IMHO.. rotting roots.. with the string [its natural]... leads to rotting crowns.. which are dead plants ...

gotta run ... maybe they will live.. dont hold out high hopes ...

ken

I'm calling the Hosta Police. This is Hostacide! I'd clean off all those rotting roots and tissue and try propping up the crown in another clean pot of soil. The rotting tissue is only going to attract more nasties.
I have in the past, when separating crowns, broken some off without any roots at all, and have put them in the soil.
They did start sending out new roots of their own. I don't know if it will work, since you cooked these guys, but it's worth a shot. No, no, Janice, put down the gun, I didn't mean you should shoot the hosta next.
Pam

LOL, Pam!! Gun's put back, now--thanks to your intervention! But--I have done radical 'surgery'!
I decided (upon reading ken's response) that I have nothing to lose and seeing your post, after the
emergency 'procedure', I feel confirmed in my medical decision, and that my actions were appropriate!

Poor SGS, has no roots, legs or toes and is sitting in a pot, with the bottom 2/3 pine fines and the top 1/3
potting soil. This hospital or 'recovery' room is also sitting in another pot filled with water which brings the
'recovery room' water level to almost the very tip top of the soil!

We'll see how this saga progresses!

Theological question: Can a hosta, once banned to hell, be redeemed and resurrected? If not, mercy
has been extended, at least!

Not good theology for mankind but, but--perhaps for hosta--yes!!! Stay tuned!!

The real question is once a hosta is banned to hell, can it, does it, come back and exact revenge??
Little Shop of Horrors...You've got to feed me HeyJ
Keep your bare toes away from that pot!

Hey_J,

That is exactly what happened to the roots of my plants that I tried the bleach soak with. All the roots of 6 plants turned to mush. I tried planting them, but they all dies within the week. And on one, the leaves were riddled with Nematode streaks!

I love my hostas and am trying to do the best for them, but as someone else said on another thread, we figured that raising hosta would be easy and fun. They ARE tough plants and anyone can do it with a few tips on planting and watering.

It's becoming too much like work now with little enjoyment because I have seen signs of nemtodes on more plants. All I am going to do in pull off the bad leaves and spray with the soap and mouthwash solution. Any more work than that and I might as well go into raising roses!!

My "hosta" garden might soon become a "shade garden" with nothing but companion plants.

christine

christine

Janice, that's what my 'bleach babies' did as well, very 'mushy' feeling roots. As long as the crown is firm I think they'll be alright over the long haul. The plant will produce new roots, just make sure you allow for ample air to get to the roots. Sounds to me as if your present arrangement may not allow for proper drainage and air exchange and that will lead to crown rot.

Pieter

Ahh, Christine, don't give up! They ARE worth it!! We hosta-lovers are made of true grit, a concoction
of ammonia, bleach, hot water, fungicide and raw determination and passion for the plant!! If you aren't
there already, YOU WILL BE, because as you see these wonderful plants mature and thrive, you'll NEVER
let a one die, if you can help it--unless it has HVX!!!

"Ask NOT, what your hosta can do for you, BUT, what YOU can do for your hosta!"
That's the spirit, you GO GIRL!!! Hmmm, did that help get you pumped for the *hosta game*??

And, Pam--thank you for the 'WAKE-UP CALL'!!! I should have realized the consequences
of a hosta rising from *hosta hell*:

'Hosta revenge' (a nightmare come true!!!)
Picture a hosta, dragging it's dismembered and steaming body
across the driveway by it's slug infested petioles, grabbing you
by the ankles then releasing the slugs, neems, bleach residue and
possibly HVX all over your feet!!!! shreeeek!

I think I've scared myself........
and, NOW, I'll be sleeping with one eye open all night!!!! (shudder)

Oops, I was so busy 'constructing' my last response that I missed your posting, Pieter!
Thank you for your thoughts! :o) Are YOUR feet 'pruney'? hehehe

Janice,I'm sorry you are having so much trouble with foliar nematodes! Wouldn't it be easier to just junk the plant?
After all,that's what eveyone does with HVX infected hostas. The only thing is HVX doesn't kill plants,just makes them look weird. I have never had nematodes,thank goodness! It must be a northern thing.Lol! Just my thoughts. You are driving yourself nuts worrying about neems! Phil

Phil, with HVX for the vast majority of folks the solution is 'you're outta here' and you can be comforted by the knowledge that even if some of the roots broke off when you dug it up that by next season there's no chance of HVX having survived in the soil and you plant another one.

With foliar nematodes it's a different matter, they can and do survive and spread through the soil and that completely changes the game....

No, Janice, I don't get 'pruney' feet... I'm a shower kinda guy...

Pieter

Okay, Pieter, I figured that---really!!! Not difficult, most guys are!!

