More pics of the mess...a closer look at just a few.

Next time 10% ammonia to water in a spray bottle - spray the slugs and you're done.

Paul

Bit the bullet...point of no return...I better stop while I'm ahead.....
Idiothe, what are the chances for these 5????? I'm afraid I cut too many...no enough root?

Regardless, no pain, no gain...I have to start somewhere, right? I'll learn from my mistakes.

Thanks for looking, and if you want to yell, go ahead....I really think I got overzealous and ahead of myself:(

Hi Jo. I think those look good. What I'd do is put them in a bowl sort of pot. They will look really nice ringing an ornamental bird or figurine in the middle. If they grow magnificently for you, then it will be easy to yank one out and pot it separately. They look like small little guys, so it will take a while to get into trouble with them in one container.

I think you did a fine job of cleaning them up. If you want to do the bleach soak, remember it is 1 part bleach to 10 parts water, no longer than 15-30 minutes max. I'd rinse these off afterward, and pot em up.

By the end of the summer, those might grow to cover your bowl wall to wall....unless the bleach sets them back to zero.
Those with more experience than I will wade in shortly, I'm sure. Good luck.

Hi Paul...thank you.
I wanted to post first, explain later...reason for digging up.

I noticed when hosta first emerged this spring that it had a strange looking centre and made mental note to look at it from underneath...it was due and todays rain brought out slugs and pill bugs...both were in and under plant. I think I panicked I guess....I've lost a few heucheras to pill bugs so when I saw them in Otome Ki, up it came.

I also ran out of ammonia...3 jugs used so far, but I have to stock up in the morning..carless till am...I have been watering the hostas with the ammonia
Solution and it works, but I haven't been able to keep up lately for various reasons. I don't regret digging it up but I may regret the way I have separated it :(

They're hosta, plant them they'll grow.

Paul

Oh, Mocc, your encouragement hit me where it counts and I am actually grinning like a ...well, I'm kinda happy right now. Your suggestion sounds great and when I'm done, we'll come out to play lol

The divisions have to stay in water overnight until the morning when I get stocked up with ammonia again. Good idea, thanks for the reminder...I remember you stating that in some older thread when I first came on board.

If they ALL do well, I'll just be so thankful...if only a few make it, well I have to start somewhere, make mistakes, and learn from them. I feel a positive vibe about both Cracker Crumbs & Otome Ki. Both of them are good growers (notwithstanding bugs) and not fussy at all. I think that's a plus, don't you?

Thanks again for the encouragement. Jo

Hey, Paul, the man of few words! when you're right, your right! Lol
How could I forget? Of course they'll grow, they ARE hosta. I'm so glad you're interested in some of my threads...it's fun getting to know you and all the others.

Each one will do just fine on its own, as you have enough roots. If you want a fuller plant, put two together back to back. OR bunch them all together and they will spread to the outside. Some hostas are rhizomatious (sp?) and they spread their eyes out wider than most hostas. I'm probably using the wrong term, but they spread rather than clump.

Whatever, you can very easily use the term "HS" after your very fine surgery. (Hosta Surgeon). ;-)

-Babka

Yes, a man of few words, all choice. :)

I thought Jo's surgery was pretty good too, Babka. She deserves to be known as a premier HS.

Not sure of what contortions the spelling of the word for a plant which makes rhizomes might be. I try to avoid spelling it. hehehe

But that was what it looked like this one does. Make rhizomes, I mean.

The name for this hosta is off balance rhythmically. It bothers me. I much prefer another name, Otome No Kai .....it sounds like the Bob Marley song, "No woman no cry", and that is what I think of.....now that I have it.....and it is fragrant......a very fluid musical sounding name.

Otome Ki.....sounds like a karate chop across the adams apple at the end.......KIIIIIIIIIIIIII.......

Here is a link that might be useful: Marley......No Woman No Cry

Hey, thank you for the "tune"...love Bob Marley! From now on its Otome No Kai with a hum, HAHA. You and Bapka are a hoot!

