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chrishow

Hosta in Pots?

chris-e
9 years ago

I should know this, I used to know this...A lot of you plant in pots so you can jog my memory.

Due to illness, I am unable to put some of my recent purchases in the ground, so I have planted them in pots. Now, about winter, I seem to remember that outside pots should be turned on their side to prevent freezing water to be held in the pot. Is this true? Do you do it? Should the plants in pots be mulched like the ones in the ground?

Thanks

chris e

Comments (33)

  • vkay
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Chris e,

    I have hosta in pots, but most are in 12-15 gallon insulated pots. I don't do anything with them, other then mulching a little when I think of it. The ones I haven't gotten to, 2-5 gallon pots, I usually put them in a group next to my raised beds and buried them with lots of leaves. They are upright. In the spring, I unburied them and plant them as usual.

    The ones in the larger insulated pots survived last years horrible winter.

  • hostatakeover swMO
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have a Hosta in a (probably) 20-gallon, very breakable clay pot. Can that be stored in a windowless outbuilding for the winter, once the Hosta loses its leaves? I can't leave it outside for the pot won't survive winter.

  • bkay2000
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Chris, if your pots freeze and stay frozen, turn them on the side once they freeze. Put them in the side of a building that will not get any sun (usually the north). Do not cover them unless you want to check for rodents all winter.

    If your weather is one that freezes and thaws regularly, don't turn them on the side unless you are getting excessive rain in the spring. The problem comes in the spring when the hosta begin to pip and you get another freeze, or it stays cold and wet. Keep them in the shade, so that they don't warm up early, as best you can.

    bk

  • User
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I garden in pots. My hosta are in pots all year round, not simply during one season in a special pot.

    This will be my 3rd full cycle of keeping hosta in pots during dormancy in a zone 9a climate. Your gardening zone has a lot to do with the problems you will encounter. My zone has wet short winters, a first frost date in November late, a last frost date around March 10, and a minimum temp about 20 above zero. But it doesn't stay cold for extended periods of time, and it doesn't last long. In 2012, my first gardening year, the ones I bought in 2011 fall, emerged in February. That was a very long growing season for them and for me.

    First I had to turn my thinking 180 degrees from keeping plants warm enough not to freeze, to making sure they stayed below 40 degrees and did not get too warm. Big change in my planning.

    So. That brings us to this coming dormancy period. Will I tip my pots? Yes, I shall, for the smaller ones. However, I have 500 pots to care for, and when they are all tipped in the spots where they were displayed during the growing season, it looks like Mount Saint Helens after the volcanic eruption....a disaster!

    Plus, now I have hosta grown on for three years, and they are potted in large tubs and whiskey barrels, and tipping is not an option because the soil will fall out, and squirrels will make sure that happens and the hosta roots will dry out.

    That requires some planning to cover those larger pots with waterproof hard material (like thin plywood) cut to fit, left upright. To hold it in place, I can stack other pots on top of that. The concern here is to not use dark material that will transfer heat to the potting mix....also keep out the rain. I'll probably have to check the pots to avoid dessication of the root ball.

    My shade structure will require (finally getting around to it) the laying on of 90% shadecloth once the danged pecan trees drop all their leaves. This will allow the area exposed to winter sunlight to shade my dormant plants. Our winter sunlight will have no leafy trees to block it, until late afternoon. The location of the shade structure is out of sight from the house, so I don't worry about appearances as much.

    However, the spot where the shade structure is located is also where the worst of the squirrel and mole problem exists. So I cannot throw a tarp directly over tipped pots or mulch around them, which will be a recipe for disaster. I lost about 20 hosta to squirrels last winter. And quite a few name tags disappeared as well. I suggest you stick a name tag on the pot somewhere since this is a common complaint.

    After the "Tipping Party"


    One thing which worked fairly well was to pair two tipped pots top to top, which kept the contents inaccessible. Easier with straight sided pots, of course.

    And, if you have a favorite flower pot which is likely to succumb to the cold, is it possible to dry it out and seal it inside and out? High fired items don't generally crack, which is why porcelain tile is popular for outdoor projects. (At least in our zone.)

  • hostatakeover swMO
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Omg.....tipping party. Lol! Mocc, you must be fairly young to do all that, year after year. My back dictates I seek easier methods of dealing with my beloved plants.

