Cutting off hosta flowers as the stalk appears.

[Bob Scott]

Is there any advantage for the hosta's growth when doing this? Moore energy to the plant possibly?

[Mark Raw]

I have tried cutting the flowers off as they emerged. Didnt seem to make any difference. Think there is more energy used in seed production than flowering.

[Linda P]

I don't cut the flowers off, as I am one of those crazy people who like to see the flowers and grow the seed.
The plant has a natural life cycle, and I prefer to let that cycle continue. If a plant is very tiny, or struggling in
some way and it's producing a flower stalk, I may cut it off so that it doesn't have to spend the energy pushing up a
stalk, but I've only done that a handful of times in 30 years of growing these plants.

[kHT]

Bob, for years now I have cut the flower spikes off of all the ones that we didn't want go to seeds
and I have noticed a size increase of those hostas. All one can do is try it a season or two and note the
differences?

[Chris_W]

Some say that the flower stalk isn't spending any extra energy once it comes up but the seed production does, so let it flower and then cut off after the flowers form. I've also seen plants where an emerging flower stalk was damaged/frosted in the fall and then it does weird things the next year, like it wanted to flower but wasn't allowed and it disrupted the natural growth so tried to flower again. For that reason I agree with Linda that I like to let them progress naturally. When a plant gets old enough to flower that's a good thing, because the next stage is multiplication.

I don't cut them back at all here and just let them grow on their own, but if I was to cut I'd do it after it flowers some.

[Tigger]

I avoid planting hostas with flowers that don't deserve to be seen, but sometimes you can't help it. And as I have little use for seeds from most of them, we do dead-head once the flowers are gone.

I seem to remember reading, though, that you should wait for at least one flower to open and ripen (even if the plant is sterile). The flower, once pollinated, sends a hormonal signal through the plant that says "It's o.k., guys, we got pollinated this year." That won't stop more spikes from forming, but reduces the priority for flower production. If you keep cutting the scapes before blooming, the plant keeps trying to make more at the expense of other development.

A tip from my experience: don't cut the scapes at the ground, but leave them 4-6" tall (maybe 1/3 as tall as the hosta mound) to serve both as markers and deer-deterrent spikes through the winter and spring.

David

[isadora]

I love the flowers so I don't cut them off and as I like to play with seed starting I usually let the mature plants ripen some of their pods. But with plants two years or younger, I'm cutting off the stalks as the pods start to form so the energy goes into the plant instead of seed production. Hopefully this will help grow bigger plants faster. Tho some of them don't even have flowers until they are in the garden for their third year.

Sandy

[Patrushka]

The rabbits keep cutting my scapes. I hope they leave a few so I have some seeds to plant. I need a plane to fly over weekly and drop liquid fence on everything.

[redcrx]

I wonder if the rabbits are smart enough to chop off the flower heads creating a spike that slows deer from competing with them.

I wonder that as I look at the huge flowerless spike on my Fujibotan.

[Bob Scott]

Thanks everyone! I do enjoy the flowers. I'm jut getting old and impatient to see the actual hosta get bigger.
Letting them flower and then cutting before they go to seed is a winner in my books!

[thy]

Bob

Do rabits brush their teeths in alcohol or in bleach

[Bob Scott]

Bob

Do rabits brush their teeths in alcohol or in bleach

I give up! Which one?
I'd brush their teeth with a gun if I could get away with it. I hate those wascally wabbits!

[viktoria]

The expert opinion (from George Schmid, the author of "The Genus Hosta") is to wait until the first flower or two open before cutting the scapes off; doing it earlier has a negative effect on the plant. He offered this opinion in another hosta forum sometime within the last year.

Viktoria

[Patrushka]

Bob

Do rabits brush their teeths in alcohol or in bleach

No, they don't! I hope none of my neighbors have hostas with hvx.

[Bob Scott]

Bob

Do rabits brush their teeths in alcohol or in bleach

No, they don't! I hope none of my neighbors have hostas with hvx.

DUH! now I get it!