Many years ago when photos were a newish thing on the forum, someone posted pics of a hosta they brought inside in mid-winter just to see if it would work. He put the pot in a very sunny window and we watched the progression with a fully leafed out hosta over a few weeks. It was kinda cool because there was snow on everything outside the window. Wonderful.

Growers force a lot of plants all the time to be flowering specifically on Easter, or for Spring flower shows.

Ken, would you force a pot and post pics to inspire others in frozen tundra areas?

-Babka

it wont be me ...

i am also interested.. if such a forced plant.. went dormant earlier in the summer or fall ...

ken

Ken, we have an annual flower and garden show here every February. It includes a number of display gardens that feature all manner of forced plants, including hostas, other perennials and various flowering trees and shrubs that would NOT normally be in leaf or bloom here in February :-)) In fact, one of the local horticultural colleges with extensive greenhouses makes a very decent winter income providing the forcing facilities and services for these show-intended plants.

So for sure it can be done. All you need are the right conditions. As to how these plants react after forcing, I can't say. Going through this process and then enduring a week or more indoors in a display setting is obviously stressful. But the plants do adjust afterwards. Some of the trees used are very nearly mature, full sized specimens and no doubt quite expensive, so they are given special care after the display period.

FWIW, potted hydrangeas forced into leaf and bloom early for Valentine's Day gifts go dormant at their normal time......I would assume the hostas do the same.

hey pam ...

we have hosta college in early march in OH ... i know it can be done in a greenhouse ... and they sell a lot of fully leafed out hosta

to be specific... how successful have peeps been in the house.. on a window sill ... perhaps with forced air furnace lack of humidity ...

ken

I would think that the forced hostas would go dormant at their normal time because of the shorter days and cooler nights.

Hostas here in warmer winter areas have a much longer growing season than, say, those growing way up north. They come up in late Feb and Mar and go dormant in late Oct and Nov. (I once had a Night Before Christmas that hung on until early December).

There are many tropical plants that love humidity that do well grown indoors in dry forced hot air or dry AC for that matter... Set on a dish of pebbles in water, or with an occasional misting with a spray bottle.

As I recall, those winters in the Mid-West are endless, and just seeing a green leaf sprout would help provide solace.

-Babka

I have had mini hosta's in with a bonsai plant that I bring in for the winter. They do go dormant and die down to the soil and then come back up in the spring.

I suppose potting bagged hosta roots in March is forcing hostas to grow earlier than they would outdoors.

All my purchases are doing well and most are still in their pots. I planted a couple awhile back. All are displaying fall colour and a blue NOID is still blue/green as of yesterday. Will take pics tomorrow. The only TLC these hostas received was hardening off, water, and shelter from the hot afternoon sun.

The mortality rate for bagged hostas seems low from what I've read on this forum. I've lost two from last year. It will be interesting to see whether these will come up next spring and if so, how well they will grow.

hey jo... i knew someone did it ... thx for the link ...

i am surprised BBunting failed... i have run mine over a number of time ... but it is a blue ...

when i moved my 1650 potted hosta to the new house.. and lost 109 .... many were blues .. the thought was that sieboldiana/tokudamas.. had some cold wet soil issues in spring .... and of course.. all the blues measure in that heritage.. one way of another ....

i am NOT surprised a variegated BME would die... all of them have been short lived for me ... outdoors .. so why not indoors ...

ken

There was someone last winter/early spring who started his potted hosta in the house in a bathtub. For some reason I think it was santa. Here in Florida I can find hosta in the store as early as 2 feb.

I sent Guacamole Don a hosta a couple of years ago in the late winter. It was just beginning to pip here when I sent it. I expected him to put it outside, since we are a couple of months ahead of him on spring. He took it inside and it became a "forced" hosta. Maybe he still has photos.

I would not expect a "forced" hosta to go down any earlier than any other. Mine are a good two or three months ahead of those in Michigan. They pretty well last until the first freeze.

Our discussion on the other thread was about overwintering a hosta as a house plant. It seems to me that being taken into the house in the fall to keep "awake" all winter would result in it going dormant at an odd time. Moccasin had one that didn't go down all winter and it went dormant in the summer. It reemerged a couple of months later to bloom at the proper time, if I remember correctly.

bk

okay, all you guys with beer fridges.

take a potted hosta. freeze it in the freezer. then put it in your 37 degree beer fridge for say ⦠50 days.

Bring it out. And give it a little counter TLC, is that a forced plant?

it certainly would show earlier pips, me thinks.

or am i crazy?