    Not sure what to do with my large potted Hosta. Maybe take it out and plant it, store the pot (the walls seems thin for the size), then put something new in it next year. While it's empty I'll try sealing the inside of it this winter. The outside is painted. We do tend to freeze and thaw regularly throughout the winter. Some winters are wet while others are dry.

    Thanks, everyone.

  • bkay2000
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have kept hosta in pots for 20 or so years. I only got the "fever" about 5 years ago when my collection grew from the original four. We do not have excessively wet winters, but we usually have adequate rain. We have repeated thaws and freezes. A freeze will only last a couple of days at the most. More often, it freezes overnight and thaws in the afternoon. Like Mocc, I have a really long growing season. My hosta usually begin to pip in late February.

    Generally, I leave my hosta where they sit. I don't tip them, or cover them or do anything except clean up the pots after the first freeze. They are all on a hard surface, with "pot feet". Usually, they do fine with this method. The problems I have had include:

    1. Using "moisture control" potting soil caused rot in some of my younger plants. They stayed too wet in the spring when they were trying to come up.

    2. Ditto above, but with homemade potting soil (3-1-1).

    3. Not watering at all when we had extended periods without rain caused young ones roots to dry, shrivel and die. (I lost 20 last year.)

    4. Started watering too soon in the early spring. The pots were wet, but the weather turned cold again and they wouldn't dry out. Again, rot on the young ones.

    5. Potted hosta come up early (before the in ground ones). I usually have some cold damage as we get freezes after they emerge. You'll have to bring out the blankets or put them in the shed if a freeze is coming after they emerge.

    bk

  • User
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hosta Takeover, hmmmm, not as young as I used to be. These days, I try to work smarter, not harder.

    BKAy, I did not realize you had hosta for 20 years or so. How exciting. Which were your first ones? Do you still have them and are they still in pots?

    With no in-ground hosta experience, no exposure to what it means to have a "normal" dormancy period, I just wing it and think in reverse to what I do for tropical plants. It makes a rather unusual garden to grow both tropicals and subtropicals and hostas in the same place. I sure do miss ILOVETOGROW/Paula over in Jacksonville FL, because she grows tropicals side by side with her hostas too. Maybe she will be back with us before the Hosta Alphabet begins.

  • ilovetogrow z9 Jax Florida
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have not left. My job just took up too much of my brain this summer and left me pooped. But I was reading. Game on day after Christmas. Good riddles. Stupid jokes. Great photos.

    I walk away from mine and just push the tag down and add a little mulch. All are in pots most on raised platforms. Pampered ladies. I think my hostas have turned southern. I am grateful that they require little winter care for me. It was one of the things that appealed to me in the beginning. So all in all chris-e I do not have a clue. I was just blown away from all the turned over pots in moccs yard. Ouch my back.

  • hostatakeover swMO
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wow, Hostas in Florida? Did not know they grew that far south ~ outstanding!

    Mocc, you once mentioned "heat dormancy." What is that?

  • User
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well, Paula is in Jacksonville FL, right at the end of I-10, and not all that far from Georgia. So think Sea Island, Jekyll Island, St. Simons, even Savannah is not far from Jax. She can manage dormancy okay, which is the prime consideration about growing them here. And you all don't even think about it in the colder zones.

    With hostas, I was told about "heat dormancy" as their response to climate conditions or growing conditions that I suppose the hosta thinks will get better sooner or later. Not as if it ups and dies on you right off the bat. With heat dormancy, it shuts down and goes to sleep, same as it would with a cold dormancy. Only, if the conditions improve later in the season, it might have a second emergence of new buds and perhaps even bloom at the appropriate time with others of its kind.

    I had Stained Glass go heat dormant in 2012, about end of May. Being a newbie, I thought it died. So naturally, I bought another one. It arrived around mid June I think, and by July, the #1 Stained Glass was sending up new leaves on two new eyes. Just like spring all over again. It went on in 2012 to bloom for me. The replacement #2 did not bloom. So, that was a learning experience for me. I had not a clue what was happening, and still don't.

    Until this year, I managed not to have another go heat dormant. This year, I have about 6 which are now heat dormant. One has a single scape standing with a single seedpod on it. It looks so heroic!

