I need to move about 400 hostas

[gljo]

Hi All! I have not been an active member of the forum for a long time, but I try to read it whenever I can. I have been experiencing many ‘life changes’ in the past couple of years and hope things will get back to normal soon….

That said, I have the overwhelming task of moving around 400 hostas in the near future. Because of an impending divorce (my choice), we will be selling the house and real estate where my hostas are planted. I don’t know that this will happen before winter (I doubt it) but I would like to move as many as I can before it’s too late to transplant. I hope to leave the ones that are not in the ‘house yard’ until next spring. If the property would happen to sell in the mean time, I intend to stipulate in the contract that I WILL be back for my plants!

So my question to you experts is this: How late is TOO LATE to dig and transplant? Can I still transplant into October (Eastern Iowa)? Should I cut the leaves back?? I'm thinking this would make digging, moving and transporting them so much easier.

I am trying to figure out the best, most efficient, easiest way to do this. I plan to just plop them in the ground where ever I can.. several friends have volunteered space... to hold them until I have a place of my own again. If anyone has any hints, ideas, suggestions, etc. I would be most grateful!

THANKS!
gljo

[renaldo75]

Big changes for you!! Best Wishes!! And best wishes on your getting your hostas dug & in the ground again. Others may say differently, but I would get as many as you can dug & back in the ground - hopefully by mid-October. I've put in plants until the end of Oct. before. It just depends on the year, ground temps, etc. Make sure everything is labelled and make a list and/or map of what goes where as you plant them. Not later. You think you'll remember. You won't. I can guarantee that. I have some I moved to holding beds several yrs ago & I still have no idea what they are..

I'm in the process of moving my garden to a friend's yard. Everything is going into pots. Don't do it the way I am. It'll take forever........

Round up your friends. And maybe that son of yours that I met a few yrs ago. Give them spades & get them diggin!! Good Luck!!

[ViolaAnn]

Good idea to round up friends and family. also to make sure everything is well labelled.

One thing occurs to me, please ensure that your are cleaning your tools really well between plants just in case there is an undetected case of HVX. And that may be a good reason NOT to cut off the foliage.

Good luck with your transitions both in your garden and your life.

Ann

[dhaven]

gljo--I have recently added a rather large new area to my hosta gardens, and most of it is not planted yet. Neither is it fenced yet, so the rampant deer population is an issue. However, if you are desperate for space, this area will probably accomodate all 400 of your hostas. You are welcome to plant as many as you need to on my property, on the understanding that you will dig them back up sometime in the next year. You will probably also want to plan on spraying Liquid Fence next spring, as I can't guarantee that the 8 foot fence will be completed by then. I live between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids. Let me know if you want to check out the area to see if it would work for you.

[Linda P]

gljoe, I will echo Renaldo's comments. I've planted hostas here up til the end of October. I prefer not to divide them this late in the year, but if you are moving entire clumps, I'd say go for it. I live just across the river along route 30 in NW Illinois, so I'm likely the same zone as you. If you can mulch them after the ground freezes, that might be helpful.
Good luck with all of your plans.
Linda P

[Chris_W]

Hi,

I'm in agreement with others here. You can easily move them into October, even later if you don't divide them.

I would not cut off the foliage - too much risk or disease. Also get multiple digging tools, keep one set soaking in a lysol solution all the time, and pick up some sanitizing wipes for tools too (look for SaniCart wipes on the internet - they have a lysol plus alcohol solution that kills viruses in 3 to 5 minutes) to try and prevent the spread of virus and other diseases. Moving that many plants can be a risky time.

I would recommend getting all of the plants out before things go up for sale, and if you do put in any disclaimers on getting things, make sure you get them out before they take possession. Once the new owners take possession of the property then anything remaining could technically be theirs, so don't take a chance that they change their mind on the plants later.

Years ago we did a project for someone who had to remove all of their gardens in the fall from around the house for major foundation work. We just piled the plants together on top of the ground and mulched them for the winter. Nothing was lost and we didn't replant until late the next summer. At first they wanted everything potted, but piling them up the way we did was just fine, and a lot easier

Good luck!

Chris

[Hosta12_Ia]

Do you have help, or do we need to form a hosta digging posse to help? Where are you located?
Jo

[gljo]

Thanks so much to those who responded with hints and ideas for me….

Renaldo, good to hear from you! I plan to give my son a shovel since a lot of these are going to be planted at HIS HOUSE! I have already moved about 25 plants there. What a job! Landscaping fabric and mulch had to be removed and then I found ROCKS under that! Ugh!

