Removing hosta eyes

6 years ago

One of my June divisions has a few eyes that have reverted to blue. Since I dont have a Halycon, I’d like to remove and keep the eyes that have reverted as it’s own plant. What’s the easiest way to do that?

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djacob Z6a SE WI

6 years ago

well .. time for this one again .... i am sure you wont mind ... since i renamed my files.. i had to start a new post ... enjoy ....

you will need a rope .. like clothes line ... masking tape ... shovel ... pruning shears .... a strong back ... hose and water ...

water the hosta well in advance so it is in prime shape for moving ....

here is marion bachman before we start

take the clothes line ... and get it under the hosta .. and draw it tight about halfway up the petioles .. leaf stems ... draw it as tight as you can without breaking too many leaves ....

then take the masking tape and tape the petioles above or below the rope .... do not have fear ...

go dig the hole in the new place ....

proceed to dig at least half way out from where the edge of the canopy was ... with the caveat that you have to be able to lift the darn thing after its out ...

dig/cut a circle around the whole hosta .... and then 'pop' it out ... hoping there arent any tree roots to frustrate the procedure ... i never go more than one shovel depth ... which means you will be real close on the proper depth of the new hole ...

once loose ... lift and drop the plant twice, to remove any excess soil that might fall off ... you can use the bound leaves to grab the plant to move it around .... apparently sand falls off rather easily ...

drag the plant to the new hole and throw it in .... water it well and backfill and water again ...

remove the rope, but leave the tape there ... it will hold the leaves up until the roots start pumping water ... the process causes a loss of turgidity ... loss of water pressure to hold up the leaves .... in a week or two the tape will loosen itself, and you can remove it then ....

keep watering well ....

the tape will fall of in a week or 2 depending on heat and rain ... or you can remove it after you are sure the leaves will not flop ......

prune off any broken leaves ... after the tape falls off ...

water, water, water .... and she will look just like she did before the move.. weird but i cant find a picture of it settled in afterwards .... you will just have to take my word for it ....

bottom line .. they are hosta .. have no fear ... just teach them who is in charge .. and you will have a wonderful garden ...

good luck

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I copies this so I hope it helps. It’s ken’s post

debra

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Comments (6)

tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
6 years ago
If the eyes are on the edge of the clump you can slice them off and keep a good chunk of the roots growing out that side. If they’re in the middle of the clump (and they always are aren’t they) then it’s major surgery. You have to lift the hole plant, wash the root, tease out enough roots for the Halcyon and replant.

tj
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
6 years ago
dig it up.. cut them off.. replant both ... whats the confusion .. lol ...

in ground is iffy ... i just as often destroyed both.. as i came up with two ...

great time of year to do it.. its root growing season .. to store energy for next year ... but it might not look great depending on how wood you do the job .. so what.. next year is the goal ...

some guy did a great post on moving a fully leafed out hosta.. if you want to know how to do it...... just tape up the two different plants separately ... as you start ....

ken
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djacob Z6a SE WI
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I did exactly this last with my June that was reverting. Ken did a great post about how to do this some years ago. I tried to find it in my ideabooks, but houzz has done something with my books. Anyway, like tsugajunkie said, dig old the hosta, separate the blue leaves. Taping them together is helpful. After you have separated them all out. Replant your June (which will look like crap for the rest of the season.) Take your taped Halcyon leaves and plant them with some support, leaving the tape for a few weeks until the plant is strong enough to stand without support. Good luck. Your June may be smaller next year because you removed some eyes. You should have a nice sized Halcyon as well.

debra
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
6 years ago
hmmm.. surprised the pix went thru copy and paste ...

why not just link??
whip1 Zone 5 NE Ohio
Original Author
6 years ago
I’ve dug up some bigs one and used Ken’s tutorial and it worked very well. Thankfully, this isn’t a big hosta. I’ve divided other hosta by just splitting them with a shovel. I assumed this would be a little more surgical like tsugajunkie described.