Bkay, I don’t fertilize, but, I don’t see the problem..... RS looks good, as far as I can tell; FF looks like it has some vein bleed or discoloration on some of the leaves as well as some leaf burn, but the burn could be from frost or sun scorch. The BD doesn’t look like BD, but when we split plants, I know they don’t always look quite themselves for a year or two.

That said, I really have no idea what’s going on.......lol

I know other people will chime in......wait for their opinions!! :-)

debra

Chlorotic perhaps? Do you have any of those little ph test strip papers? The ones that turn pink or blue. I wonder if your soil isn't acidic enough to pick up the iron.

When you say Miracle Grow, are you using the green or the blue? The Green is for acid loving plants, the Blue is for everything else. And I like the advice of Gardengal who wrote "weekly, weakly" for fertilizing pots.

-Babka

sometimes they just grow so fast.. that they seem to outrun the ability to color just as fast ..

is it all the newest leaves ????

are you sure you need do anything ???

last pic.. whats the leaf damage on the tips ...

ken

ps: i have so many kitchen questions i wish i could ask you ...

Bkay- Being a chef, surely you have a few lemons around, so you could give them a glass of weak lemonade to acidify things! (haha)

-Babka

I gave the Fluted Fountain some Ironite a couple of weeks ago, which should have helped it if it was iron chlorosis. However, a little lemonade probably wouldn't hurt.

Debra, I didn't include a photo of the Big Daddy. It was gorgeous for a year or two. But, since then it just gotten smaller and smaller. I guess it's on it's last legs. My Guacamole, Blue Cadet and my Squash Casserole all have that leaf burn. It's not usual for them. I don't remember any late freezes. Maye I just didn't water often enough this spring.

On the bright side, the Honeybells that I thought was a goner has perked up and is growing well.

It's kind of late to be repotting (it's already 90 degrees here), but I'm considering it for the three that have that "ink bleed" look.

Opinion?

bkay

mary chastainn used to use epsom salt to make her lakeside coal miner darker green ...

i have no other comment or info on that ... except to say.. that would be Mg .. magnesium ... to most of us ...

no clue where i saw.. read or heard that ...

ken

no idea about this source: https://balconygardenweb.com/epsom-salt-for-hostas/

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffsb&q=magnesium+for+hosta&ia=web

For what it's worth, here are my thoughts and questions:

Are you saying you are using 4 year old potting media, with probably no added fertilizer? Or is it just a 4 year old potting recipe?

If, by chance, you did add fertilizer to the 4 year old media, wouldn't it have broken down some---maybe too much fertilizer in the mix?

In regards to fertilizer, does your fertilizer have micro nutrients? Does it include magnesium and calcium?

I find when you are aware of a decline in the health of a hosta, it usually doesn't get better unless you do something.

So if it were me, I would repot at least some of the hosta. I would apply liquid fertilizer in small consistent applications weekly until it's time to stop fertilizing. Liquid fertilizer will be absorbed more quickly than slow release and you will have more control over how much fertilizer the plant is getting.

Or just try the epsom salt and see what happens?

Are you concerned the inkbleed is HVX or repotting for comparison? Just curious.

debra

No, Debra, I'm not concerned about HVX. It came from a reliable source.

I've seen this before, but not on my own hosta. It's always been on hosta at the store. It's a nutrition problem. My concern was why they aren't improving with fertilizer.

NHL, it was potting mix that I made up 4 years ago. I made a 30 gallon batch about the time I found the root rot. I even bought expanded shale for it. (The recipe calls for some additive to increase alkalinity, which I don't need in my area of Texas. I also decided to wait until I potted something up before I fertilized.) I quit buying hosta until last year, hoping I was finished with the rot. That covered trash can has been sitting there since then. I would guess four years, it might be more or less.

I will try the epsom salts. There's some up in the cabinet.

Babka, I also found some miracle grow fertilizer for Azaleas that will acidify the soil. I'll try that instead of lemonade.

Thanks

bkay

Sometimes root unable to pick it up. How about foliar feed? I use Smiling gardener recipes fir veggies but do same- fish emulsion,kelp, molasses foe general garden.

I assume that the 4 year old media has been kept dry. I think if you have a few hosta that are displaying this kind of ink bleed look, I would repot in NEW media rather than trying a number of different things. I agree with Babka that a ph test is in order. I don't think it is too late to repot. I do it all summer and I just repotted one hosta yesterday, and I am working on another hosta today. We are currently experiencing near 90 degree temperatures.

The rain finally stopped and I started on the hostas. I was surprised by what I found when I bare-rooted the Fluted Fountain, so I stopped to get some advice before continuing.

This is what it looks like:

The it has lots of short, white, fat roots that look pretty healthy. However, the longer roots looked like they had either dried up or had a rot issue. They had that "papery" covering that had turned brown. Inside that covering was a skinny white root. I washed everything off and put it in water until late this afternoon when it gets cooler.

It didn't seem like we had a dry winter (I usually don't water in the winter unless it's really dry. I just leave my pots to the elements.). It was in that homemade potting soil that had really good drainage, and was in a smallish pot. It was not slimy like it had rot, though.

I'm debating the 10% bleach thing. Chris was not a fan, but Bruce Banyai was a big fan. I'm not sure where I stand on the issue. I tried it when I had the rhizoctonia root rot and didn't see good results.

Any ideas?

bk

fwiw ... a lot of nice white new root growth ... i would just replant them ....

i never had any luck with the bleach thing.. and it was a PIA ... frankly .... everything i used it on.. died .. but the truth is.. they were probably too far gone.. by the time i got that desperate ...

and you sure dont want to stun/stress or set back the tender new roots ...

i had a lot of excuses for not bothering.. lol ...

ken