Trimming mushy Hosta leaves

rakenleafs · Post by **rakenleafs** » Apr 22, 2007 11:15 pm

I had a few frost bitten Hosta, all is well though as I don't have to make the decision to trim or not to trim as the rabbits bit off the mushy parts.. now to get them to leave them alone...

My question is, there is one Hosta that is still furled very tightly and the tip is bent over. It is a little discolored like it was frostbitten, but it is not mushy. I am thinking I read something here that it probably will not unfurl and I should trim it... did I understand that right or should I just wait a little while?

Fran

jgh · Post by **jgh** » Apr 22, 2007 11:35 pm

Hi, Fran

I think the answers you get will be partly dependent on the tolerance of each gardener for imperfection. I think if I had 10 or 20 specimen hostas, I'd want each of them to look perfect... so I'd trim damaged leaves on each plant to make them look their best.

on the other hand, i've got something like 2000 hostas in my yard and "back forty" and I'm always too busy in the spring to worry too much about this - so I practice "survival of the fittest" gardening. Last spring I posted pictures after a hailstorm turned my early hosta beds into a salad bar. For the most part, I just left the plants alone. If the leaves were too damaged, they fell off. If they were only partially damaged, they continued to give th plant nourishment and I left them on. The only exception is when I found damage that was mushy... to me that means an invitation to rot that can affect the rest of the plant.

Frost damage and early rabbit damage? It isn't unusual to walk around my summer garden and see some early leaves with the clear markings of rabbit or deer chomping the tips off the emerging eyes. Ditto with some distorted leaves due to frost damage. I think it is a pretty rare year in Minnesota where I won't have some frost damaged eyes.

yes... I will get to your specific question! I've found that frost damaged eyes still open. Here's the good news. It really doesn't matter much what you do. If you just leave it, you will probably find that your plant has a few outside ragged leaves from the damage and then sends later eyes and flushes that are fine. If you remove the damaged outside leaves, it will probably be a little smaller and a little more "perfect." If you go all the way, and remove some or all of the emerging eyes, you will probably get a new flush of growth in a few weeks with even more eyes that the early flush... and the leaves will probably be uniformly smaller.

Let's see what other people have to add... but mostly I just don't think it matters too much. If hostas were picky, we'd all be growing (shudder) daylilies!

Linda P · Post by **Linda P** » Apr 23, 2007 7:46 am

I just found a few yesterday that had mushy eyes. I trimmed them off, and will go on patrol again today. I've been watching them since the big deep freeze, and yesterday was the first time I noticed any that were mushy. Of course, the mushy tips were on some that I was really looking forward to seeing this year; a second year Gunsmoke that had 5 eyes (3 of them mush) and a Dragon Wings that finally had more than 2 eyes (7 this year, 5 of them mush).
There were hundreds of those bent-over tips, and most of them are now opening. I'd just keep an eye out for anything that looks mushy, and leave the others. My tolerance for imperfection in my hostas is probably somewhere near the level that jgh mentioned. I have too many to go around grooming each individual hosta.
Linda P

newtohosta-no more · Post by **newtohosta-no more** » Apr 23, 2007 8:53 am

Okay, I'll chime in. I do agree with jgh. For the most part my hostas are on their own and I don't do much to them unless ,of course, it appears like there is crown rot. They have to be strong to survive at my house.

But...if you're saying that you don't think the leaves CAN unfurl because the tip is bent over then I'd just clip the tip off and then let it do it's business.

thy · Post by **thy** » Apr 23, 2007 9:38 am

They can stay for weeks before they unfurl.. all depending of weather and sort... if the tip holds it back and the rest starts to unfurl.. just help it a bit with your fingers

If the laeves are damaged you can always cut them off later, just wait and see time will tell

Pia

DBoweMD · Post by **DBoweMD** » Apr 23, 2007 9:40 am

If they have frost damage, there can be drying of the outer layer that hardens and interferes with smooth opening of the inner leaves. This will distort the inner undamaged leaves and make them look ugly. Once I see the damaged shoots swelling, trying to send out new growth, I try to peel back the outermost damaged leaf layer with my fingers, usually rolling them a little to try to find the edge. If you don't, you may see bent tips, where the end gets caught in the dead stuff, and this can tear the inner leaves as they grow incredibly fast.
If the whole shoot is mush and nothing else is growing from it, There should be new side shoots swelling within a couple weeks. I sometimes pick at the drying stuff (old mush) to look for new growth if I am curious. I have not seen crown rot develop from frost damage to the emerging leaves.

renaldo75 · Post by **renaldo75** » Apr 23, 2007 10:50 am

I'll be the dissenting voice here. I believe it was probly me that wrote what you read about hostas not able to unfurl because they were turning to mush.

