Slugs eat holes in the stems that weaken them. Then wind or animals break them. My garden is on Lake Champlain with a lot of wind. Happens all the time!

Not all plants have this trouble. High large hostas with long stems are not enough strong for the wind with rain. I also see broken stems (Irish Luck, Ruffed Up....)

I guess it could be wind, rain ,slugs. Although hostas are protected from wind for the most part downbursts from storms may be the cause. However in the past few days I noticed some more large hostas that are drooping with a few broken stems (Blue Angel all 3, Empress Wu, and 1 0f 20+ Krossa Regal).

I wonder whether it could be normal late season shut down although other large hostas (Blue Hawaii, Komodo Dragon) don't exhibit this phenomenon nor do any other hostas.

I do have some slug damage but have never tried to control it. I use my cure all for damaged hostas (slugs, cutworms etc) - stand back and squint.

Do you have squirrels, raccoons, skunks? Blame the varmints.

Yes I have all three varmints but they are not the cause. I think it's probably weather related. Hostas, due to an abundance of rain, were larger than past years and the stems were unable to support the leaves.

I didn't have an abundance of rain this year and yet I still have broken hosta stems. I never considered it was only windy around my bird feeders!

My Atlantis has had several broken stems in the last two weeks or so. It seemed to me to be particularly windy this season. As Atlantis is more upright with long stems, I suppose some broken stems late in the season is to be expected.

Here is a photo taken yesterday:

From your photos (especially picture #3), I think I am seeing some white blotches on your stems. I am wondering whether that is powdery mildew? Do you have mildew on some of your leaves? Powdery mildew can be found on all parts of a plant---leaves, stems, flowers, fruit etc. This would certainly weaken your plant and stems and make them prone to breaking more easily.

Very pretty Ruffed Up, Maria!

Some of the stems do have powdery mildew (none on leaves) but that doesn't seem to be the cause as many of the broken stems aren't mildewed.

What's interesting is that last year only Regal Splendor exhibited broken stems, so I replanted in a fabricated Tex R (spinout) bag. This year RS doesn't have broken stems but is a bit shorter in stature probably due to being transplanted. Over the past few days several more hostas have broken stems (no wind or rain) but I assume this is due to late season shut down.

John Z4

Yes Regal Splendor was replanted with new soil.

I pushed several mildewed hosta stem leaves to the ground and only two stems broke. All hostas are in a protected location and wind/rain couldn't have pushed the leaves/stems to the ground as I did.

john z4

It is Pillbugs and slugs

they need moisture to survive. Investigated this for weeks. They only feed at night so it was hard to catch them in the act. They eat part way throught the stem weakening it to the point that it falls over.