I am no expert, but I have had hostas in water for 48 hours out of necessity (ie: Bert my garden assistant, I wish you all had access to recently injured his hand reqiiring many stitches) so I had to keep hostas in water until I could get them in myself. Since my hips are so messed up I couldn’t plant more than 2-3 per day. I leave the dirt on the roots and and place in vases, buckets, or whatevef but I just keep the roots covered, not the crown. So I haven’t had this problem. Seems odd to me though, as I have heard ken say ”get them planted ===>>> hostas are not aquatic plants!” But we live in the real world……not the ideal world, right right????

debra

Depends what in water means. I was taught that while you can put ends of the root in the water it should never reach crown and be more than 30 minutes. One time when I did not do it and left hostas in higher water overnight 2 were ok and 2 developed root rot.

I don't know the answer to your question, but I wouldn't toss a hosta with crown rot. I would use the 10 percent bleach method and then let the crown dry in the sun (while the leaves are wrapped up in damp newspaper).