Maintaining Hostas

• Moisture:

  Water-related hosta maintenance is minimal if you live in reasonable conditions. Hostas like about 1 inch of water per week, depending on the plant, location, temperature, and soil. In most soil types, 1 inch of water will soak down about 12 inches deep. Of course, looser, sandy soils will soak down more quickly. Ideally, water should not be applied to the leaves but to the roots. Hostas should be watered in the early morning so that the leaves dry off before the sun comes out. Water on the leaves can serve like little magnifying glasses,
  
  H. Cracker Crumbs
  increasing the effects of the intense afternoon sun. Morning watering also reduces slugs and snails. Make sure there is adequate soil moisture, in particular during the hot months of July and August. New plantings and slow-growing hostas are most vulnerable to moisture fluctuations, including Sieboldiana and Tokudamas. If the root system dries out at an early stage, the plants seem to shrink in size over time. As a regular part of your hosta maintenance, be sure not to let your gardens become completely dry for longer than a week.

• Mulching:

  Mulching as a form of hosta maintenance provides many benefits: it helps control weeds, it keeps the soil cooler and moist, and it adds humus as the mulch breaks down (wood chips and green grass clippings can actually suck nitrogen from the soil as it decays). Mulching also provides hiding places and food for pests and diseases such as slugs and viruses. After much thought and study, HostasDirect does not mulch except for new plantings in late fall. We also cut off dead hosta leaves in the fall and haul them away to reduce the risk of disease and slugs. However, newly planted, very young, or prized plants should be mulched with oak leaves or straw for the winter. Mulches should not be applied before the ground is nearly frozen in the fall, and it should be left in place several weeks after the ground thaws in the spring, since
  
  H. Ann Kulpa
  it will prevent alternating freezing and thawing which can cause plants to heave out of the ground. Do not use freshly cut grass as mulch. Allow grass to turn completely brown before using as mulch or it will be too hot and suck the nitrogen from your soil as it decays. Soil bacteria immediately attack any fresh organic material placed in ground contact and in the process of breaking it down, the material will draw free nitrogen from the soil.

• Centering Out:

  This term and "fairy ring," or "center-clump dieback" are used to describe a condition where very old clumps can die in the center. This condition is most evident in early spring when the pips begin to emerge from the ground. This can eventually lead to rot in the center. If this happens, you can dig them up, remove the old impoverished soil and add new soil mixed with fertilizer, divide the clump, and replant the hosta. Simple hosta plant maintenance can prevent this from happening; keep hostas regularly divided (not too compact) when the plant gets too dense. You can spread the divisions around your yard and let them grow.

• Blooms:

  By cutting off your blooms after they bloom, you will provide more energy back into the plant that would otherwise be used to make seeds. You do not need to cut the blooms off until after they fade but can be cut off at anytime.

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