It seems too cold to be slug damage. Are you sure it's not something else like bunnies?

can I just cut the poor little shoots to the ground, sprinkle some more slug poison, and will they come back?

Whatever you do, DON'T cut them to the ground. Wait for them to fully emerge and unfold, and if you feel the outer leaves are too unsightly, remove them when they have completely unfurled.

Pieter

IGNORE them for another month .. and then get back to us... and we can determine what.. IF ANYTHING .. needs to be done ... and at that point.. pix will really help define the problems ...

you can do more harm than good right now.. in the garden ... like trying to over-love your hosta by snipping them all off

ken

Hi,

It sounds like the eyes were damaged some time, either stepped on or they took some bad freeze damage over the winter. Were the eyes exposed over the winter? They can get damaged easier if they were.

If the eyes were stepped on and got crushed then the new leaves will come up looking shredded and deformed. Cutworms are also active this time of year, but they tend to chew symmetric holes in new shoots, and don't deform anything, so that's why I'm leaning to some other type of damage. Slugs aren't active enough to damage much right now, they are too busy eating dead leaves and winter leftovers.

Yes, just wait until the new leaves try to unfurl. You might need to tease a couple of them open, or remove the damaged tips to help them unfurl, but don't cut anything down.

Good luck,

Chris

Another thing to remember... the leaves feed the plant. By removing the leaves, you're removing the green, therefore the chlorophyll. Yes, it's ugly, but it does still benefit the plant.

Shoot, I read on another site that damaged leaves should be removed immediately because all of the plant's energy goes to repairing them. I cut off one leaf (from 3 of my emerging mini's) that got trampled on by the kids---not MY kids mind you, they know better! LOL I'm noticing now that they are not growing very much.... while the others grow a bit more each day. Are they gonners, or might they recover?

no plant can repair a leaf .... it is not like human skin ...

any food that can be made.. in the leaf.. and transported to the storage area.. roots... or used ... is a plus..

so if a damaged leaf is giving even 25% bakc.. its adding something ... most likely.. the energy spent to make the leaf is already spent.... so leave even a damaged one on for a while ...

in a month or two.. when it has 50 other leaves.. yeah.. go snip out some uglies...

i would like a link to that website that said such...

ken

Here is one that I bookmarked, but there was another (that I can't find) that specifically said to cut off the leaf as soon as possible once you notice it is damaged. Of course, it wasn't speaking specifically about new-emerging hosta. I need to chill out and just leave things alone though--truly I do.

Here is a link that might be useful: ehow link

You can tell the person who wrote that article never visited the GW Hosta forum! I shudder to think of the HVX probably being spread by people following her advice (which says nothing about cleaning those sharp sheers she recommends). And all those poor hostas cut off to the ground... Ken you better email her and set her straight!

i dont suffer fools easily ... so i wont be writing to that website .... here is everything that was wrong:

When a leaf or stem is damaged, the root system will direct most of the nutrients and water to that area, leaving other parts of the plant deficient. [prove it]

plant spikes [useless waste of money.. unless you sever a root where you put the spike]

Hostas don't usually require a lot of water,[REALLY???

Trim back the hosta plant to the ground if the damage is extreme. [WHY.. SO IT CAN BURRN MORE ENERGY TO GROW NEW ONES]

This will leave you with an empty space in your garden for a while. [SO WHAT???]

If it happens in the early part of the year, your hosta probably will return the same year. If the damage occurs later in the season and needs to be to cut back, don't worry, hostas return each year due to the tuber root system. [NOT IF YOU CUT OFF ALL THE LEAVES BEFORE IT STORES ENERGY FOR NEXT SPRING]

Cutting the plant back saves nutrients,[PROVE IT]

and it will return thicker and fuller the next year.[SEE ABOVE RE: STORING FOOD]

i' say.. all and all 80% wrong ....

ken

Lesson learned---ask here first! :)