I have a Laura and Darrell in the hosta hospital with the same root symptoms. This was a case of root fungus that I treated with bleach. In 06 when I had so much trouble with my hostas, I cut out the worst of the damage and left them sitting in shallow water for a couple of weeks. Most of them made it. I am hoping L & D will do the same. Speaking of nemies, I have been using the Bayer 2 in 1 for roses, and so far so good. I had to treat Sweetie again this season, but most of the ones I treated last summer are ok this year. I have spent too much money and effort to give up on my plants without a fight. Since mine are in containers, I can isolate fairly easily. Hope your hosta makes it.
Mary

Theological question: Can a hosta, once banned to hell, be redeemed and resurrected? If not, mercy
has been extended, at least!

=======

its a function of the experiment and how long you personally want to be in purgatory .... watching its eventual decline ....

perhaps it is better for your soul to whistle the requiem.. and be done with it..

others... enjoy the process and the learning experience of the experiment .. and will watch it linger forever ...

up to you ...

============

as to the rest... you should have known that you were to take this thing to within a millimeter of death.. in a vain hope to 'cure' the malady ... apparently most of your went one millimeter to excess... and are watching the result ...

can you... do the same... and land on the right mm???

a LITTLE to philosophical for me this morning ....

ken

Your philosophy does not lack wisdom, ken! I understand the point you're making,
and acknowledge that you are right--it's a gamble!

What I'm doing is indulging in a little experimenting, just because I do enjoy a challenge,
once in awhile. If they survive and rally then I will feel it was a success. If they fail to
make a full recovery, in time--well, they were to be lost anyway!!

Thankfully, I slept peacefully! :o)

Janice,

You are a trip! That composition was so funny! I haven't given up and I really don't care for roses unless they are in a vase.

I was just walking through the garden today, as I do daily, checking for signs of anything bad happening. I had my grandson with me and found myself explaining to him the whole problem. He was very interested for a 8 year-old or was just humoring me.

But he did say he was upset because Guacamole and Whirlwind were two of his favorites. (who knew?) and I promised him I would get new ones.

christine

I just did some digging for a post reply on Hallson's Hosta Forum and ran cross an article by two pre-eminent nematologists (Jagdale and Grewal) about using 90C hot water -that's about 194F) of dormant Hosta.

If you are at all tempted to try this later this year I urge you to read the entire study.

Pieter

Here is a link that might be useful: Hot water control of foliar nematodes

I've been holding off on adding to this discussion and I'm still afraid I might be premature.
The whole "boiling" the plants doesn't make a lot of sense to me. It seems like cutting off someone's head because they have a sore throat. Nematodes do harm the looks and the "catching" part is disturbing but for most of the year they are fine.

I decided on trying the less extreme suggestion of using the soap and mouthwash. I think this was suggested by Donna? It was a few years ago anyway. I only had a hand full of plants with the nematodes so I picked the leaves off as they showed up and sprayed the plants with a pint sized spray bottle of the mixture. The next year I started earlier when the plants came up and tried to do it more often but I realized at the end of last year that I'd used only 2 to 3 of the small spray bottles over the summer to repeat treat the dozen or so plants that showed the nematodes. While none of them got worse and some slightly better, it dawned on me that this was likely not enough.

This year I started out early in the spring, as soon as the eyes were up a few inches. I mixed the stuff in a 4 litter (half gallon?? I hate metric) plastic milk jug - 2 at a time. I DRENCHED the soil all around the emerging plants. I was good about doing the treatment every 2 or 3 weeks for quite a while. I think I did it at the beginning of July and should have done another treatment part way through the month but ran out of the soap. I got some soap the other day and treated them again yesterday.

I've been checking daily for any sign of nematodes. What I found was nematodes on a wild Solomon's Seal that is showing right now. There is also evidence on a couple other hostas that I did not treat this year because I either forgot they had it or didn't notice it last year. I have an Albo Marg. directly below the infected Solomon's Seal. It is one I've treated and it is showing no signs so far. I doubt I even looked at the Solomon's Seal and realized that was probably where it came from originally since the Hosta had been in place for years.

So far, and it is a bit early, none of last years infected plants are showing ANY signs. The fact that it is showing up in other, untreated plants makes me hope that I'm making progress. I had a hard time finding a picture of an infected plant from last year to see the date it was visible but the Grand Tiara definitely showed it on Aug 8.

As of today the rest are all still clear. I guess I'll know in the next few weeks.

Solomon's Seal

he next two Albo Marg. are not the one I was talking about above. They are two different, untreated this year, plants.

This is good news, I think, McT!! Good documenting!

I do want to follow your progress---I hope you will keep us posted!!

Very interesting pix!!!:o)

Well........here are two hosta that definitely had FN's last year. I planted them in pots, sprayed the bajeebies out of them with insecticidal soap, and left them in full sun. They stayed in the same place all through the winter and this is what they look like today.

Plant #1, I THINK it is Worldly Treasure (?)

Plant #2, or maybe this is Worldly Treasure, don't remember (sorry)

Plant #1 looks great, #2 a little burned, but they are in full sun until 2:00 daily in zone 7.

Tanya

Full sun in zone 7?? WOW, I am way too afraid to let mine see that kind of sun. Maybe I should get over it, but I am so afraid of burn.

The important thing is that you have conquered the Nems!

christine