Roots

17 years ago

Out here in Canada's banana belt I have Hostas coming up left right and center. I garden on a small 50x100 city lot and out of necessity the bulk of my Hostas are planted in containers, be that a common garden pot or something a little fancier.

Back in 2005 I planted a single eye/shoot of Striptease in a planter I fashioned out of recycled old fence boards and it has been in there ever since. Last year it was easily in excess of 20 shoots and I figured this year it would be time to do some dividing on it. I had already dug up and divided an S&S, a couple of Golden Tiaras, and a Blue Mouse Ears in its 3rd year. The BME was in a #1 pot and when I slid it out of the top I was struck by how dense the root mass was. The S&S and GT were both planted in the garden and when I dug those up there root systems were quite a bit smaller size-wise in comparison, but the roots themselves were actually quite fat compared to the BME, which had lots of fine, thin root hairs.

I figure I lost a couple of newer Hostas over the winter because of moisture retention issues in the pots they were in and I was starting to get a little concerned over the fact that while I could see pips/noses/shoots/eyes on the Hyacinthinas and Gold Standards, my Striptease showed no sign og anything breaking surface. A light scratching of the surface did not produce any sight of them either and I was getting concerned that perhaps I was running into crown rot with it because of the very wet winter we had. So I thought I'd better take it out of its planter and see what remained of it.

I was not prepared for what I discovered. I ended up putting the planter on its side because I couldn't get the root mass out any other way. The whole container was pretty much a solid mass of fine roots and I was pleasantly surprised to discover the crown perhaps a little lower in the medium than what I would have liked it, but it was very healthy and showed plenty of swelling apical buds and plenty of nice white shoots starting to work their way towards the surface. To give you an idea of how large the mass was after I rinsed off most of the soil in preparation for taking the carving knife to it, take a look at this picture. For comparative size, the pot in the background left of center is a #1 pot. It yielded 5 divisions of varying sizes.

Here is the aftermath of removing it from the planter.....

... and here is the planter itself.

I had read that Hosta roots adapt themselves to their environment, based on available water and air in the soil but there's nothing like actually seeing this with your very eyes. That's why I thought I'd share this with you...

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Comments (10)

jakkig
17 years ago
Thank you for sharing!

I have a question - many plants, when root bound, lose vigour. What happens with hostas when they fill their container with roots - do they stay that size, do they strangle themselves...

This is a good reason for not planting hostas in pots which swell out in the middle and get narrow at the top - you would never have got the plant out without breaking the pot if it were that shape!

Jakki
yardmom
17 years ago
Good point, Jakki! I once planted small and mini hostas in a Strawberry pot (the kind with holes in the sides, and narrow at the top) Boy did I have a time getting those hostas out a few years later! I had to rip them apart to get them out! Painfull!
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Pieter zone 7/8 B.C.
Original Author
17 years ago
Jakki, I have a H.plantaginea Venus I planted in the style of pot you describe about 3 years ago. My wife was asking me earlier in the week if I was going to divide it and your comments were all the nudging I needed. It wasn't as much of a struggle as the Striptease, but it would have been next year... Thanks!

Pieter
hosta_freak
17 years ago
For what it's worth,Pieter,I have found that Striptease always shows up late,here in my garden. I always think I lost it,when it re-appears! But it isn't near as good of a grower as Kiwi Full Monty,or Gypsy Rose. Just a few thoughts. Phil
Pieter zone 7/8 B.C.
Original Author
17 years ago
That's good to know, Phil. I have always considered Striptease one of my better growers, going from a single shoot to 20+ in 3 growing seasons is doing pretty good, wish my IAT was that slow.... but seriously, I figured that if I have 1 inch pips showing on my Gold Standard that grows in the same area, you'd think you'd have seen at least one or two early noses on Striptease, given the relationship between those two. But you're right, now that you mention it I do seem to recall that last year it was quite a bit behind the others as well.

Haven't got either one of those two sports you mention but I do have a couple of other Striptease sports: Hanky Panky and Risky Business, both of which were actually showing small pips about 6 or 7 days ago. They had a completely different exposure however and all were just small, single shoots last year, the HP only had a measly 5 small leaves before it went down for the winter. I was just happy to see something green from it and be assured it survived the winter, never mind looking for it to show additional offsets when it broke surface.

Pieter
mctavish6
17 years ago
Pieter, it looks like you got that out just in time. I grow lots of hostas in pots but I've become more careful about letting them get too root bound. A few years ago I had Antioch in a large pot. It must have been in there for a year too long because when I got it out it was a mess. I replanted it in the ground and it took several years go get back to normal leaves and a normal size plant.
glosgarden
17 years ago
When I need to get a hosta that is root bound out of a pot I turn the water hose on fairly strong and push in down into the pot....All of the soil will bubble out and only the hosta and roots are left and they come out safely and a lot easier...I have done this with several this year already...all sizes. If you have soil you want to save hold it over a larger pot or bucket while you do this and you can rescure a good bit of the soil.
pzelko
17 years ago
I shouldnt go here, but I thought that this is the guy that knows everthing about hosta from Wikipedia? Doesnt someone here say toss it on the driveway?? Hosta grow anywhere!! you read too much, you need to get your hands into the deep end of it (the garden) where most plants are grown

Paul
Pieter zone 7/8 B.C.
Original Author
17 years ago
I shouldnt go here, but I thought that this is the guy that knows everthing about hosta from Wikipedia?

Just because I use Wikipedia -and other scientific resources- to try and get to the bottom of plant terminology and help myself in getting a better understanding of plant physiology, doesn't mean everything I have learned about Hostas comes from that source only. I have learned many things from many kind people on a variety of forums and mailing lists about Hosta cultivation and will continue to for many years to come. I also like to share my limited experiences in the world of Hosta with others in hopes that through the exchange of information all parties may gain from that process. Some of that will be factual observation, some of it will be well ingrained lore that has no real scientific basis. Such as the use of styrofoam nuggets/chips to improve the drainage in pots for example. I'd like to think that since I'm a relative newcomer to the fascinating world of Hosta, I bring a fresh perspective to it without the habits and prejudices of old-timers. I'm not afraid to ask 'why' and I don't shy away from questioning well established norms if I get the sense that something just doesn't add up.

I took these pictures and made the posting to share my experience and start a dialogue. Most comments to this post have been a contribution to said dialogue. Except for one.
Mary4b
17 years ago
Those roots were awesome, thanks for sharing! Your post has inspired me to go out and check on some small potted hostas that were quite exposed this winter...