Maybe you have 10 gallon hosta in 3 gallon spin-out lined pots?

By the time I transplanted to pots, they had already lagged in growth. Also, the root system easily fit into the pots with room to grow.

i vote maple roots ... and lack of water ... due to such ...

all you can do .... is dig them up ... and grow them in the pots.. above ground.. and really motivate them this year ...

ken

The maples are small but provide mottled shade. It's a lot of work to dig up again. I thought it would be hard for roots to grow into pots because of the weed block. I'm almost leaning to the water angle, although when it is dry out, I do water them. Frustrating, not really too enthusiastic about replanting again but perhaps I'll dig a couple of the pots back out and see if I can get them to grow more foliage above ground.

Dig up at least one to check for roots from the maples and to check the hosta roots. If that looks fine, then its a water/nutrient issue.

tj

I will dig up one and see how everything looks. They are on the south side of house in 3 tiers and the rain comes from the south and west all summer so figured they should get enough water. Perhaps the maples present a barrier to them getting as much rain as they could in a more open situation.

Hi Jbear,

We don't have many maples, so this is just a comment based on what others have said in the past, not personal experience.

The idea is that the maples are soaking up all the water and nutrients with their thick, fibrous roots. They are very aggressive, a real bully, as I understand it.

You can't water just the hosta, because the maples will send roots over to get the water. You have to water the whole area, or the maples will go where the water and nutrients are.

Growing hosta with maples is a real challenge, as I understand it.

Take some photos of the area, maybe we will see something you don't.

bk

I dug up one of the hosta's with very little foliage left. The plastic pot (which we all get when buying from garden centers) is 10" across, 9" deep. It was filled with really dense, brown roots, one thicker one which really looked like tree root. The roots of the hosta below ground level looked cream-colored. But in looking at pics of hosta roots, they look like they could be brown or cream colored. It almost looked like all roots and no soil. I planted it with good soil mixture in pot and am going to see how it grows now away from that location. Time will tell.

Two of 14 Minuteman hosta in a circle under oaks and pine trees. The closest is 5 1/2 feet from the oak and the next is 7 feet away. I don't know exactly, but the oaks are well over 100 years old. No spin out bags, pots, I just dug, cut out any roots in the way, amended with compost and manure and these are 2 years old and 2 feet across and virtually identical to each of the other near pines (huge and maybe just as old) and another oak, closer to the pines, further from the second oak.

My advice set those puppies free. Get rid of the pots the spin out material, splay out those roots in big new holes with amended soil and watch them grow.

Jon

Many of my hosta's do not look that vibrant. I understand your advice but these plants were originally in the ground, which had really dense roots (hard to even get a shovel to dig in). I dug all that out, amended the soil and planted my hosta. I did this again a few years later when the roots took over again. The third time, I said, enough. That's when I got the containers, the weed block and good soil to try to keep the roots from taking over again. When I pulled out one of the pots this weekend, the roots had made their way into the containers. The oak (200 years old) died last year was about 15-18 ft away. The line of maples along property line are only 7-10 ft away. They are not huge maples but about 15-19" in diameter. Pretty frustrating on a plant that is usually so easy to grow.

Three ideas here.

One - post this is a new thread all it's own and you may get better answers than from me.

Two - maybe they were mislabeled and are not really the same. The little one may be a mini.

Three - sometimes, I think you just get a dud.

bk

bkay, it looks like your answer Two. The lower hosta has broad leaves, the other not, but both are doing fine.

I Have the same problem. I planted 6 hostas, this will be the third summer and 2 of my 6 are small, limp looking this year.

Darlene - Are the smaller ones planted deeper than the others? That makes a big difference in how well they grow.

Kay