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santamiller

Covering or Tipping Hostas in The South

santamiller
9 years ago

This has probably been discussed several times over the years and maybe it's obvious to everyone but me, but mama always said there was no such thing as a dumb question. If that's the case then why did mama always give me such a goofy look? Oh well.

Pots are tipped or covered as to not let the media stay wet and cause root rot? Is that correct? Some of you live in very wet areas and the ground is obviously saturated for long periods, especially after periods of snow. What's the difference between that and potting media that is wet? I know the ground may dry more quickly, but here in San Antonio with our warmer winters and not a hec of a lot of rain most years my pots have rarely stayed wet for an extended period of time, and if they were in the ground would be equally damp. I have only had about 8 or 9 hosta potted through a previous winter and only 3 or 4 for two or three winters, so not much to go on, but I have never covered or tipped and they get water when the sprinklers occasionally water the rest of the large bed they are located in. This year I added another 10 or 12 so I will get a lot better idea if I don't cover them again.

Someone clue me in!

Comments (11)

  • sherrygirl zone5 N il
    9 years ago

    Up north, i thnk, Ken says tip them or move them to the north side of the house so they dont experience feeze an thaw. The F and T rots the crowns in pots. Just trying that out for the first time. We will see.

    Sherry

  • bkay2000
    9 years ago

    Santa, with your environment, I would not tip any pots. They need water occasionally in the winter in San Antonio. I lost 20% of my hosta last winter because I did not water. I usually don't water, but we had a really dry late winter with about 6 weeks of no rain (very unusual). I lost almost all of my younger plants and recent acquisitions. I thought I should water, but others thought it was not a good idea. I wasn't sure enough of my thought, so I just put a few ice cubes on the plants. It wasn't near enough. Sometimes, you need to do what you know to do and not pay any attention to what others say.

    I didn't learn my lesson the first time this happened. I have an older home that has a brick planter box that gets no rain. I planted hosta there, but didn't water them over the winter. I lost three out of the five. I just went back to annuals in that box, as I wasn't so sure that lack of water was the cause.That was probably four or five years ago. .

    We have a drier environment and do not have the damaging thaw/freeze cycles that the guys do up north. Ours hostas thaw and freeze regularly during the winter. I've never covered or turned my pots over. I watch that my hosta stay on the dry side in the spring, as they are coming up. Once they are up, you don't have to worry about rot.

    I would not restrict water, unless your environment becomes like Mobile. That's not likely.

    bk

  • santamiller
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks for that input, bk. Exactly what I was thinking. As I am 300 miles south of you we get far less freezing weather and generally less rain than you do. Last year was colder than usual but our norm is between 5 and 20 times per winter that we dip below freezing and it is rare that we don't get back to at least the mid 30s even on those days. Two years ago we rarely got below 40 even at night. Unless we have rain or colder than normal days, if I don't water every week or two in the winter my pots get as dry as a bone.

    My pots ever actually freezing here is next to impossible. Never say neverâ¦..remember back in (I think) '82 when we had something like 20 days that it never got above freezing? I was in Dallas during that time and there were massive losses of things that no one ever thought could die in our area.

    I'll continue what has worked for me so far, but here's hoping for a VERY wet winter. We sure need it here in Texas.

  • Babka NorCal 9b
    9 years ago

    I don't live in the South, but I have similar warm no freeze, rare frost conditions. Weather conditions are SO variable. Dormant hostas don't need any water, but as Ken pointed out in another post, you don't want the potting material to get so dry that it sucks the moisture out of the dormant roots. The size of the pot, the maturity of the plant, the planting media, bla bla bla all contribute to keeping hostas dormant in our warmer winter zones. For me, I keep them in an area covered by a tarp during our rainy season, and check on them every 3-4 weeks to see that they don't go bone dry. Ice cubes work for me to slowly add the tiny moisture needed in the smaller/shallower pots.

    Trial and error will determine what works for you under your specific conditions. And a word of caution...just when you think you have it figured out and things go hunky-dorey for several years, something will come along and mess you up. So then, oh dear, you just buy some new ones. ;-)

    -Babka

  • ilovetogrow z9 Jax Florida
    9 years ago

    I do live in the South and I leave them where they are and let the rain water them in the winter. I do not have them sitting in water and I use fast draining mix with big holes in my pots. I do toss a little mulch on the top and stick the name tags in further. I repot in the winter usually starting at the end on January. If I tipped my pots the soil would eventually spill my plant out. The cats turn enough for me and have proven that fact. Santa keep it simple. That is what attracted me to hostas was the easy winter care.

    Northern growers grow so differently than you and I will be doing. We do not have snow or frozen ground and I am grateful I do not. Just remember to think perennial.

    I did not say much this year as I grow so different from the norm.

  • santamiller
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Babkaâ¦..I need to frame that and hang it on the wall. :)

    I didn't find this forum until last spring so only had basic knowledge of hosta growing at that point. I only had a handful of them but had had good luck at that point. Taking in a lot of the information here over the last months has really made me scratch my head and question some of what I have done over the last three years, even with almost no losses. I tripled my amount of plants this last spring so we'll see what 2015 brings, but I'll continue on my normal routine through the winter with the exception of cutting back a little on winter watering. I do think I was overdoing that.

