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Do I have a Hosta Sport?

6 years ago

I am fairly new to Hostas and have started to collect a number of plants. I think I might have a Sport. I split a "Stained Glass" Hosta last year and planted it in a new section of the yard. As it came up this spring, I noticed that half the plant was very different. I have read about "Sports" and think I might have one...

Original Plant "Stained Glass"

What I think is the "Sport"

Sport in between 2 other "Stained Glass"


I am calling my Sport "Broken Glass". It isn't as pretty as the original, but it outgrew the original plant in the first year...

Comments (10)

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Oy, it does not look good. Please check for HVX virus.

  • 6 years ago

    Wow, had never heard of this. I just looked it up. So should I just dig up the parts with the problem, or should I destroy the entire plant?

  • 6 years ago

    I’m so sorry, but I think it looks like a heavily virused plant. You can get test strips to know if it’s HVX for sure But I wouldn’t bother with that at this point. If it were my plant, I would dig up both the transplanted and original plant. Dispose of in garbage...do not compost. Disinfect tools, wash hands. Don’t replant a Hosta in those spots for a number of years.

    There‘s information on HVX ...see Hosta Library home page. Link is in second column at the top. Don’t let this discourage you from collecting hostas. Find a trusted seller and buy from them...you’ll get healthy plants.

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    What mae said. So sorry.

    The virus is quite intectious. Disinfect tools with 10% bleach/water. Scrub them. Consider the soil infected for 3 years. HVX attacks hostas, but not other plants, so you can put something else in that spot.

    Where did you purchase this plant?

    Don't use that source again. Big box stores and even some local garden centers and nurseries don't care or even know about the virus.

  • 6 years ago

    if you dig it up.. sterilize your shovel also

  • 6 years ago

    If you can avoid touching it until fall, the last study I read said HVX transmits best in spring and not so much in fall. In any case, scrub and bleach any tool that touches it.

  • 6 years ago

    So I dug it it up and burned it. I cleaned the shovel with Clorox (a wasted in these COVID days) and I ordered some test strips. I now am wondering if another plant has the virus. The plant has always seemed healthy to me and I have had it for at least 6 years. It has ALWAYS looked like this, but from what I have read, there are some entire varieties that have this issue.





    Also, the original "Stained Glass" that I got the diseased one from is the most beautiful Hosta I have ever grown, so not cutting it down. It is about 4 years old and is already about 4 feet wide and looks beautiful in the sun. I will test it and hope I am wrong that the diseased one came from this.



  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Best of luck with your hosta babies. I've seen hostas badly infected grow happily for years in ideal conditions, passing on the virus to others nearby via tools, or squirrels, or chipmunks, who knows. It surprised me they didn't die. These hostas in particular were not on my property, but nestled in a corner of a library on a college campus. I told the head grounds keeper about the virus, and gave him a print-out about it (back in the days when info was passed on in paper form).

    He did nothing, and I watched those plants for years. They thrived, but they definitely had the virus and it was spreading among the whole cluster of hostas in that corner. One day I found the whole set of plants gone, dug up, and replaced with grass. Maybe the grounds keeper detected the spreading virus finally, and found some hostas somewhere else suffering as a result. How sad, in so many ways.

    The virus doesn't strike particular varieties more than others. It's my understanding that people thought this back when they were first encountering the disease.

  • 6 years ago

    I wish you luck with your efforts——- it is a lovely hosta. But is it lovely enough to risk your entire collection for?

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