Cutting hosta leaves

I had to cut some of my hosta leaves off from their stems now only showing the stems .. No disease or anything of that sort .. They were shipped and did not look too well when they arrived to me .. Perhaps stress from shipping so I figured I would get rid of the leaves and allow new to come on .. How long about will this take to re-leave? Thanks in advance

Brenda

Brenda, I'm in zone 5b which is similar to your zone 5a, and hostas planted outdoors are perfectly healthy if you cut some of their leaves. You need to cut the entire stem because leaves only grow from the ground up, so if you cut off just the leaf eventually there will be a shriveled stem. My hostas grow continually until about mid summer then they almost never grow any new leaves, however, I did plant some small bare root hostas in summer once and they created leaves and flowers in two months. If I continue to add rabbit manure hostas will rebloom even as late as September, but I wouldn't recommend that because at that time they need to use their energy to create roots.

Nancy G.

Best thing to do this year is leave the plants to settle into their new environment now that you have removed the damaged leaves.

Remember at all times to look out for holes nibbled in the leaves by slugs and snails as the Hosta's is like Honey to bee's, is to slugs / snails. Brenda is right when she tells you the new growth will come from the ground and not from the stems. I just hope you left enough greenery to help the plant take up moisture, catch light and air from the atmosphere.
If after a few weeks you see some new growth, offer the plants a half doze liquid feed, this will help stimulate the plants to put on new growth, I would forget looking for flowers this year and allow the plant to just settle into new place and get used to the soil, temp, everything you should look out for to correct, like shade part day and plenty humus added to soil to help retain moisture, Hosta's like damp part shade so by offering more water it will help get them off to a good start.
Don't ever over feed plants of any type, it can burn the roots, cause too much new SOFT stems and leave allowing diseases and bugs to take hold..

Hope this helps you out and next spring you see loads of new growth popping through the soil.
make sure you look out for the slugs / snails and you end up with a nice display of those wonderful plants.
Best Regards.
WeeNel.

Do you mean to cut the stems completely off so that nothing is showing above ground .. Or to leave just a little of the stem barely showing? Thanks for helping me out on this

Brenda

Brenda, try NOT cut any more from the plants, summers end the top growth will turn yellow and soft, either end of autumn or in early spring, remove these withered leaves/ stems, watch you don't harm the little new buds that are just under the soil or you will break off the new growing parts, I like to remove the dead leaves from all my plants, bulbs tuber etc at end of summer but I'm not a puritan, IF I've been tooooo busy with other stuff I do it very early spring as I tidy up the beds / borders, leaving them all winter makes hiding placed for slugs and snails to hide ready to feed when the weather warms up.
Please be aware that a lot of plants need the foliage to die down while still on the plant, this feeds the plants and gives the bulbs / tubers etc the energy to grow bigger and stronger the following season and Hosta's will want the foliage to be left to rot down on their own time.
Just remove the badly damaged parts and leave the rest alone, wait till next season to begin the tidy up regime and as I've said, watch out for tiny new little spear shaped growth come through the top soil, add a handful blood / fish / bone meal around the root area and hand fork it into the soil, this is a slow release fertiliser and non chemical.
Best of luck.
WeeNel.