could the hostas finally be choking out feeder roots of the peach?

Yeah, if that peach is planted in the pot with the hostas, that could be your problem. They look like H. Albomarginata and that's one of the most aggressively growing hostas.

Well, it bit the dust in short order. I dug it up and found the roots and lower trunk almost entirely consumed by what looks like grubs. I find this shocking. I have never seen grubs attack a woody plant like this. The hostas did not seem bothered by the grubs at all. Thoughts?

Cheers,

Werner

This is what it looked like in previous years. The other peach which is unaffected is grafted onto a different trunk. I wonder if the base stock on the grafted peach was less susceptible to the pests than the seedling. The hostas generally get divided every two years and amended soil added.

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