it is useless.. unless you solve the slug issue first..

whats your plan in that regard ....

we are coming into root growing season.. every leaf.. pretty or not.. is a factory to produce food.. which will be stored in the new roots .. and that is the food that will power them out of the ground next spring ...

if you interfere SIGNIFICANTLY with this.. and they waste the power reflushing .. instead of storing .. then you will have smaller hosta next year ...

this is no different than if a hail storm did the damage ...

ergo... sooooooo .... i guess i wouldnt do it... but i wouldnt hesitate to take one or two of the worst leaves off.. and see if that doesnt help 'the look' ....

all hosta will reflush later in the season.. so you might want to wait until they do it naturally .. and then take a few of the uglies off ...

so whats the slug plan???

and you will sterilize your clippers and hands in between plants.. if virus is an issue in your garden ....

ken

oh yeah, definite sterilization.
thank you Ken.
Most are flowering right now, I see some have new leaves coming up. I guess I will leave them be. I will be digging up a couple to put in pots on the front porch, hopefully the slugs wont bother them there. But anyway, mainly for slugs I use Ortho Bug Getta Snail & Slug Killer. I was obsessed with protecting the Brugmansias this year, and forgot all about the poor hostas. I remembered the hostas too late. The slugs are terrible this year, so far this month we have only had 3 dry days, so the slugs are really partying in this monsoon. I threw some pellets down, but there are some I don't want to use the pellets on because those hostas are too close to the pond..right along the edge, and I dont want to risk some poison getting in there..I love my fishies alive, lol.
I guess I'll put some organic traps there, not beer as we dont drink..I have to look up what else I can use..any ideas?
Thanks :)
Daniella

Slugs hate copper. A ring of copper pennies or copper wire around each hosta is said to work pretty well, unless you have mulch, and then the slugs just crawl under the mulch and under the copper.

Lainey

Safe baits like Sluggo and escargo work very well....and there are many Iron phosphate baits that don't poison other critters.
But to answer your question...no, don't cut the leaves.
Linda C

check the FAQ's for diluted ammonia or vinegar ... cheap and effective.. and safe ... at 10% ...

ken

thanks everyone.
I have tried the copper b4. I happened to have a big ol spool of it from crafting so decided to try it last year..it didnt work. Neither did the pennies, and after awhile my youngest just went around collecting them like she was finding treasure, lol. neither did any other safe method I tried..but I didnt know about the ammonia or vinegar..gonna look that up, thanks!! those and the DE are the only things I didnt do..I didnt use DE cuz I cant find it anywhere around here, and I dont want to pay shipping for it.
thank you!
Daniella

Sluggo works and it is safe. We have snails and slugs year round here and Sluggo keeps my hostas hole free.

-Babka

Diatomaceous earth could be found at a pool supply store,(not the kind you play on a table)but swimming pool filters sometimes use it to filter pool water. Phil

thanks Babka.
Phil, as far as I know, you shouldn't use that kind in the garden..I don't know why? But I always had heard you are supposed to use food grade in the garden.