reworking established bed

[Gardentoad]

I though hostas could go forever in an established bed. The first hosta bed I planted(at this house)was 11 years ago. I worked it well with peatmoss and clay buster pellets. Every year it got a layer of compost and a layer of mulch. It started declining last year and I thought it was voles. This year many hostas didn't come up and the ones that did were very small, except for Guacamole. I decided to take them out and replant in pots in the ground to try to keep the animals out. I didn't find tunnels, but the ground was very hard. I'm getting ready to go get some more peat moss and blood meal to dig in it.
I am getting too old to dig in ths heat. I hope I don't have to redo every hosta bed.

[HostaDesigner]

Sound to me like something else is happening.

[yardmom]

Sometimes as you add more and more mulch, compost or whatever every year, the hostas get deeper and deeper and eventually start to do poorly. Does it look like the crowns are deep?

[R. Rock]

Hi,
Get rid of the "peatmoss". Incorporate composted bark that is still chunky and manure.

[Gardentoad]

My hostas get heaved in the winter and I find them too shallow more often than too deep. Lemon/lime was pretty big and Guacamole was huge, but the others were just small, as if I had just bought them in 3' pots.

Hi,
Get rid of the "peatmoss". Incorporate composted bark that is still chunky and manure.

I thought that adding bark would suck the nitrogen out of the soil as it breaks down. I added compost every year but it was completely done, just crumbly and fluffy. I did leave a small layer of composting mulch on the ground when I redug it. I added blood meal and a few handfulls of 12-12-12 fertilizer to make up for it using the nitrogen as it breaks down. I prefer to garden organicly but I didn't have enough finnished compost to lighten the soil.
I dug it very deep this time too. I might not have dug it deep enough the first time. This garden had a slant to it so maybe the compost ran off since I just layered it on top.
I

[R. Rock]

The composted bark is not near as hard on the soil, if at all. I have "clay" here and what has worked best and the most sustainable is the "chunky Bark" The compost seems to get consumed within a yr. or so; then I'm back to clay. I am not hesitent to use some pretty fresh horse manure and alot when I prepare these beds w/ the "chunky" bark. I have prepared these beds probably an average of 30" deep. The "shallow" working of the bed may cause the "frost heave".
Here are a few of the results http://www.flickr.com/photos/35507630@N08/3286526776/

[Seedseller1]

I am fortunate enough to have that black Iowa soil to work with. I did however burm a couple of beds and without realizing it got into a pile of dirt that contained some heavy blue clay--you know, the kind that pottery people throw on their wheel and the same kind that they line the bottom of newly constructed ponds to make them waterproof. After top dressing with compost and a few years later, the worm activity increased making the soil once again air and water permeable and the hostas thrive in it. It is not necessary to amend soils 30 inches deep, and in nearly all cases it is not necessary to fertilize for hostas. Yes, decomposition uses nitrogen, but as time goes by the microbial activity will provide all the nutrients (including nitrogen) that a hosta needs (excepting some micro nutrients in certain soils--none of which are provided by adding a N-P-K fertilizer). I am not suggesting that fertilizing won't give you an immediate first year response, especially in foliage production, but I am saying that in an established bed, top dressing with compost is probably your best bet. Soil tests for nutrients may suggest otherwise in which case fertilizer may be necessary. Recommendations are available for nutrient values for corn production, soybeans, alfalfa, etc., but I have never found the recommendations for hostas, so interpretations of a soil test may be a best-guess scenario. I agree that something else is coming into play and my first guess without more info would be root competition from trees or other plantings or a water deficiency problem. Keep in mind that last years problems can be reflected in this years growth even though the problem doesn't exist in the present situation. (i.e.: lack of water last year, plenty of water this year, for example). Beds that have sustained the hostas for 11 years and suddenly collapse suggest a problem other than the bed itself. More info needed. My two cents worth.