    How to intentionally break a heat dormancy? I do not know. That is what I hope can be learned if I go to Hosta College.

    Once I get our house remodel done with, my desire is to spend more time with my hosta gardening-- learning, observing, and questioning. And writing...something of a dream for me.

  • bkay2000
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yeah, Mocc I still have three of the first four. The Diamond Tiara had some kind of virus. Chris said trash it, so I did.

    I bought them in two boxes at Sam's about twenty years ago. It said Royal Standard, Sieboldiana Elegans and then the white edged description. One was Diamond Tiara and one was u. albomarginata. I've never ID'd the two named as RS and SE. One blooms really early, so it could be a Sieboldiana. It holds up well to the heat. It's green, and has really light flowers, that are almost white. It blooms in May in Texas. The other one is bluish. I don't remember it blooming. They've lived in pots since the nineties.

    bk

  • santamiller
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Great thread and great info from mocc and bk, my two mentors. :) While I don't have the experience that most here do, my four oldest plants are now through their third summer and others are through their second. I didn't discover this forum until late spring this year so I have been one to just sort of figure things out on my own before then. I knew enough from the beginning to keep them in shade and to pot my hostas, but that wasn't for the winter chill, it was because of pill bugs. It was just dumb luck that I found out after coming here that it was necessary for the chill. I never knew about people tipping pots or letting them stay dry in the winter or anything else hosta related before I came to this forum. I watered enough to keep them damp, fertilized on occasion and hoped for the best. So far lady luck has been with me. I added 10 more this spring so we'll see what next spring brings.

    I have always been one to try to figure out what works for me. I have many years of experience with reef aquariums and freshwater planted tanks and one thing you learn with those is that one size does not fit all, even in a more controlled environment like an aquarium. We are in a much less rainy area than what bk and mocc get, although we have our periods, and much less cold weather than what bk gets. I plan to ride the winter out the same way I have done the last two, just leave my pots as they now sit in my large pecan mulched bed and run my drip irrigation sprayers on the entire area weekly unless we have had rain before my water day or if it is below freezing, which is few and far between days here. I may be crying in my soup next spring, but for now that's my plan.

  • zkathy z7a NC
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If the growing season is 9 months in Mobile and 4 months in north Canada, maybe heat dormancy is equivalent to getting two crops per year. Mocc, how big did the Stained Glass get compared to its size before the heat dormancy?

    Kathy

  • hostatakeover swMO
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wow, thanks so much for that info, Mocc. Extremely interesting! I thought perhaps my garden might be suffering from that but after reading your description I realize it's not (thank God)!

    Great, informative thread.

  • User
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Santa, you are going about it the right way. You can deal with the issues easily while your collection of hostas is manageable. It is easier to decide on a routine when the number of pots is low. It is all a learning process, experimental as well.

    And Kathy, I suppose you are right. I've wondered about equivalency of growing time....but think sometimes it depletes the plant's energy with a longer growing season, and a shorter recovery period. Or, perhaps dormancy is NOT a recovery time? I always think of it that way.

    I must tell the whole story of the first Stained Glass. It came to me in 2011, and that winter it never went to sleep. It kept two sort of tired leaves all winter and into the spring. Then it finally went dormant about late May, and I thought it was dead. It was a very confused plant. In 2012, everything began emerging in February, which I thought was early, but this Stained Glass put on maybe 2 more leaves and that was it. I wish I had all my photos from that first spring, but all were lost when my hard drive self destructed. The second go round with Stained Glass was what I consider normal. I have a couple of those pictures, I think, because they were loaded to Flickr.

    Taken Feb 11, 2012 still standing through the winter.

    Just before it went dormant. I'd put Sevin dust on it thinking something was eating it.

    Then later in the summer, SG#1 is the one which had emerged from its unusual dormancy. The other one I now recall I bought earlier when I expected #1 to die on me. So it arrived before the #1 croaked. Thank goodness I did not dump the pot. I was delighted to see it emerge fresh. Note there is a nice scape growing on #1, so it also bloomed on time for the fragrant hostas.

    To answer your question, Kathy, how large compared to its previous size.....much larger, IMHO. Nice sized leaves and more of them.

  • zkathy z7a NC
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    So SG#2 was down for about 6 weeks and came back bigger and better? Sounds like it had a power nap.

