I hope they bring you much joy. That must have been a devastating loss.

So glad you took the plunge! Please tell me that your phenomenal 'So Sweet' was saved.

good luck

It is hard not to fall in love all over again when you see those hand painted leaves. Good for you!!! There is a good reason those are considered "tried and true" in my book. If these die, you will know it happened because of something you cannot control, rather than having delicate genes.

-Babka

Mazel tov on your new babies! May you enjoy them for many years.

That is good to hear! Get back into the garden gloves, dig in and garden on!

... and I will join you, too! ( I had a big wipe out last year... So I feel your pain and understand the trepidation)

Will you be doing anything differently for the potted hostas?

Wishing you great days and hosta happiness.

Well, I finally figured out what happened to them. I'm in Texas, with the climate as my reason for growing them in pots. Hosta in pots come up earlier than those in the ground, so I always have to protect them in the early spring. The disease was rhizoctonia root rot, which is a fungus, and generally a greenhouse disease. As I stated before, there is no good control once it's there. You just have to throw them out.

That year, we had a very warm January, so the hosta started pipping early. Then, we had our typical February, which vacillates between warm and windy and snow. We had some sub-freezing temperatures, so I put the hosta that were pipping in my small garage. The sub-freezing temperatures and rain continued for about 10 days. Apparently one of the plants had the disease. It makes sense that the stay in the garage allowed that fungus to spread to all the plants that were there.

I sent a sample for diagnosis to the Extension service at Texas A&M (after trying the bleach treatment, repotting, etc). They gave me a diagnosis and some chemical treatments to use. They also said not to keep them so close together.

When the treatments didn't work, I called my local extension office. Our head guy said that the treatments wouldn't work and throw out the diseased ones. He also said that some hosta might not be susceptible. I didn't throw them out. I really can't say why. I guess I just kept hoping and trying to save them. I think I lost about 80 hosta. About 10 survived.

What would I do differently? One, I'd let them freeze next time before I'd leave 30 wet hosta in my garage for 10 days (they would be damaged, but not dead). Two, I would throw out the diseased ones when treatments don't work. I might start doing what Babka does and use a fungicide in the fall, although a fungicide wouldn't have helped that situation.

Other than that, I wouldn't do anything differently. My hosta were beautiful and I was happy with them.

bkay

Hi bkay,

Thank you for sharing, It is clear that you cared and I can relate to the hoping and trying to save the "lost ones". I read your post with a big sympathetic sigh because you lost so many after such protective care of 80 hostas in pots... I learned a lot from your reply post of what to do different.

Thank you.

May 2019 be the start of renewed beginnings!