Not sure exactly what to use, but I would not choose 409.
If any kind of soap, I'd think Dawn dish detergent, which is used to clean oil off of wildlife, might work. Just a guess there.

I have something which I remember as "leaf shine" which can be used to clean off scale from house plants, and I've used it on my ficus benjamina, bougainvillea, and peace lilies.

I try to keep my plant leaves fairly clean because they aspirate, don't they? They have to breathe anyway. And hosta have high water requirements, so they should be able to "sweat."

I hope that someone who knows more than I do is around to answer this for you. I'm just assuming based on experience with other plants, not hosta.

I wouldn't put anything on them except water. You could try 10% ammonia. That is what we use for slugs and it seems fine. Be aware that if you wash blue Hosta you will likely wash the wax right off them, thus making them green.

The dirt build up won't kill your plants, but it won't help either. Plants transpire through the stomata on the bottom of the leaves so they're probably OK. Can you plant a privet hedge or something similar as a means of preventing the dirt from getting on them in the first place? Post some pics of the dirty plants.

Steve

Just saw Leaf Shine at Sams Club today. Not sure how it would work, but I'd sure try it before reaching for the 409. :)

Turtle Wax and an electric buffer? Might be too much for minis, though.

Don B.

I use ivory dish soap (a little) and warm water with a soft rag. I've washed off tree or aphid? sap. I also do it for the flower and berry stains of Saskatoon bushes. It works just fine and doesn't hurt the leaves at all even if I push fairly hard. It will take all the blue off for the rest of the year but it's better than spots in my opinion.

LOL- Turtle wax. I'll try the dish soap. Maybe the problem is a combination of road dust and tree sap, as the worst looking hostas are under a cedar tree, not near the road.

Here's Eola Sapphire looking filthy - and the photo minimizes the problem. I agree, better to lose the blue than have this much gunk on the hosta.

Gorgrous foliage color on that variety, MadPlanter. (I'm looking past the dirt).

Don B.

oh my????

plant shrubs in fall .. on the road side of your bed to filter road dust ...

sorry.. i dont see anything wrong with the pic above ... THAT IS WHAT IT IS SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE....

perhaps you ought to have a meeting with the 'I GOTTA CUT OFF EVERY FLOWER' lady ... lol ...

regardless.. what ever makes you happy is fine with me ...

ken

That leaf is beautiful, I don't see any dirt. Many of my hostas are sporting now spent and dried on flowers. Before that they had accumulated those pellet like droppings from pines, I only wiped them off. I have to go out now to spray an insecticide on leaves, against nematodes. Also some slug bait pellets did not fall to the ground, got stuck on the leaves. Bernd

Since I'm also someone who can't wait to cut the flowers off once they start to get shaggy (when about halfway through blooming and the dead stuff is hanging and dropping) it's not surprising that I also feel I have to wash the dirt off. I want my hostas to look as good as possible for as long as possible. I also hand pick debris off or spray it off with a hose. What else am I going to do - clean the house? - no!

Here are a couple of before and after pictures. This is the staining of the Saskatoon Bush. First the flowers then the tasteless berries. There is no way I could live with the spots for the whole summer. You can see how any 'bloom' washes off but it is a great improvement in my eyes.

To each his own.

I wish I could plant shrubs, but the bank along the road is all retaining wall. I'd have to give up the west half of the front garden, which is prime hosta territory.

I have lots of spent flowers on leaves, too, was just worried the dirt was going to suffocate the hosta. If it won't that's one less chore on a long list. Still working on the two new beds, trying to keep things damp and praying for rain.
Flooding to the north, flooding to the south, and drought here.

i am sorry McT ..

O Isle.. w/o its glaucous bloom.. is not OI .... what more can i say ...

i know you dont care.. but you would be tossed out of a leaf show ....

but .. its clean.. and you are happy... all the power to ya ...

ken

OK, so they're "wrong". At least they look clean and healthy. Ocean Isle is pretty either way.

I've read where a mild solution using Joy with water as a wetting agent is used against sap sucking bugs since it virtually drowns the bug who apparently breath a bit through their skin while their other parts are sucking sap. So Joy shouldn't damage a hosta but would increase the removal of the waxy bloom on hosta leaves. Ivory would work the same way and is also a non-detergent soap.

Don't even consider using 409 or any other solvent type cleaner including alcohol like Windex.

Having frequently canoed on (and sometimes in) Ozark streams, I have travelled down many chat roads to put-in and take-out points. From the road, by mid-summer, everything growing along side is greyish-white with chat dust. Certainly a hosta with its waxy bloom washed off looks a lot better than one the color of Portland Cement. I think I would wash mine also if that condition prevailed.

Theresa

I usually just spray the dirt off mine with the hose, but several won't even come clean with a bit of rubbing. I confess that I'm always tempted to use something else on Marilyn Monroe, because she looks so much worse in person:

IMO we see our own hosta and gardens much more critically than others see them. We see the dust, debris and tree smutz as taking away from our gardens...I think others just see it as normal garden happenings and look past it. How many times does someone post a pic and say - sorry for the holes, or weeds, or dirty leaves, or feet, etc...most times I wouldn't have noticed if they hadn't brought it up.

Paul

I agree. In my Theresa's Angel Garden most of this is purple Mulberry stains until the walnut fall. But the garden is my best in spite of the problems. My Blue Angels and Parhelion are huge and impressive. My Whirlwind is gorgeous.

We seek perfection, but our perception of perfect is not necessarily natures.

Theresa

I understand the dirty hosta thing. I've washed Sum and Substance several times. I just rub off the dirt with running water, though. Our young dog, Cleo, playing, killed a lot of our grass, so we have lots of dust flying in August in Texas which is dry, dry, dry. Sum and Substance and Paul's Glory seem to collect the most.

bk

(the damage to the end is frost/freeze damage)

I hear you, Paul. In your thread that you started with the blue hosta, you mentioned rabbits hit one of them pretty bad, and there are lots of half-leaves, but at first I only noticed the whole ones, and what a nice plant it is. Same with the featured hosta on this thread. I think the color is beautiful, and for me it's real hard to see any dirt at all. All I see is that sapphire color.

Excuse me, I have to go update my want-list. : )

Don B.

Cleo kills grass, Bkay? Can I rent her for a few weeks??

Don B.

Don, you'd be soorrrry. If she has another dog to play with, or failing that, to aggravate, she can be a very effective herbicide. (Poor Dan.)

bk