the eggs winter over ... freeze irrelevant ... kill them now ...

are you sure its a freeze .. rather than a frost tonight ... do you think the first few inches of soil will literally freeze ???? ... keep at it ... dont make up excuses to stop ...

besides.. you most likely need the exercise ...

ken

I had exactly the same question. Thanks, djacobz & Ken! That's a 10% vinegar/water drench, right? Do we pour on the drench until the solution is about 1/4" deep, or what? How much drench per pot?

Ester—I Don’t know about what amount for pots, but I poured enough to cover all around the base of the of the petioles, all around the crown and then some.

Ken………why are you beating me up? I have an old decrepit body! Don’t you know that? .......loI, lol, lol! I worked yesterday in the rain (ug) cleaning up. Then pulled my arthritic body out of bed today with the intention of drenching today.......but I realized I had used up the vinegar #*~€! I could have gone to the store but worked on other cleaning up. Have tickets for Opera tomorrow so no drenching.

It most likely will not be a hard freeze maybe only close. I was hoping to get off the hook.....oh well. Those damn slugs are still causing me a headache! Winter is looking better and better! :-)

I cannot fathom drenching every hosta. I would be dead before I got through the first round.

I've got 40 hostas and heuchies, all in their new fabric pots except one ceramic pot with my minis. I don't think I'll have time to transplant them to fabric pots before the 23rd, due to the holiday Succos starting tomorrow night. If I have time to drench tomorrow, I'll do that. I hope I have enough vinegar. Djacobz, did you pour the drench ON the hostas or AROUND the hostas? And what about mine being in pots?

KEN: do you concur with what djacobz said? That I should pour enough vinegar solution into my hosta pots to drench around the petioles' base? I figure I should just pour enough drench into the pots to thoroughly wet the entire surface of the pots' soil. PLEASE tell me, as I haven't much time left here until I move, and I don't want to bring buggers from here to my Baltimore balcony. Thanks.

Ken==>> I KNEW you were only kidding, so I was just having fun teasing you :-)

ademink——you have waaaay more hostas than me. I hope you have less slug infestation than me!

Ester, it was Ken who used the word “drench” when posting back and forth with me. I got the impression that I couldn’t harm the plant with the solution. If yours are in bags, just pouring the vinegar solution over each shouldn’t cause any harm, but I will defer to Ken if he recommends something different in your situation. :-). Good luck with your move!!

i'm just going to feed the birds and say who cares lol

i have no clue how the bags change the whole system ....

vinegar can raise pH .... in mother earth.. i would presume it would have little or no impact ... but i dont know if the bags change that dynamic ...

arent you going to pot them come next spring.. and get rid of the whole bag thing ... if so ... then you would bare root them ... and get rid of all the old media ... and any slugs and bugs along with it ...

and therefore.. i would just not do it now ...

ken

ester .... two rules i live by ... in the garden

one ... dont love them to death ...

"b" ... dont screw up an otherwise good plan ... by over thinking it.. and then changing it ... in relation to rule one ...

ken

KEN: The hostas ARE potted, in fabric pots. They are cylindrical, with a flat bottom. They are not drawn up with a string or anything. They are the same as ceramic pots, only they're made of fabric. I have no idea of how long it will take me to find my teeny house in Baltimore, so my hostas and heuchies will have to be in their fabric pots on my apartment balcony until I manage to find that teeny house. Might be a year, might be 2 years.

Meanwhile, with the spring thaw, any slug eggs or other nasties that traveled south along with the hostas will then hatch out and start to damage my precious planties. I was just thinking that doing the drench now with vinegar (or ammonia--just found a full bottle of Parson's ammonia under the sink today) would act as a prophylactic. I doubt if the plants would get themselves a dose of new slugs up on a balcony, away from pest-filled natural soil on the ground.