Does anyone know why a hosta that was going gangbusters for several years goes into rapid decline for no apparent reason.
Both of my Tokudama "Aureonebuloso" & "Flavocircinalis" are fragments of what the were.
Same with one my "Thunderbolts", last summer it look like it got sunburned, barely came up this spring as a puny remnant of what it was.
And why is always the ones that I like the best?
I wish I wasn't such a hosta rookie so I could figure out what I am doing wrong
Ed
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Have you dug any up to see if there is something going on under the soil line?
I've not had that problem yet, only the one where an 'okay' hosta gets progressively worse with each passing year, like the notorious 'Fire and Ice' and 'Tattoo' and 'Cherry Berry.'
John
Yes I dug all of them to see what was going on, the roots seemed OK but smaller for the Tokudama's
Thunderbolt seems to have rotted in the middle, with smaller plants coming back from the outer edges
I replanted all of them in a new area
Ed
There was an excellent article in the Hosta Journal a couple of years ago about one of the causes of this decline. I believe they called it the 'winter uglies', having to do with the crowns being exposed to freeze and thaw during the dormant period. I think sometimes it can trace back to a year of too little moisture, or voles chewing undetected on the crown, just enough to weaken it but not kill it. Root invasion can also cause them to go downhill in a hurry.
I've lost huge clumps of a few hostas, notably, nigrescens, Spilt Milk, Blue Betty Lou, and a huge Sum and Substance that were there one year and gone the next, or just had a few of those tiny eyes around the edge of the crown.
You're right, Ed, it always happens to the ones you like the most!
Linda P
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
I don't know your soil type, but I had to redo a whole bed where I didn't amend the soil first. The clay in the soil just didn't allow them to grow and compacted over the years strangling the roots. Some peat moss and they took off.
Your description of Thunderbolt rotting off in the middle along with your description of it showing signs of sunburn damage makes me think that Thunderbolt might have been contaminated with Fusarium. Personally if I was to see a plant decline like that I would just pitch it. No sense risking contamination with others.'
The others sound like drought damage (not enough water or root competition leading to drought damage). The tokudamas can look great all summer without showing stress, even if they are bone dry, and if they stay dry for an extended period of time you won't know about it until the next spring.
Some iof mine have done that too Wolverine Lacy belle and June was well upset about it, dug them out and seperated but they seem so slow now and tiny !!!