That's what happened to many of my hostas that I had under pots during the recent cold snap. If they were under mounded soil, the eyes were only 1-2 inches tall, but I had many that were taller than that so I used pots held down with bricks to cover them. Having seen what happened to them, I'd now fill the pot with leaves before inverting it over them for some added insulation AND duct tape the holes so no cold air could get in as Jamie suggested.

What I ended up with on most of those hostas that were further along was that the lower part of the eyes/leaves were OK, but the upper inch or so was what was damaged & it had fused the leaves together so they weren't able to unfurl properly. Some were further along in turning to mush than others, but some already had mush down to the crown. That's what made me treat all of the ones that had that problem the same way. I just cut them back - either to just below the damaged part or down to just above the soil depending on what I was seeing. There were some that I was able to unfurl the 1st 2 outer leaves & remove them [because they were turning to mush], but those were just the ones that were furthest along/closest to unfurling. In any case, all I really did was remove the 1st 3 leaves. I am already seeing the next leaves start to push further up on the 1st ones that I cut back 3-4 days ago. The worst look you'll have doing it this way is that a couple of those next leaves to emerge may be missing part of their leaf. It's still the original eye that the leaves are emerging from.

Linda P · Post by **Linda P** » Apr 23, 2007 2:04 pm

I lost my giant Sagae several years ago when I failed to see that many of the eyes were mush. They were so large that they spread rot down into the crown. By the time I found it, I dug up the entire plant, cut out all the mush, and tried to nurse it back to health. It hung around for one more year, and then died. Since that experience, I am much more vigilant in trimming off any mushy stuff.
Linda P

Tigger · Post by **Tigger** » Apr 23, 2007 2:42 pm

I agree with Dr. Bowe. Particularly if the hosta is dear to you or in a highly visible area, give the eyes a little TLC to make sure the leaves underneath the outer sheath can unfurl properly. Usually this just means rubbing or picking at the outer layer to "unstick" it. I had to do this to a few Sagae eyes yesterday. Most of the smaller hostas, I won't bother with; they'll do fine.

rakenleafs · Post by **rakenleafs** » Apr 24, 2007 7:32 am

I finally took a good enough picture that shows the leaf in question. There are just a couple more, but this photo show my point (no pun intended).
Thanks for all the great answers here.
I am thinking I may try to "pry" them loose, then go from there.

jgh · Post by **jgh** » Apr 24, 2007 9:26 am

Looking at the pic - yeah, if I had the time, I guess I'd peel that guy open... it's already damaged, so there's not much to lose if you try to peel it a little...

Pieter · Post by **Pieter** » Apr 24, 2007 9:31 am

Perhaps 'Guacamole' shows a propensity towards this, one of mine did the exact same thing. Suspect it may have something to do with the temperature when the leaves are beginning to unfurl. I have several G's and only the most mature one did this. On most points for that matter. And it was the ONLY Hosta to show this phenom. I had looked at this for almost three weeks and finally decided last night to give it a hand. I'll try and remember to take a shot of it tonight to show how it fared after the procedure.

rakenleafs · Post by **rakenleafs** » Apr 24, 2007 10:09 am

The only other one that I have that is this tight is Red October. Sorry about the bad picture, but you'll get my point.
Fran

eastwood2007 · Post by **eastwood2007** » Apr 24, 2007 10:58 am

My Guacamole did that same thing last year when unfurling and it had been new the previous year. No telling what will happen to it this year with the freezing...I'll have to go look!

Pieter · Post by **Pieter** » Apr 25, 2007 1:16 am

Well, here's what it looks like after 24 hours...

rakenleafs · Post by **rakenleafs** » Apr 25, 2007 8:06 am

You faired much better than I. I tried to gently loosen the leaf, but soon realized under the dry part was a glob of mush, so I cut it just below the mush. It is raining right now, but first clear spot I will run out and see how it faired overnight.
Fran