Northeast Gardening: Hosta Pics, 1 by Noreaster

Noreaster wrote:
That's how I feel too, Victor. But it seems like there are certain things not known with absolute certainty about HVX. Also, if you do have a sick hosta very close to a healthy one, how ARE you gonna get it out without damaging both root systems at once? I posted on the Hosta forum about the dilemma of what to do with the hole left after I removed by my infected Halcyon. I got all the big roots out, but I know there are tiny ones still in there. Most people said that they would not chance putting another hosta in that spot for one year....even if I took precautions such as lining the hole with a layer of newsprint before adding fresh soil and a new hosta. IMO, there would be little chance of sap passing from the tiny leftover bits of root, thru the newspaper, and into a fresh wound on the roots of the new hosta. Even so, I ended up putting brunnera there instead....mainly because I just thought it looked nice.

If you are going to wait one year before putting another hosta in place of an infected one, by my reasoning, you should wait one year before even swapping places with two healthy appearing ones. But I doubt people do that...I know I don't. That's why I'm sure I've got dormant HVX all over my garden :(

Here is the Brunnera in place of my virused Halcyon. Eventually I think I will put Hosta 'First Frost' in there, or maybe something smaller.

This message was edited May 31, 2008 10:03 AM