Ken, I've forced hostas in the past. I don't think it is particularly good for the plant, but my reason and I think the best reason, was to breed late season and early season bloomers. I usually buy separate potted plants specifically for this purpose. I did it three years in a row and was able to move up the flowering times of One Man's Treasure, Harry van de Laar, Red October, Cranberry Wine and about a half a dozen others, so that I could use them both ways with earlier bloomers. I know Don Dean and some others have done it in the past as well and I'm just following their lead. I haven't done it the last two years because the late/early seedlings have been moved up to a point where the seeds mature before first frost and I have a bunch of red pet stuff blooming in late July and August. The humidity that you mentioned does not seem to be a big problem, but they do come out being a bit "soft" and need a bit of hardening off before going outside in the Spring. In my experience, they go down at the normal time in the Fall. I had lights going 24/7 in my seed growing room so when I brought them inside they were were put under these. If you decide to try it don't water them until you see green shoots coming up, which actually takes a painfully long time when you are waiting for them :) usually a few weeks. Good luck!

Dan

This post was edited by dansgrdn on Fri, Oct 17, 14 at 1:53

how the hell would we know if bragu is crazy.. dont you think ....??? ... lol ....

in the way back machine... and this was very early in my learning curve.. so somewhere in the dinosaur era .. lol ... i brought some young plants home from hosta college in march.. really had no idea what i was doing ... and i am sure i tortured the heck out of them... and i seem to think they went down early ... but for remembering all that.. maybe they went summer dormant for lack of water... i dont know ... but that is the root of my ???

ken

...I think you have your answer, Ken. Forced hostas don't go dormant any faster than unforced hostas....unless they suffer neglect of some kind...like "lack of water" torture for which many of us are to blame, at one time or another, lol.

Now, in regards to the poor BB you were tromping on...you brute! Lol

Dan's reference to indoor hosta being a bit "soft"...I understand what he means. Holy Mouse Ears usually has rigid, thick leaves like BME but its leaves were softer/more pliable....and smaller. By the way, I did not use grow lights, just natural light and that makes a difference.

I do not see where forcing the ones that I did this past winter made them go dormant early. My Great Arrival that I got as a bagged planted at the Hosta College is just going down for good.

My new experiment for this winter is that I brought in a dozen 4" pots of different varieties that were on their way down and put them under 16 hours of light at room temperature. I want to see if they stay up and possibly put on a little growth so that I can use them when I learn how to do TC. So far after I stripped them of the worst looking leaves they are staying up and looking pretty decent. They have been inside for right at a week.

Keep us informed, Smith. I'm interested.

bk

Maybe this is the same as what your talking about but I think it is slightly different. I have been informed by a hosta retailer that the plant I wanted is now sold out. It is one of the varieties that is in limited circulation. The company says it can be ordered in the 'spring'. Their spring is like February/March, and MY spring is like April/May.

QUESTION: If I order it late winter can I put the hosta in question into the freezer and then plant it when MY spring permits that to occur? [half joking] Would the ice cream kill it, or would it be better just to pot the plant when it arrives?

Peter Kelley

St. Paul, MN USA

If the hosta comes to you dormant, then stick it in the fridge. If the hosta comes to you already emerging, just pot it up and put it in a bright place until you can move it outdoors. Think about those bagged hostas, that sprout 6" inside the bags! When they are ready they are READY. Once it is awake, don't try to put it back to sleep.

-Babka

no peter ... you can not restore dormancy to an already active plant ...

with my late MI springs.. i used to lose out on a lot of selections ... because they sent out their whole stock to the warmer zones ... and by the time they got to my late delivery.. they didnt have any more ...

take early delivery ... pot it.. and put it near a window ... or even better.. under some lights.. until you can get it outdoors ...

this really isnt related to this old post ... so next time... try your own post ...

ken

To Babka NorCal

(Very serious look on my face) You mean even with a cat in the house. Next winter I will be trying my indoor hosta from seed project (again). I can use those lights. No problem. Thanks

As to if this was on topic and trying to be polite ... I'ld like to try to point out that this thread was about managing hosta from freezes to pre-mature emerging; having to do with temperature control of the plant growth of hosta. My question asked the 'cart before the horse' type question. Since the subject still is about temperature control of hosta I felt it was a relevant addition to the topic, ... further more I have found many persons in this forum do NOT permit private messages between forum members so I can't just send a message to the Original Poster behind the scenes asking if they would approve of the added direction to their thread.

As for Hosta being delivered in pre-emergent state is something I have never seen.

Peter Kelley St. Paul, MN USA

I get most of my hostas from Hallson Gardens...in a pre-emergent state. Chris ships them as soon as he can dig the soil, or if they are in pots, sooner. I can put them right outside right away and then wait for them to break the surface. Oh, and have words with that cat about who is boss. ;-)

-Babka

PS. I didn't know you could private e-mail anyone here on Houzz. How you do dat?