Not to be the one to cry wolf, but GS has had troubles in Canada and the States with HVX this year.....I would guess same supplier spreading the "joy" :-(. Who knows how long this year's G.S.'s have been infected before manifestation...you said yours were mature, you've had them for awhile, so they must be ok? Maybe? Coincidence only?

I'm curious and interested to hear the opinions of our resident experts who will chime in here shortly.

Obviously any drought effects last year will cause stunting, but it is not any more specific to the Gold Standard cultivar.

Not sure why these Gold Standard are behaving this way; can you dig up one and send photos of the root system?

In my 30+ years of raising Gold Standard it is no more susceptible to drought than other hosta - suspect it may have some root competition in that bed? Have seen it endure summer heat well, even when dry. Especially mature plants

It is always interesting when one cultivar or bed or a particular plant in a bed is stunted and most others continue to look good.

Regards,
Bruce Banyai

After the long winter and wet late spring - my mature Gold Standard (and a few others) were set back as well. This garden is always the last to wake (north side in shadow of the house) each year - I think the late awakening and wetness is likely cause in my garden, and maybe the planting depth added to losses.

I had a Christmas Tree hosta in the same garden a few years ago that dwindled quickly over two years....dug it and all that was left was 5-6 separated eyes with stunted leaves....potted it up and 3 years later it's looking normal and filled out ready to go back in the garden (pic below is from spring last year).

I would definitely dig one up and see what is left/happening.

Paul

This post was edited by paul_in_mn on Mon, Aug 12, 13 at 16:01

dig one up.. AND FIND OUT... what is going on in the ground ...

along with the undulatas... GS is usually one of the oldest plants in the yard ...

hence the ones that have the most tree root infestation ...

if you dont dig one up.. whats the point of sitting around navel gazing.. talking about what it all MIGHT be.. we need real facts ....

apparently i got up cranky from my nap... please forgive me ...

ken

Halds,

How did you handle the drought? If you resorted to spot watering, you may have encouraged competition from whatever is growing close by. Any maples? They can be chief offenders! I agree with the advice offered by others here: dig at least one up and see what is going on, not only with GS but with whatever else is down there. If you find a tangle of competing roots, you have your answer.

Steve

I don't think root infestation is always the answer....

I posted awhile back about my Black Hills that was half its normal size this year. Its been in that spot for probably 15 years. It looked healthy, but much smaller. I dug around it, and didn't see any tree roots.

Ken was sure thats what it was, so the other day I dug it up. No tree roots, no rot. Looks normal to me.

Now granted, I am the first to admit I don't know what I'm doing, but I think the strange weather has something to do with it.

I moved it, since I went to all the work of digging it up.. Guess we will see what happens.

I have to side with on Bruce,on this one. You can't hardly kill a Gold Standard if you tried. I have 15 of them,and they have been surviving for ten years in my garden,and other places,even through droughts,and this year with tons of rain,and they still keep on ticking! I just transplanted one back to a new planting area by my house,and it never missed a lick! There must be another cause. Maybe voles? Phil

Well, Im not a hosta expert so uprooting was not the first thing that sprang to my mind, thinking that could make things worse. Forgive my ignorance.

I will take some picts and get back if I can figure how to upload them. I do not think it is tree roots as there are no trees nearby. And they are not overcrowded. We have an irrigation system but I hose watered as much as I could last year to keep up with the drought. They have been there for several years so they should have had a good root system.

Perhaps there was a quirk in the weather this spring. We dd have a couple of unexpected late light frosts. But if it did not kill my impatiens, I doubt it could have been havoc on GS.

Bruce: I have two ancient GS and both are about 1/2 the size they were before last years drought. Most of my other hosta seem to have responded the opposite and doubled in vigor. I don't think we need to do things this year if we have a better year than last. But if they continue to regress then I might think about relocating them.

I feel we have over babied some of our hosta in the past, but some we'd waited too long, like our old S&S which had voles eating it's crown. Until we'd lifted it we had no idea why it was growing smaller. That was 6 years ago and now it is doing great.
Theresa

If you lift them up, shake the dirt off the roots, you can give us the visual diagnosis we can then work from:

dry rot ( inside the crown sucking vitality from the plant); if the crown falls apart when you shake it or you see small shoots from the main crown, probably dry rot. Red or brown dead tissue inside the root structure is deadly.

A symptom of drought and watering which causes the plant stress to go up, may or may not be linked to soil drainage. You can clean the roots of the rot with a sharp knife, bleach and replant OR you will lose the plant eventually.

tree roots - may be more than meets the eye until you check

mulch on the main crown - will show if you see the main root is under the soil level by 1-2 inches.

Sometimes in droughts people will mulch heavily then water, get a reverse response as the crown is then too deep and the plant suffers.

Photos speak volumes, hope we can help. If not I may have other options as well.

Bruce