your overwintering shelters are working!..your pips are tall!..unbelievable to see snails even BEFORE the leaves unfurl..

We get snails all year around. Big ones. Always have that snail "food" handy.

-Babka

Going to the pharmacy tomorrow to get some slug pellets :-(

Your coffin seemed to have worked well. I need something like this for next winter for the small ones...

Nicholsworth55, I never really looked for snails or slugs before my hostas emerged. The snails were found in an area of my garden that receives more sun and is more wet during the growing season due to a watering hose nearby. I plan to go to a different part of my garden today where I have found many one inch snails to see if I can uncover some.

Snails all year round, Babka? Oh no! I guess the longer the growing season, the longer those pests are around. I have to wonder how effective slug/snail pellets are when the slugs or snails are larger sized. Or do larger sized snails just eat more of the pellet, and die like the smaller ones?

Yes, do purchase those pellets Karin! The "coffin" seems to have worked for overwintering. But since it is just part of an old shelving unit, we will be throwing it out in a few weeks. Whatever will I do with my pots next year? Oh well, I have all summer to think about it!

I also start to see slugs almost as soon as the frost is off the surface. Went out today for a look see. Didn't find any slugs but the rabbits have already started nipping the pips. I hate that, the first leaves will be half there and ratty. I'm always a little late to apply some granule deer & rabbit repellent.

newhostalady..I'm sure if I took a good look around I could find snails and slugs too :-(

I feel for you old_dirt. We look forward to those first signs of spring and those darned rabbits and/or deer eat off the new growth! It's so disappointing. On the positive side, your hosta looks large, so hopefully there will be many undamaged pips to come.

There will always be slugs and snails around nicholsworth55. We all have to decide whether it is worth it or not to do something about it. I have one corner of my garden that is generally dry due to tree roots, the tree canopy and a fence. Last year was a very wet spring for us. So that area that had never been much of a problem in regards to slugs and snails, was particularly bad. I had never seen it like that in years. There were a lot of markings on my hosta plants. One other difference to that location was my husband added a wood pile on one side. He did elevate it, but I think that is bad news as it attracts slugs and snails. I play this scene out in my head: "Hey, honey. Do you think you could move that wood pile to another location? My hostas don't like it there!"

Things are coming along for you Nicholsworth55! Very nice! Your 30 degree difference is scary. What is going on with the weather!

My four hostas have gained a little color but I think they are sorry they woke up so early!

newhostalady..just when I think I'm out of the woods and winter is over it comes back!..it's tiring but moving your hostas out during the day and back in at night is worth it to keep them looking good..

We will get into the 50's and upper 60's this week--it will feel good after the past weekend when we had snowflakes and temperatures in the low 30's.

I know what you mean about the winter coming back, Nicholsworth55. For us right now, today is only 34 degrees F. and the night will be about 30 degrees F. After that, we will slowly get warmer, but guess what we get then----rain for days and days!

Seems like decent temperatures are coming for you this week Miles. Definitely an improvement from your 30's!

cloudy and cold (35)..bits of snow here and there..it won't last long..will be in the 70's on Thurs and Fri..came back to say I just noticed June and Blue Hawaii have pips :-)

In the 70's for Thursday and Friday? That's wonderful. Hooray for June and blue Hawaii wakening up.

We will be a few degrees above freezing. On Thursday we are supposed to be about 60 degrees. I do not believe It! I have a feeling the weather man is fooling with us!

I can't wait..it's time to work outside for hours..

Well, they just changed my forecast for Thursday. Instead of a prediction of 60 degrees, now it's down to 50 degrees. And by the time tomorrow rolls in..........

Nicholsworth55, I'm ready to do some work outside too!

newhostalady..oh no..you're going backwards..I'll be going backwards too when Friday's over :-(

In his defense, he said he only went out to have a quote unquote-to have a poop

Really, why do we trust guys who have to "go outside to poop?" Or even the guys who stay inside and "dance around tv studios talking about this front and that front or this storm and that blob on the radar" What do they know anyway?

"Sex: Probably." LOLOLOLOL!

We are experiencing below seasonal temperatures and even had a bad storm this weekend. There were a great number of people without power and many collisions. We have a couple inches of snow on the ground. But my hosta pots didn't get the message---that it wasn't really time to wake up. Here is a view of some pots in our window well:

In the above photo you can see a board across the top. That is to catch water that drips down from the wooden walkway and have it drain away from the window well. You can see that the pots are stacked two rows deep. But actually they were stacked three rows deep. (Two rows wasn't enough! And I would still be buying more and keep stacking them if I could! LOL!)

