Paula, I looked for spin out bags in my neck of the woods but couldn't find any. I contacted Texel in Quebec and they gave me the name of a company in Ontario near Hamilton but I can't remember the name. The cost of shipping the bags to the Hamilton area by Texel and then back east to me was too expensive, so I gave up on the idea.

I was just at White House Perennials about a week ago and Suzanne told me that they carry them. The 5 gallon bags cost $4.50. I bought 5. She's going to order the 10 gallon bags.

I'm pretty sure that I posted the name of the company in the Hamilton area in one of my threads last year. I haven't been able to find it yet. I'll look some more.

I just planted some of my new hostas in spin out bags and it was just a matter of experimentation. Jim at Hillside gardens has a good article about transplanting hostas. He said that the width of the hole is more important than the depth as the hosta roots grow more horizontally. He said a shovel depth was enough.

The important thing to remember is to turn the bags inside out, so that the black side is on the outside as the copper coating on the black side repels tree roots.

The 5 gallon bags were too tall for my holes, so I had to cut them shorter. i placed the bag in the hole and added some soil to anchor it. Added bone meal and alfalfa pellets and compost. It was easier to plant the hosta in the bag and add soil and then to backfill around the bag, than the other way around.

Hope this helps. I'll look for that Hamilton area company's name some more in case you need more bags. It's probably close to you.

Edit: to correct name of company to Texel and changed location (Hamilton area) of central Ontario location of distributor.

This post was edited by irawon on Sat, Jun 8, 13 at 6:03

PS I think Paul in mn has experience with. I hope he pipes in.

When I was originally looking for them someone mentioned a company in Ontario but they didn't sell to the public, maybe the one you are thinking of is a different one.

I purchased 5 gallon bags for $5.05 ea and 10 gallon for $3.08 ea. The seller put as many bags into the package that would fit the 3lbs weight limit for the delivery price of $31.25. I hope they work!

I planted a few in the 5gal bags a couple of years back - just dug a hole for the bag and then refilled bag with same soil as I replanted (combined with the soil mix in each pot). Left an inch or so of bag above soil level to keep tree roots from going over the top. As Irawon said, turn the bags inside out.

Paul

Paul,

Have you ever lifted one out of the ground to see if it has been effective?

I plan to dig one up eventually. I suppose it would have been better to plant one in and one out of same age and cultivar to text effectiveness of the bags.

Paul

I put 15 in today, and it is WORK. The 10 gallon size takes a very deep hole, and I spent lots of time cutting through tree roots. On the plus side, I could really amend the soil and know the fertilizer would be going to the hosta, not attracting tree roots.

Only the large and giant hostas got the big bags. The five gallon size was pretty roomy. I'm bagging my new ones and anything that's struggling. I replanted one poor hosta last week. It had almost no roots at all - at least of its own. There were tree roots galore. It already looks healthier.

Good luck with your bags!

I completely understand about the root problem, I have huge maples. Just a few days ago, I dug up LS Beach Captain because it had less eyes than last year and sure enough - invasive, alien roots going for the good fertilizer!
He is in a pot now waiting to be put in a bag.

In the first pic, it is where it came from and the second is all of the roots that I pulled out that were entwined with the hosta's roots.
{{gwi:1037732}}
{{gwi:1037733}}
Sitting in a pot patiently waiting but already happier because it can breathe!
{{gwi:1037734}}

Paul,

I think I will try an experiment with the LS Beach Captain because the roots can easily be separated right now.
I will do one with the bag, one in a pot and see which one does better. Obviously, I already know the results of going without any root protection so that isn't necessary...again :)

15 in one day is very ambitious, especially when tackling tree roots as well. Good job, I think I will separate my digging over a few days if it ever stops raining.

I remember seeing something about this before, but I can't find the thread,
Is lining the holes with Landscape Fabric effective at all?
Thanks

Paula, I found my notes about the spin out bags/agroliners.

Texel in Quebec ( Tel.800.463.8920) gave me the name of a company that sells to the public but it's in Ancaster, near Hamilton:

Canadian Hydrogardens
1330 Sandhill Drive
Ancaster ,ON L9G 4V5
Tel.1.800.893.4769

I can't remember but they may only sell in bulk but if I recollect correctly they ship to the Toronto area free of charge. I was going to buy a roll of the cloth, so that I could line all sizes of holes.

At that time Texel didn't tell me about Whitehouse Perennials near me, which now sells them individually. You never know but maybe a hosta specialty nursery near you might have them now.

Anyway you now have the Ancaster suppliers name for future reference.

Sure hope these bags work out for all of us.

