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monet_g

Six of one...

monet_g
11 years ago

...half dozen of the other?

Is vigor equaled when a plant has two eyes, each with six leaves vs. two, one eyed, plants that have six leaves each. To clarify - if the two, one eyed plants, are planted side by side, in three or four years, will growth rate be the same as the plant with two eyes attached at the roots, in the size and number of leaves?

I ask because I know that some plants rely on a mother/siblings for a good period of time.

Thanks,

Gail

Comments (10)

  • pagrdnr
    11 years ago

    I would say the plant with 2 eyes attached is going to grow bigger faster. Planting 2 one eyed plants next to eachother does not constitute a 2 eyed plant. They are still 2 separate plants and as they grow, they will start to crowd/look awkward because the leaves will be sprouting from 2 separate crowns instead of 1 central crown.

  • Steve Massachusetts
    11 years ago

    It depends on the vigor of each plant. That is not just dependent on cultural practices, but also by the genetic vigor that each plant has. If the two eyed plant is Big Daddy and the one eyed plant is Cathedral Windows, then the CW will far out pace the BD.

    The other thing about eyes is that they can be deceiving. One big fat eye as thick as my thumb or thicker is much further along than a plant that has two pencil thin eyes.

    Steve

  • monet_g
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thank you for the responses. You confirmed my suspicions. On the rare occasion, I get two plants with one eye passed off as a two eyed plant.
    Gail

  • bkay2000
    11 years ago

    Pagrdnr,

    I think you are mistaken about putting two (or 3) plants together. Mine always look like one plant. I do it all the time and the only time it hasn't worked well is with blue mouse ears. You get a nice full plant sooner. It doesn't mature any faster, but has a fuller clump.

    bkay

  • landlady
    11 years ago

    Interesting. Almost every hosta I have ever gotten from Naylor Creek has had two plants (entwined but not conjoined). I am always thrilled, but have wondered if I was 'supposed to' plant them together or separately. When I got three I put two into one pot, but my general approach has been to pot each one up separately so that it can develop as it wants to.

  • Babka NorCal 9b
    11 years ago

    I usually plant each division in its own pot. I'm in no hurry to have a wider clump, as I already have several pots with 3-4' wide clumps. If one dies, or reverts, you'll still have a good one. That happened to me with a Stitch In Time. If they both thrive, I have a nice gift for a friend in a couple years.

    -Babka

  • User
    11 years ago

    Well, I had two plantaginea, purchased separately, that I decided to put in one bigger pot to be more a match for the older plantaginea. I got burnt on that, because that coubled plant was the one which got the foliar nematodes. I kicked myself, because it's possible only ONE of them would have been so afflicted if they were in separate pots. Now, I have my Half And Half which was one plant--but it fell apart--planted in two smaller pots. Both are doing fine. It is a PP hosta, and I intend to keep both halves. I also ordered two Sagaes, and one fell apart, but I decided to put the 3 plants into one large pot spaced as a triangle. The eyes were all big fat things like leeks, so they seem to be doing fine in this one pot.

    Again, I ordered 5 White Dove hosta, and put all 3 I ordered from Green Mountain in one pot, and the other two from Mason Hollow in two separate pots. Now that is a lovely hosta, and I hope it multiplies, because one day I'd like to use it as an edger, along with some of my green smaller lanceolate hosta--and I have a bunch of those!

    Lately I'm concerned about the hosta in small pots getting dried out, should we wind up with drought conditions. Currently this is not an issue, but the season is not over. So I'm looking for nice wide bowl-like pots where I can plant several of the smaller hosta together, maybe with an unglazed water container in the middle, to seep moisture to all the roots. I bought two of those containers designed as the southwest native Americans made them centuries ago, but someone reminded me that an unglazed terracotta container would be the same thing....duh, I did not even think of that.

  • in ny zone5
    11 years ago

    I planted two H.m.'Aureomarginata', two 'Elvis Lives', two 'Northern Exposure', two 'Olivia Bailey Langdon' and two 'Queen of the Seas' always a pair together in the soil, and enjoyed their fuller look since 2009. Though as they have become big now, I might decide to remove one of a pair and plant it elsewhere, and that should not disturb them as long as I do it in early spring.
    Bernd

  • thisismelissa
    11 years ago

    If the two plants are put together before they leaf out, then as they leaf out, they will want to form (what looks to be) a single clump. They leaves will all go outward from the "center".

    If you put them together after leafing out, they may look awkward this year, but next year, they'll be fine.

    Since I'm trying to reduce the number of duplicates I have, I have been "doubling up" plants for the last few years. So, I'm pretty versed on how this works.

  • hostahillbilly
    11 years ago

    Interesting thread, thanks for starting it!

    hh