So I am slowing moving the pots out of there. Today's weather will be about 38F in the daytime with a low of 32F. I have moved a few into our homemade greenhouse. It will still be cool for days yet, but after today I think the lows at night will be above freezing (barely!).

How many potted hostas do you have NHL?

Maybe 50? I don't really know.

Wow, that’s quite a few. Well, I’m going to have more this year. I’ve ordered several with the express purpose of growing them in pots - Great Expectations, Blue Jay, Ripple Effect, Old Glory, Abiqua Blue Crinkles. And I think I’ll keep Rainbow’s End in a pot, at least for a while, so we can enjoy it’s unusual coloring and texture up close.

newhostalady..I bought quite a few pots last year..assorted sizes..just bargains I couldn't resist..so on a cold nasty night this winter I made a list for fun..thought maybe I could figure out what to plant in what size, color etc..I might have guessed that I had 35? 40?..I had 61..lol..DON'T tell my husband..

Sounds good windymess. You've picked a nice bunch of hosta to grow in pots. I am sure they will do well for you.

Nicholsworth55, I love a bargain too! (Bargains can be dangerous!) Don't worry. I won't be telling your husband if you don't tell mine! I'm revising my pot count to be more like 75+. My husband wants to know when I will stop buying hostas. Ha! Never! Shhhh......don't tell!

newhostalady..more than 50?..I knew it!..haha..don't worry..your secrets are safe with me..

My hosta pots may be waking up, but this is what my tulips and fritillaria bulb look like right now! We'll still be unseasonably cold for another few days.

And the fritillaria was coming along so well. Sigh . . .

newhostalady..I'm sorry to see your spring bulbs covered with snow..it was a beautiful day but we're expecting snow tonight :-(

Hopefully you won't get too much snow and it will melt away quickly!

Wow, 50 potted Hostas. I have maybe 25 plants living in the basement and can barely take care of those. There are a few hostas sitting outside in pots (the driveway is getting replaced and they were too close to it), but they're just starting to pip.

Our weather has been awful, diving into the lower 20s at night. Today it got up to 38 and we had snow flurries all day. Only a few hostas are putting out pips. Sea Lightning, as usual is furthest along. It spent Saturday through Monday under a black pot.

Hope spring arrives for all of us - and death to slugs!

Pots are a lot of work, and it is not always a success story. There are others with many more pots and I wonder how they do it! Many of my pots have begun to pip even though the weather is so cold. Most of the ones in the ground (except for undulata marginata) have not emerged.

Your weather sounds awful MadPlanter. We're still cold too with today being in the mid to upper 30's and the nights around 30. I have been holding off taking the pots out of the storage well and other storage areas. After they come out, the next problem is critters. They start digging into the pots. With this spring being so cold and late, that probably means more digging. I generally try to keep them covered at night, and I think that helps. But I can only do that for so long. If they keep digging the same pot, I will put some pebbles on the media or find some mesh to cover them with.

Wouldn't that be great if the slugs were reduced due to the awful weather? (Wishful thinking)

The squirrels have already been at the temporarily potted hostas. I put a double layer of tightly packed pinecones in the decorative ( as opposed to nursery) planters. That cuts way down on the digging and looks nice, too.

Yes, I hope the cold not only kills the slugs, but the Japanese beetles and hickory borers. But you're right, it's probably wishful thinking.

The squirrels have already been at the temporarily potted hostas. I put a double layer of tightly packed pinecones in the decorative ( as opposed to nursery) planters. That cuts way down on the digging and looks nice, too.

Yes, I hope the cold not only kills the slugs, but the Japanese beetles and hickory borers. But you're right, it's probably wishful thinking.

I like that idea of using tightly packed pine cones in the planters to deter the squirrels. That made me think of a garden I visited once that had a whole walkway full of pine cones. I thought I had a picture of the walkway, but I only have a section of it. Can you see that it is all pine cones? And it looked wonderful.

Temperature Tuesday 11ºC.

Yesterday 24ºC

Massive jolt to the Hostas , some grew 3 inches almost in a day.

No idea what it reached in the greenhouse.

I opened everything I could and went fishing.

Today and tomorrow is going to be much the same.

By Sunday we reset to default 12ºC and rain.

Does nothing for me !

Hate to think how the plants react.

They're Hostas though and always tougher than we think !

Dave

It is full blown mid spring here and we had another frost warning last night. Please stop! My hostas are too big to cover any more!

Looks beautiful zKathy. We have had lots of cold weather, rain and snow. The temperatures are rising but we often have frost in May.

Dave, that's a big change in temperatures. It's amazing that the hostas could grow so much in one day! We will have frost again tonight and then the weather here just might get better little by little.

Beautiful Kathy!

zkathy - WOW! That is stunning!