    I have found that with anything you do such as this, your own worst enemy can be over-thinking what has worked for you in the past. I kept saltwater reef tanks for years and now have a freshwater planted tank and participate regularly in forums for those. I can't begin to count the number of times people strayed from what worked specifically for them, especially with SW, and ended up destroying years of hard work.

    This post was edited by santamiller on Sun, Nov 30, 14 at 7:59

  • bkay2000
    9 years ago

    "So then, oh dear, you just buy some new ones. ;-) "

    So true. I lost about 20 hosta last year and bought about 20 new ones this year.

    bk

  • santamiller
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I guess it's all trial and error on what is most hearty in warmer weather along with learning from mistakes and just plain dumb luck, both good and bad. I'm sure in the case of some areas, like here in Texas, it also makes a difference long-term with most plants on the amount of cold we have through the winter months. We don't usually get much long term sub 40 weather, but in Dallas you guys can have both cold winters or warm winters.

    Speaking of tough hostas, my Sum and Substance and Satisfaction refuse to totally die back. They were both damaged when we had close to freezing weather for a few days but are still hanging in there. Everything else is sleeping.

  • bkay2000
    9 years ago

    I have a few green leaves still showing, but mine are mostly down, finally.

    bk

  • User
    9 years ago

    Santa and BKAy, the great state of Texas has so many different weather patterns that I would not dare compare Sanantone to Mobile for moisture. My experience in Texas was from the coastal region, Port Arthur, Galveston, Freeport, Port O'Connor, and Aransas Pass. Not exactly a spot you saw many hosta......and it was before I even knew there was a plant called a hosta.

    I'm not planning on having a tipping party this year either. I'm instead planning to elevate the pots on 2x2 wooden pot feet, a larger version of Babka's small pot feet used on her deck.

    I had an epiphany, a revelation if you will, after studying my hosta taking so well to the hot afternoon summer sun, with plenty of water, and good drainage. I realized that my problem was not with keeping them cool in summer, but cool in winter. And, as long as any moisture was allowed to drain or good circulation of air was maintained, I decided to leave them elevated and shaded, and kept from too much rain.My large umbrellas will provide shade in winter, and shelter from rain as well.

    Our weather has been fairly dry for a long time now, which is not the usual weather pattern. We had one rainy spell in November. There MAY be some rain in another 5 or so days. (I hope it waits that long, because our new roof won't be covered until this weekend).

    I bought a bunch of the Dollar Tree wire baskets, to use as squirrel deterrents -- but those are so small, I have to cover the larger pots in other ways. Tubs and barrels do not "tip" easily anyway. Our pecan crop failed this year, thank heaven, so there are very few squirrels burying nuts. In the meantime, I'm meditating on the removal of two of our three pecan trees. But I have until mid May before those trees try to leaf out, so no rush at this time. Just think how many plant stands I can make from the bole of the larger pecan.

    So when you figure to control moisture, Santa, also figure to insure good air circulation, and you'll not be off the mark. You don't seem to have an issue with critters in your garden. They LOVE my jungle garden!

  • santamiller
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Moccâ¦..We have a ton of squirrels as we have a ton of trees but I have managed to keep their nuisance level to a minimum after I quit putting out bird feed. That helped a lot with that issue but they still are in the yard every day. Whenever I see one of the little bastards I send my dogs out to chase them off. I had to build nets around my potted roses because they wouldn't stop chewing off the buds and digging in the pots, but for some reason don't dig much in the hosta pots. Maybe because the dirt wasn't so obvious like it is in the large rose pots. Also, I stared using cedar mulch to cover the media in my hosta pots this year. That has seemed to stop almost all digging, and I also rarely see any holes dug into my beds that are mulched with cedar. It doesn't stop the skunks or other diggers in the beds but it does detour the squirrels.

    Same as you, the heat does not seem to have an affect, at least short term, on any of my hosta. Also, as we don't get regular rain, we get downpours or two or three days of light rain followed generally by long periods of dry, so that isn't a huge concern with me right now. I totally agree, my concern is the affect of a warm winter, although we had one two years ago and my 6 or 7 plants all came out and did fine. Again, long term, I don't know. They were slow to come out that year, not showing up until probably around April 1, where as last year after we had a super cold winter they all started popping out in late February.

    I planted maybe six of my new plants last year in the moisture control MG before I knew that was a no-no and had planned to repot as soon as they went dormant, but now I have decided to experiment with them and leave as is. My weather is pretty unique to yours, ilovetogrow's and even bkay's, so with our combination of warmer and drier winters I want to see what happens. Most of my plants are potted in straight regular MG and new plants next spring will be planted in Ladybug natural potting soil mixed with some expanded shale and nuggets of some sort. Then I can do a real comparison of any differences.

    So bottom line I plan to hold course with what I have been doing, for better or for worse, pots mostly shaded year round, sitting on the mulched ground in my beds and on feet on my patio, and see what happens.

    All that said, we NEED rain to fill our aquifer! Lots of it!