.

Concerned.

tj

Oh, no Ken! Please fill in the blanks....what has happened?

-Babka

If you are moving and truly need to pot up that many hosta - let us know. We'll make a day of it and help you! I'm just a state away :)

It's going to be hard to fit all those conifers into pots.

Steve

Ken,

Can you give us a little more information about what's going on and the extent of the issue so we know how we can help? Are you talking about a fungal issue like in the link below? Is this affecting all or most of your hostas?

I work out your way one day a week, and would be more than happy to share hosta divisions this fall.

Here is a link that might be useful: crown rot

Whatever the problem Ken... sending you my best wishes.

quit ignoring us, KRUSTY KEN. give us more details

LOL Steve!

Don B.

He might be out in the garden trying to save them from the rain we had again yesterday. I guess I should be thankful that my trees have soaked up so much of the water this spring.

Ken, I'm also only a couple hours away. Maybe we could have a hosta helping party for you some weekend? Kinda like a barn raising, only way more fun.

Ken, you've got a lot of anxious hosta-friends sending good thoughts your way! Before long, thirty hostaholics will show up with shovels and six packs, wearing "Save Ken's Garden" tshirts.

...come to think of it, hostaholics, six packs, shovels, and Kens garden would make a dangerous combination. Could get ugly. Urinating behind conifers, pilfering pieces of this or that, riling up the idiot dog..."crikey" for sure!

On second thought, whatever dire condition you're up against is probably safer...

Please fill us in, Ken...you're kinda scaring us all. Hope all is well.

Yes ken. we are too far from you to come help but all woman pee before you come to help.. all men can go behind the beautiful trees. Best wishes what ever the problems

LOL...urinating behind conifers

Moving--not a fun prospect when one looks out my windows!! We too debated a move but when I see the yards then look at mine and imagine the work of digging, moving....we decided to just not. I can't imagine starting over from scratch. I couldn't afford the plants and the house!! The upside is no other lot we see has the trees/woods that first need clearing, like our present three acres did. I have over an acre of hosta--not sure if they are thousands but for sure many hundreds of plants I would HAVE to have a piece of!! I do not have the energy, but the lake is calling.....

Now we know....he's out cavorting with Phil (Hostafreak)!!!!!! ;-))))))))

-Babka

Well, Ken, you've done it...I'm weeping after listening to Willy's song...
Whatever is going on, I hope it's fixable...I'm hurting for you.
Hosta hugs, Jo :)

Well, Ken, you've done it...I'm weeping after listening to Willy's song...
Whatever is going on, I hope it's fixable...I'm hurting for you.
Hosta hugs, Jo :)

Ken, (sniffing here still) why don't you just pot them up without any additives...potting soil and call it a day...I can picture you saying that!! Hosta are tough!
BTW...I'd help too if you'd let me, wherever you live..

The last time I had a rot problem (the only time), I just washed them off with city water real well and changed the soil. They came back just fine.

Of course, mine are already in pots.

bk