    Kathy

  • User
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    No, SG #1 was down. It was the first one I got, and when it looked to be dying, that's when I sent for #2. No. 1 finally died back in late May/early June, but was back and showing a scape in the last picture.

  • ilovetogrow z9 Jax Florida
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Santa that sounds like a lot of watering in the winter. I also just walk off no tipping and like you if it rains I'm ok and when hot I water. But not every week. hmm just thoughts.

    I have seen hostas do strange things. I bought a Praying Hands liner which grew great that summer and went dormant. For two years it stayed that way just a pot of roots. I watered, feed and talked to it. Now 4 years later it came back and now it is starting to make a handsome plant. I have ordered in the fall and like mocc said had hosta at Christmas. They do get set back but will recover in about 2 years. I gave a Georgia, where I am 50 miles from, Peach that only likes to grow in the fall. It has done it for 4 years now so I let it. I have had fun with hostas and I guess they have had fun with me.

  • santamiller
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Mocc…..that's a crazy story about your Stained Glass. It would have been really easy to toss that out and never give it another thought. Good for you for riding it out and getting rewarded for it.

    Paula….how often to you water if you get no rain for an extended period? I run my drip irrigation sprayers where my hostas are because I have a lot of other in-ground plants that need it through the winter. I can always cover my hosta pots if need be. My worry was suddenly changing what has worked for me in the past but I'm very much open to trying what has worked long-term for other Southerners.

  • User
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Santa, if it is working for you, because you have dry winters, then I would not cold turkey on your drip system.

    I think perhaps a test of a potted hosta elsewhere could work. Perhaps one you have a duplicate of? So you could compare one to the other. I'm reluctant to change everything.

    However, what I did change this spring and it was a lot of work, was get rid of the pots which did not drain. Even with extra holes drilled in the bottom of pots which had the builtin saucers going up the sides of the pot, I lost a great many hosta. Our winters are generally wet and humid.

    Your hosta look beautiful now, and I do not wish grief to befall them.

  • santamiller
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I think we almost have two overlapping threads. :) I don't have any of my pots in saucers. The ones sitting on mulch sit directly on the ground. The ones on my patio all sit on legs. This is my first year for pots on the patio so that could serve as my test area. The fact that what I have done for the last three years is working makes me hesitant to change things too much, and as I have only had a few hosta over that period I'm not the best person to judge long term success for multiple plants, but I have at least 8 that have done well so far and have lost none (knock on simulated wood grain), some for 2 growing seasons and some for 3. I added about 10 more this last spring.

  • User
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yes, I think I'm bringing up THIS thread over in the Squash Casserole thread! I have a one track mind, when something occupies my thoughts.

    While your pot count is manageable is a good time to study your whole operation. The way I went from zero to 200 in the blink of an eye, it was hard, and still is, to keep an eye on everything. I'll look for Paula/ILoveToGrow's comments which I missed. She is much more analytical and experienced with nursery culture than I am. Certainly in our region where snow cover is not present to keep the elements away from the sleeping plants, rot is a major issue.

  • ilovetogrow z9 Jax Florida
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Santa I am lucky to get almost too much rain in the winter. What I watch is my smaller plants and see what they are up too. If dry I water. The larger pots I use my finger. I use something close to Al's Gritty mix except I replace the grit part with pine fines. I drain fast. When I drill out pots the holes they are at least 1" big. No saucer. If there is one attached I drill that too. I do place my plants on floor tiles to keep the tree roots from invading. Most everything in my yard goes down in the winter or in a green house so I have it pretty easy. So all in all I just watch the weather. I find that it usually rains before a freeze here so nature helps too

  • chris-e
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks for the help, All! Mocc, your pictures are a scream!
    Why did you decide to keep them all in pots instead of planting in the ground? You might have answered this before, but I haven't been here too much in the last two years, so If so, I missed it. Have you ever planted hosta in the ground?

    Most of mine are in ground, and maybe 10 are in pots. With over 100 plants, I can't imagine keeping them all in pots! How often do you have to re-pot them?

  • User
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Chris, good to see you back on the forum. I know the pictures are weird, but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. :)

    Because of my zone 9a location, hostas do better in pots. I think it is the best way because I must keep them shaded to get them cool and keep them cool in the winter. I don't have to repot that often, but I did a couple hundred repottings this spring to rid myself of the non-draining variety. In containers, they really must have good drainage, and that includes the pot cooperating with me.