Sorry, message was repeated

This post was edited by irawon on Sat, Jun 8, 13 at 6:07

I did a total of 6 spinout bags in 3 weeks. These are 10 gal bags and it took 1 hour on some holes when I had to cut through maple roots. These 10 gal bags are for plants with deeper roots than hostas have. I wonder if those 10 gal bags are also available in a flat version. Large hostas will fill those present 10 gal bags before they get mature size, so what then. Perhaps we would need to buy the fabric and sew a large flat bag ourselves - TOO much work!

Has anyone here growing a large mature hosta in a spinout bag?
Bernd

Good question Bernd. I'm interested in the answer too.

I'm sort of hoping that the larger hostas once they increase in size will hold their own against tree roots. OR am I being overly optimistic?

Over the last few years I've moved quite a few hostas into the bags. As usual I'm making mistakes and learning as I go. The bags do repel the roots but in my opinion they are shaped wrong and too small. The large size seem like they could hold a large but not an extra large. The plants that have been in my woods for several years and are being strangled have grown wide and shallow. I guess they could be forced to head down? Don't know about that but they seem to want to spread. Last year in order to accomodate a few struggling large plants Faye and I cut some of the large bags, she sewed half of another large bag to it and made what appears below.

The regular large is on the right, the larger more shallow one is on the left. That size worked better for me since I can not dig down that much where these plants are. When I ran out of the ones she's made I did a few with just a flat piece of the fabric, raised at the edges with large branches, logs or whatever to create a bowl effect. I now realize my mistake about that. I wrapped the fabric over the log to anchor it and thought that was just fine. The other day I dug out a hosta in a medium sized bag in order to move it to more sun. Since when I originally planted it it was too tall I didn't cut the top off I folded it over. That left the inside part outside, see below.

Although the roots won't grow into the dark side they sure will grow into the inside part of the fabric and head over the top and continue to try to choke the life out of the plant. I have a lot of fixing to do.

The bags I've gotten have been ordered in the states and picked up when I'm down there. Someone posted the shipping charge in Canada from somewhere in Ontario to somewhere else in Ontario and it basically doubled the cost. I wish landscape fabric worked but it doesn't.

So...now that I'm unhappy with the shape of the bags I'm trying something else. I had a package of 25 medium (read small) bags that I hadn't used. They look to me like they'd hold something the size of a tiara. I've cut them all open, glued two together to make a square and cut the bottom off of various sizes of plastic pots, storage containers, a broken water softener and an old hot water heater (for the largest size). I figure I only need the fabric on the bottom. The sides of the pots will repel the roots. I'm gluing the fabric on and holding it there overnight with duct tape. I'm making them shallow in order to fit in the garden. I'll let you know how it works out.

I have an area just thick with white ash and Am. beech roots. Nothing was growing in this area except beech saplings and some sparse unidentified grass. I cleaned this area up as best as I could and in May 2011 planted several bunches of ditch lilies and three clumps of 'undulata Erromena'; figuring if anything could live in this spot they could.
I planted one bunch (all mature with many pips) in a 10 gal. spin-out bag; one in cloth type landscape fabric sac, and the third one with nothing. I had to split the spin-out bag and piece in another piece of spin out fabric to accommodated this large bunch.
I saw no difference in growth between the three bunches of Erromena. The ditch lilies grew okay as well. Maybe the beech and ash roots aren't as bad as red maples and/or Erromena and ditch lilies are "wicked" tough.

beech roots

From right to left- spin-out bag, landscape fabric, nothing

the Erromen bunches were quite large

For the large and xlarge, I plan on continuing to use pots and using the leftover fabric to cover the holes. The leftover fabric will come from the top that I cut off the 5 and 10 gl spinout bags for the medium hostas. As said above, the bags are too deep for hostas so this way I can use all of the bag.
The sewing idea is great, but alas, not an option for me!

Irawon, thanks for the info. That is the company that I called and they only sold in bulk. If a garden centre near you is selling them, perhaps you are right and one near me will be selling them soon. I hope so, the $31 shipping cost was steep.

What a good idea! I knew the bags were too deep, but didn't think of cutting them off and using them as the bottom of a pot. I've got some huge pots left over from trees and such. Of course, I'll still have to dig the big hole, but I can get an extra planting out of each bag.

Thanks for the information. I think some winter I will be making very large shallow spinout bags, like the one McTavish shows.

Steve_Mass did some planting of large hostas in spinout bags perhaps 2 years ago, perhaps he could tell us how they are doing, how they are filling up the bags.
Bernd

McT, Thanks so much for helping us avoid mistakes with those spin out bags. Much appreciated.

What a great idea. Many thanks for sharing it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Bags

I think a big difference between the garden bags and the spin out bags is that the spin out bags are water and air permeable whereas the garden bags do not look to be so. Also garden bags do not repel roots.