Both of you must be shaking your heads, saying...what? Roots that look like logs????? What the heck is this woman on???? so the "logs" are rhizomes!
Ahhhhh, I know what those are..like iris have rhizomes. cha Ching, the light just came on, elevator DOES go to the top...I know that sometimes I am as sharp as a bowling ball..... Yes, the roots grew laterally in several places, plus there are signs of new roots jutting out at the base on several of them. It's the first time I have encountered this rhizome-type (lol) root system on a hosta.

Now you KNOW that from now on when I tend to ONK, (thats just too funny) I'll have a grin on my face, cant help but think of you both, while I'm humming the tune and that's just a great way to garden. I'll probably talk to the darn thing and laugh at it...ONK, ONK, ONK.

Bapka, when you said 'surgeon' Madonnas song jumped in my head "Like a Surgeon touched for the very first time". ...somehow not as funny as Moccasins but it rhymes...Lol

Thanks a bunch for enlightening me and for the support.. This forum is great and You are great!
Jo

In many places it resembles mini logs

==>> because its slightly stonleniferous???

ken

THAT'S the other word I could not remember. Stoloniferous.
Thanks Ken.

Now I look up both rhizomes and stolons and see what the differences are.

Good Morning!
Found hosta hillbilly last Junes post on this subject...interesting...homework, homework, homework lol
Going out for a min to pick up ammonia. :)

YES! Stoloniferous. That is proper term for those hostas that spread out their eyes. Thanks, Ken. Aren't hosta crowns actually rhizomes?

-Babka

crikey..

rhizomes are rhizomes..

crowns are crowns..

and stolens are stolens ...

why have different words.. if they arent different things ... lol ...

ken

ps: actually i dont know... rotflmbo ... i am a hostaphile.. not a botanist ...

ROTFLMBO....literally!!!

CRIKEY???? The last time I heard that was 40 years ago, and from the mouth of an Australian I worked with in Toronto...ahh, memories..

KEN - you're hilarious in your posts..thanks for the chuckles. :)

Ok, I am not sure I know how to deal with all the tech words here. I remember buying some....calendulas?....which were just the rhizomes or stolons whatever that calendulas do....and they never came up. I probably put the wrong end down. It all looked the same to me in those days. I mean, I thought that bougainvillea was a hardy plant and wanted it to cover my fence here in Mobile, but it did not happen. My dear friend who taught me to cook as well as garden, used to laugh at me....but before she died, she said I had passed her on the learning curve. She never grew a hosta, or she would have been good at it. Always a galloping gourmet, or a galloping gardener, full of joy.

Thanks for the usual comedy, Ken, it is always appreciated.

Now you have one kind of hosta, now you need another hundred at least, you are on the way to become one of us! Congratulation! Bernd

PS, there are those 'Have a Heart' traps you can use to bring your baby rabbit to better pastures, but not your hosta.

I don't believe you said calendula! My first seed lesson from my Mom was a calendula! It's an annual here in our zone. It drops its seeds and germinates in the spring. Cheery yellow and orange flowers with some brown centres, small daisy-like flowers...used as a very old remedy for varicose veins.
And they have rhizomes, Moccasins? You mean I can buy them in that form? I've only seen seeds. I'll look into it.

Thanks, Bernd! A live trap is the humane way to deal with rabbits for sure. This morning he/she left me two roses on the ground to put in a vase! Yes, from my Knock Out rose...at least it produces flowers quickly. These bunnies are multiplying..someone saw the mother the other day...4sighted so far between the houses. I'm being told I offer the best buffet in the neighbourhood but I wish someone else would have that honour!! :(

I had one bunny this spring eating off hosta pips, have now rough edges on hosta leaves. First I installed chicken wire mesh, then when I finally bought that trap, the wabbit had better things to eat, I never caught it. I read somewhere that the best time to catch rabbits is when there is a scarcity in food, such as late fall and early spring. Now there are more bunnies here for sure.
Bernd

Jo, sort of like a 4 o'clock, which sets seed like a demon, and then the old plants make a big rhizome in the ground. I never got my calendula to grow, so YMMV. You might know what you're doing with them. I sure did not in those days.

Ah so! Bought one last March in a bag..disappointed because only white... Now calendula makes sense and its rhizome. Thank you for all this information...amazing how this kind of info emerges from a rhizome/stolon conversation, huh? Love this "livin' n learnin'" stuff. :)