My Sum & Substance is sporting can someone give me advice of when should you remove the Sport, (Spring, Summer, Fall)?
Also, I have looked to see if it is one eye has changed but it looks like it is one or two leaves have changed but not one eye. Should I still divide it as a sport or wait until maybe there is a solid eye sport?
Thank you.
I cannot get a good pic. But the sporting leaves are blue with a yellow edge.
Last edited by Aud on Jun 02, 2011 9:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
Personally, if it is just a few leaves on one eye I won't touch it. Any dormant buds that develop on that side of that eye should be the whole sport, but I usually wait to see a whole eye before chopping anything off, though if it is an outer eye that is really easy to get to you could isolate it now to keep watching it.
If you are going to divide it the best time is in spring or summer. Hostas don't grow any new roots in the fall so you risk losing it if divided then. I do all of my dividing in July and August so they have time to grow new roots before winter.
Quick question if ya don't mind, but whats a sport or sporting? Is it when a new plant grows off separate from the main clump? Sorry for the thread hijack.
ogrefcf wrote:Quick question if ya don't mind, but whats a sport or sporting? Is it when a new plant grows off separate from the main clump?
Here's the definition from the AHS web site: "SPORT – an individual arising from the result of mutation or chimeral rearrangement that is genotypically or phenotypically different from the original individual." Ha!
Here's the definition from the old Hosta FAQ:
Sport - A mutation from a mother plant, hopefully to something more interesting! Sports usually denote a change in leaf color/form ('June' is a sport of 'Halcyon'), but may refer to different flowers as well ('Aphrodite' is a double-flowered sport of plantaginea).
Viola, I think if it is noticeably smaller something is wrong. That would not be a sport. Maybe someone knows better than me. When ever one of my hostas started to get smaller they were not long until they were dead.
Hmmm... I can't come up with any definitive examples of "sporting" to a truly different size unless there is a change in chromosome ploidy, although there are some claims that 'Blue Mouse Ears' is a sport of 'Blue Cadet' (where both are diploid).
Chris_W wrote:Hostas don't grow any new roots in the fall so you risk losing it if divided then. I do all of my dividing in July and August so they have time to grow new roots before winter.
Bob Solberg will tell you that hostas have two flushes of root growth, spring and fall. I do not divide after June 1st because 1. I lose more divisions to rot once hot weather arrives (maybe there is no hot weather where you are?) and 2. dividing after the plants are fully leafed out makes a mess of them for the rest of the season whereas dividing while just coming out of dormancy results in plants that look untouched.
Viktoria
Many a great tune has been played on an older fiddle.
