what happened to my hostas

[wingnut]

this year they look horrible most of them either look like fairy ring or something else. In every garden almost every hosta looks this way.3 different types of soil in the gardens and the same effect in all 3 types.

[Chris_W]

Hi,

The crowns are all exposed, so new eyes are trying to develop deeper underground at the outer edges. I would recommend covering the crowns with fresh compost or possibly lifting them, amending the garden, then planting them so the crowns are buried.

Some hostas naturally grow out of the ground but the crowns shouldn't be allowed to show this much. As long as your soil is well aerated they don't mind being buried a couple inches, and larger plants can be buried even more than that. The only time that burying too much would hurt is if the soil is too compact, which doesn't allow air to reach the roots. Hostas love very well aerated, loose soil. Also, a hosta can adjust to being too deeply in one season, for example a hosta planted 6" deep that only wants to be 1" deep will grow closer to the surface in one season and be fine the following year. A hosta planted above the soil can take years to grow 1" below, and it does it by sending out eyes deeper underneath and around the edges of the crown, creating a fairy ring.

Hope that helps.

Chris

[Noreaster]

That is really interesting info, and something that's been confusing me a lot (the issue of how deep to plant something). It seems like a lot of the stuff I read when I was starting my garden a few years ago was, "make sure you don't bury the crown or it will rot". I'm not even sure I fully understand exactly what part is the crown. I think of it as the place with the fuzzy fiber stuff at the base of the leaves?

I've got two hosta coming up that's aren't looking right to me either, and a couple last year did the same thing, and grew very poorly...I guess I need to put some compost over them all and get over my fear of covering the crown!

What is a fairy ring?

[wingnut]

Fair-ring is where a hosta grows only on the outside edge and not in the center, youd know it when you seen it.




I know some of them did pop upwards either in the winter or early spring and need to be re-planted but I dont get why others have fairy ringed.My Sagae the second year grew in 3 different spots making for 3 separate eyes. Now lots of them are doing the same. Does that mean that some are planted too deep? Ill take a few more pics to show what I mean.

I thought I was good at this. Ive had hostas formore than 5 years w/out too many problems now this year thats all changed.

[mikencarol]

Because of illness I was unable to do much than the bare minimum last summer. That combined with the mild wet winter here has resulted in a great deal of problems with compacted soil and crown rot. Is there anything I can do with the little bits of crown clumped with soil to try and revive them?