    I have one bed with hostas in the ground, and I call it the Experimental Bed. About 18 hosta plants, maybe 12-14 varieties. It is mostly in shade all year round. I planted it last summer 2013. So far none have died, but Love Pat looks real puny. S&S and Empress Wu are doing fine though.

  • santamiller
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Paula from FL, right? I need to learn everyone's name. :)

    Too much rain is not usually an issue here, especially the last three years. I do the finger test on mine also, except in the summer when I know without testing that they need water.

    Are you saying that when they are dry in the winter you water your pots? That's what I have done in years past but since joining this forum I see many people say they don't water at all in the winter, but of course they may be getting some rain and/or melting snow to compensate. Even in the winter my pots, like yours I'm sure if you haven't gotten rain, tend to dry out fairly quickly. It's not like they stay wet for more than a few days unless there is an extended period of rain.

    Something I have been wondered about with all of the talk about root rot in pots is why plants in the ground, which get a lot of rain and melting snow in the winter, don't have just as likely of a chance of getting root rot? As long as my pots are drying out in a few days why would my odds of root rot be higher than the ground planted hosta?

    Steve (following my own advice)

  • bkay2000
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We're supposed to have an El Nino winter, though, Santa. Those are usually cool and wet.

    I've never watered in the winter. I will change that now that last year's losses were so high. I had previously had the same problem with hosta in a planter box, but never let it sink in that it was a watering problem. The box also has a nematode problem. So, I think I will do what Steve suggested with the insecticide for them and add a bunch of pine bark and such to it and try again.

    bk

  • santamiller
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Have you found a place that sells the small pine nuggets? All I'm finding around here are the larger pieces.

  • User
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Santa/Steve, I get what is called Evergreen brand pine bark mini-nuggets. It is mfgr/bagged/originates up in Muscle Schoals Alabama, so a fairly local product. I found them at Lowes. However, I also found some at Tractor Supply.

    You can also look for pine straw in bales if you have no pine trees on your property. It makes perfect mulch, allows air to circulate, plus keeps the slugs at bay. They do not like to pass across it.

    I think the mini nuggets are small things. Not quite as small and composted looking as "pine bark fines" but pretty darn close. I avoid the bags of that-- I'm not sure if that could be a souce of foliar nematodes.

  • bkay2000
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Santa, The closest I've come is "Landscapers Mix" from Lowe's. I was calling around asking about it and a nursery guy said try that. I don't think it's pine though, so it might not be as acidic.

    I hadn't thought of Tractor Supply.

    bk

  • ilovetogrow z9 Jax Florida
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Mocc I use pine fines. Get them from walmart and I have had no problem. I rather prefer a brand called Timberland. I would say that close to half of my mix is pine fines. I use them with the hostas, plumerias adenium well everything. It is a big part of my free flow drainage.

    What I am going to tell you about watering for me: I water IF DRY in the winter. Last winter I had problems with drainage, now corrected and some of my plants sat in 2 to 3" of water. I figured them to be goners. Nope came back. I keep my plants comfy. My mix is loose and they do not stay wet wet as I only water to keep root ball happy. If it is 80 then everyone wants a cool drink. I do not tip due to the fact it rains here and I need to drain. Just watch your rain fall and temps especially when hot and make sure before frost or freeze check.

    I will probably do things with my hosta that most people do not as I have what I call southern hosta. I enjoy the low care in the winter and will be repotting starting in mid Feb. I grow in pots as I have too many tree roots.

  • santamiller
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'll look for Timberland pine fines. If I can't find those I'll look for the Landscaper's Mix. I need to repot a few plants that I used moisture control in the pots this last spring so it's a perfect time to find it and make my new mix.

    The watering when dry is what I have always done, and here in South Texas that's usually every 7-10 days in the winter unless it rains or stays cold for an extended period. Extended cold is not something we often deal with.

  • santamiller
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This seems to be the only thing listed as a mini nugget I can locate in my area. I see nothing online around here listed as a pine fine. Walmart does not carry any of this stuff in my area and I can't find the Landscaper's Mix listed on the Lowe's website.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Pro's Choice Golden Trophy Model Pine Bark Mini Nuggets