Two kinds of ugly

Libby · Post by **Libby** » Apr 04, 2007 11:33 pm

I'm sickened by how these poor hostas look! Some are warped and others are so mottled and dark, like the cell structure got blasted. What will happen from this point and what, if anything, can I do besides cut them back?

I feel like the first Survivor to have their torch put out - never even got a chance to play!

eastwood2007 · Post by **eastwood2007** » Apr 04, 2007 11:35 pm

Aawwww! I am so sorry, Libby, don't be sad....

shaggybirdman · Post by **shaggybirdman** » Apr 05, 2007 2:10 am

could it clear itself up after it gets in full bloom/open?

Wanda · Post by **Wanda** » Apr 05, 2007 9:11 am

Oh, I feel for you, Libby!

The hail-blasted leaves won’t recover, but perhaps some of the inner leaves will be ok. Or if not, often the crown will put up new eyes. Once they are fully unfurled, you can better see the extent of the damage. I have found that it often takes a few days for hail damage to fully show itself...just like bruises on a person.

wanda

Libby · Post by **Libby** » Apr 05, 2007 5:57 pm

Thanks for the thoughts, guys. Wanda, a special thanks for your insight because I hadn't considered the dark as bruising from hail. They looked remarkably OK afterward and since I didn't see punch marks or tattered ends I assumed the day early arrival of freezing temps was responsible for damage. Now I'm encouraged some inner leaves might be worth looking at! Realize I'm grabbing at a slight bit of hope here but, again thank you.

jgh · Post by **jgh** » Apr 05, 2007 6:51 pm

Hang in there, Libby!

I had hail and freeze damage last year. The garden looked like it had been hit by a vandal with a weed wacker.

I decided to leave all but the worst damage on the plants, since they were still getting some strength even if the leaves weren't too attractive. I only picked up the truly shattered stuff so it wouldn't rot and maybe rot down into the eyes.

(OK - honestly - I just never had the time to go through a couple of weeks later and decide which leaves should be removed... so for the most part the hostas were just on their own)

By midsummer most of the hostas looked so good that I had to remind visitors about the hail to explain the poor looks of a few varieties.

So - some you will end up taking off the whole early growth - and they will throw another flush of eyes... and some you will have only part of the eyes salvagable - and they may shoot out a couple of extra eyes to make up for the damage... and some will not show any damage... and some will be set back a year and most of them will be just fine...

Best thing you can do is forget about it for the next couple of weeks until you can actually assess the damage. And by then, there will be so many good things to look at that the bad things won't seem so bad.

Raindrops on kettles and kittens with struddle and all that good Julie Andrews stuff for the next couple of weeks... when nature gives you lemons, make lemon martinis...

Wanda · Post by **Wanda** » Apr 05, 2007 6:56 pm

Libby: You are most welcome! I’m with jgh - don’t cut off those eyes until they unfurl - there may be more salvageable than you think. If you get really lucky, maybe only the outer couple leaves will have to be removed...if you can prevent them from getting too cold again. They may look sort of funky this year, but hey, we all have bad years (hehe).

I had just assumed you had hail damage from your earlier post...it may be from the hail, the cold...or more likely, both!

wanda