in photobucket.. copy/paste the HTML CODE [second box down] .. and when you hit the preview button.. if you see the pix.. we will see the pix ...

give it a try right now..

then .... go dig a hole in between 2 hosta.. and tell me what you find in the soil .... roots?????

i suspect the redwood is no better than a maple.. and sucking the life out of your hosta..

if so .. some peeps have some success with root bags ... and then can chime in here and tell you all about them ...

good luck

ken

ps: dont forget to tell us what you find when you dig the hole.. as i suspect a vast majority of us have never gardened under a redwood

I'm in the second year of an experiment with my hostas that are planted under an ash tree. Knowing they'd have to fight the ash for competition, I planted my medium and small hostas in buried 5 gal pails and some other large pots. I had to cut down alot of the pails because I couldn't bury them deep enough because of tree roots.
It seems to be successful so far because the eye count of the hostas has increased since the first summer (2008).
Most pails had small holes drilled in them for drainage.
Good luck on your project.
It's best to divide hostas and most perennials in the spring.
Peggy

I've never used the bags, but others have good success with them.

I do have some hostas planted in buckets which are doing fine. Make sure the buckets have a few small holes in the bottom for drainage. You can put a piece of landscape fabric around the bucket to prevent the tree roots from growing through the holes.

A seemless liner such as a poly tarp or a rubber liner for water gardens works great if you're planting hostas in an area with a lot of tree roots. Dig out the area for the flower bed, lay the liner down and fill it with good topsoil.

Perhaps the easiest technique at this point is to cut off any tree roots around each hosta with a sharp square-bottom spade such as the one shown below. Use a file to make the cutting edge razor sharp. Then wait until you have a long soaking rain which makes the ground really soft. Go out there and stomp the spade down all the way around each plant, shearing the tree roots as you go. Do it each spring and once or twice during the summer.

Finally, when you water (and fertilize) the hostas, broadcast over the entire area. Don't just spot irrigate each plant, which would encourage the tree roots to head straight to that area.

Square-bottom garden spade
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Hi debsmess! I have tons of hosta under a dawn redwood and don't seem to have any problems except for falling debris. . twigs and such. Here is a pic of Winter Snow that I Planted late fall of 08. The top one was one eye and the bottom was two eyes. This pic was taken a couple minutes ago. I thought it gave me fairly good growth under the redwood.