I'm no expert here, but if I saw that one in a nursery, I would not buy it, it seems like there are some issues with the tissue, I don't know if it's collapsed or raised. I examined a picture of mine and enlarged the leaves. It's not in the greatest shape since my DH stepped on it when it was emerging. However, the corrugation on mine is more even between the veins. My guess is that yours is sick.

BKay, I was commenting on Blue Angel. I've never seen a live Radiant Edger.

My Blue Angel burns on the edges here in Wisconsin, so I would think unless you kept it in full shade it would really burn up in Texas.
Jen

It's been in full shade since I got it, right next to a blue that I've had for years. The old one doesn't burn in that location and they're about the same color.

I agree, I would not have bought a plant with these symptoms. I got both of these by mail order and they looked fine for several weeks after I received them.

bkay

It looks like salt or fertilizer damage, or just overwatering damage, which can happen when potted plants don't drain well and stay too wet for too long. If your potting soil stays wet all the time then that's the problem. Hostas need good drainage and good aeration with coarse soil. Then water them really really good, letting them drain out and then dry slightly between each watering, sort of like orchids. Radiant Edger also looks like the pot is just a bit too big for the plant - they prefer to be underpotted a little which also gives them better aeration.

Hope that helps a little.

Chris

BKay,

I stressed all night about the way I posted my first comment. I hoped my wording wasn't offensive. I meant I wouldn't have bought it because it looked like there were some tissue problems running on that Blue Angel that would make me suspect that there might be a virus problem. There's also some issues with the color on that second leaf that doesn't look like it's caused by a lack of nutrition. (Sorry, don't know all the technical terms yet.)

I downloaded your Radiant Edger and zoomed in on some of the leaves, it's hard to tell, but there might be some tissue problems on that one too. Can you take another picture of RE with a closeup of that big leaf on the top left.

I wish some of the experts would chime in here. I'm very interested in knowing for sure. I zoom in on all my hosta leaves to check for HVX when I remove the from the SD card and put them in my library.

Gesila

second pic ...

wet in sunshine.. each little magnifying glass droplet.. burned bizarrely round tissue spots under previous droplets .. which are then taken advantage of by other things ...

no water on the leaves in sunshine.. PERIOD .... and that is here in MI... i can not fathom what TX sun does to them ...

edge burning ... so what .. its late august.. what do you want.. half the plants in my yard look worse than that ... and yours have been out of the ground at least 2 extra months.. they are tired.. and spent .... even those damaged leaves are storing energy for next year ....

bottom line.. besides water on leaf... hosta prime season is late spring and early summer.. somewhat into july .. IN A GOOD YEAR ...

now that its august.. and nearly sept... its really is time to focus on something else ... especially as close to the equator as you are ...

in my yard its time for autumn clematis.. asters.. mums ... and the trees to start changing color.. not really time to be staring at my feet and stressing about hosta ... keep them properly watered.. and start dreaming about next year ...

one other thing comes to mind ... what really peaks in july/aug is hot nights.. in their prime season.. its warm days and cool nights ... a cool time to recover from the rigors of a warm/hot day ...

when nights are staying warm .. its like the leaves ... just cant recover by morning.. what they lost the previous day ... so its just a downhill slide ... and i have no clue how to tell someone in TX to fix hot nights ....

i would tell you to get rid of something that does not please you ... but with BA.. and its 7 to 10 year maturity.. i would hesitate at this time to do such.. unless you are severely space limited...

hail damage also???? those edges could have been damaged way back when .... if not hail.. what made all those deep slices????

ken

Thanks, Ken..these are spring photos......it's not in the sunshine...at it's brightest, you could call it dappled shade...it's right between two pecan trees....no direct light after 8:00 AM...it came up with burned edges...half of the subsequent leaves came up burned...it had burned edges before the hail storm.

Gesila, I'm not at all offended. You have to mean to offend me for me to get it. I knew what you meant. That's last year's photo of Radiant Edger, so that leaf is gone. I abused it further by planting it too high in the pot, so it looks even worse this year. Between the squirrels digging it up weekly and my bad gardening, the RE has had a hard life.

Thanks, Chris. I'll buy some vermiculite or perlite. 1/2 pine bark and 1/2 potting soil must not have done the job. This one must be more sensitive to it than others. (I drowned some Impatients in that mix this summer despite the heat.) The BA has grown well. It's 8 or 10 eyes, but it's never been pretty. Maybe this will help. I will downpot the RE. Thanks again.

Thanks everyone.

bkay

bkay

Bkay,

Try the 5-1-1 formula from the container forum. 5 parts pine bark fines, 1 part perlite, 1 part peat. It drains very freely. You'll need to water every other day at least.

Steve

I know we are in different climates, but I water my well rooted, potted hostas only a couple times a week, and the rest of the time they are fairly dry and seem to hold up better to the elements by giving them this tough love.

Don't add vermiculite. That holds moisture, which you shouldn't need. Coarse perlite does the same job as pine bark - both help add air space which hosta roots love.

If the "potting soil" you used had any soil in it that would also decrease the aeration and increase the amount of moisture and salts that get held in. Like Steve suggests, you want a mix that does drain very freely.

Glad to know that it's not sick. I've indexed this one in my "problems with growing hostas in pots" file.

Let us know what happens in the spring!

Gesila

You told me this once and I couldn't find anything called pine bark fines. I looked at the photos, read the posts about it and decided to buy the finer pine bark mulch. Being lazy, I mixed it 1/2 and 1/2 with potting soil and thought it would work. It apparently didn't work for Blue Angel. Actually, in trials in East Texas, Blue Angel was rated #1 of 37 plants on trial that included lots of Plantaginea offspring. That area of Texas has nice sandy, acid soils, which would drain well.

I'll make another effort to find the right stuff. This is what I found, which is not composted. If I can't find the right stuff, will this work?

Thanks so much for your interest.

{{gwi:1084639}}

That should work just fine. How often do you repot your Hosta?

Steve

I've worked on all within the pots within the last 2 years. I generally just used Miracle Grow potting soil. I bought some Miracle Grow Moisture control potting soil and used it to "back fill" my pots and to pot up the new ones I bought in '10. It turned out to be the sponge that wouldn't dry. I lost several plants over the winter to rot, so tried to get most of it out of pots this spring. I also up-potted a couple.

I try to knock them out and put soil in the bottom and around the sides pretty often (most years) to raise them in the pots. I ususally don't pull them out and totally repot them (hose off the roots) unless there is a specific problem.

bkay