I have no plans to pot them, but there are about 25 still in pots, sunk in the garden – didn’t get planted a couple of years ago… and they’ve done really well! They may have to stay until next spring. I can pop those out in a hurry if need be… My PLAN is to get all the ones I want from around the HOUSE, except those, this fall. We’ll see…

ViolaAnn, thanks for mentioning HVX. Funny, I thought about it when planning to dig, but I didn’t even think about it when considering cutting them back. Duh. I just wanted the leaves outta my face! I will be sure to keep track of my labels, etc. I have a printout of my list so I can mark down who has what. As long as no one messes with the tags, it should be OK.

Linda, yes, I am sure we are in the same zone so planting into Oct will probably be OK. I usually don’t mulch for winter, though. I found less mole/vole damage if I clean everything away for winter.

Dhaven, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR KIND OFFER!!!! I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you would offer to ‘hosta sit’ for a complete stranger! Aren’t the people on this forum the best? Wow. Right now, I think I will be OK with my son’s, my boss’s house and several of my friends. However, one friend just announced that she may be moving next spring! I am not sure how long it will take for me to find a permanent home, so I hesitate to plant some at her house. I don’t want to keep moving them over and over. It could be more than a year before I can reclaim them. If you have ADDED this much room for your hostas, I would love to come see YOUR hostas! And you probably need at least an 8’ fence, living down in the corridor! That is Deer Country!

I spent all day Friday, digging, soaking/wiping tools and planting again. I put each one in it’s own plastic grocery bag – I knew I saved them from the landfill for something! (Although, they will end up there now because I only want to use them once.) The whole back of my van was full of grocery bagged hostas! I have only moved 55 so far and I am pooped. It’s almost overwhelming to think of moving them all. In fact, I did decide to leave some that would be easily replaced….

I’m still thinking the hostas across the road will just have to wait till next spring. The weeds are so deep, it’s hard to even find them. I think it would be soooo much easier to dig them before they are fully leafed out… especially with the risk of HXV. So far, none of my friends or family have volunteered to help but I am going to flag all the varieties that are on Chris’ list of suspected carriers so that no one digs them up by mistake. I could probably leave those, too.

Jo, I am about 4 miles south of Shellsburg, about 10 miles south of JimmyMac’s. I think I may have met you there, about 3 years ago, at a potluck? Digging posse! Ha! It may come to that! I’ll let you know!

Thanks again, everyone! I appreciate it!

g

[renaldo75]

I know I met you and your son at Jimmy Mac's the last time we were there for a get-together. I'm sure Jo was there too.

GOOD LUCK with it ALL!! I'd be happy to help if I lived 4 hours closer, and didn't have my own hosta~migration in progress...

[dhaven]

gljo--you aren't a stranger, you are a fellow Iowan and a forum member. The offer stands, and your hostas can stay here more than a year if necessary. As I said, there is plenty of room at the moment. I'm less than an hour and a half from Shellsburg, so not too far at all.

If you are bagging in plastic grocery bags, I find it works very well to loosely wrap one handle around the base of the hosta just above the crown and then carefully tie the two handles once so the bag is closed. Pull the handles snug but not tight enough to damage the petioles. Press the excess air out of the bag so that it fits nicely around the roots and dirt. This helps keep the moisture in and the bugs out. It's quite easy to water even with the bag tied, and to move the hosta all you have to do is grab the two handles. The plant will tip onto it's side and be much easier to carry than if it is upright. For small and mini varieties, you can wrap a handle around twice, or use smaller bags. If you leave some dirt on the roots, this system basically creates a pot, but makes it much easier to move and stack the plants. Hostas that are bagged with this method can sit out on the ground for several months as long as they are kept in shade and lightly watered.

If you are going to dig and then immediately replant somewhere else, don't bother to bag at all. Take a permanent marker and write the name of the variety on a leaf or petiole, rubber band your garden label, if you have one, to the roots, and start piling hostas in your vehicle. You would be amazed how many hostas you can cram in car this way, as they compress very nicely. Drive to the new spot, plop all the hostas in a tub of water, and start planting.

I agree with Chris--if you are going to sell and move, any hostas you want to keep must be moved before the new owners take possession. I've heard too many horror stories about people who went back later to retrieve their plants, only to find that every last one of them had been torn out and tossed in the garbage, or given away.