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How to Properly Separate Hostas Plants

Hostas, Rhizome, The Roots

My mother has recently been struggling to decide how and when to separate her hostas in the front yard. To many other gardeners, this dilemma has plagued their gardening experience as well. You know that you need to separate them, since your hostas are the size of garbage cans, but how? Believe it or not, this seemingly simple procedure isn’t really that simple. First, the correct time of year must be decided upon. This little decision can greatly affect the outcome of your garden the following spring, so one must choose wisely. Although hostas can be separated easily in the spring (since leaves and new shoots are small), the best time to separate hostas is in the late summer to early fall, approximately one month before the first frost.

When early fall has arrived, it is time to remove your hostas. First, cut a circle in soil around your hostas, roughly 4 inches away from the base of a small plant or 10-12 inches away from the base of a large plant. After your circle has been cut, slide the shovel under the plant and lift up from the ground. Similarly, you could use a pitchfork to pry the hostas up.

Next, rinse the hostas with cool water, particular the roots, in order to be able to see the plant divisions, so that you don’t accidentally slice one in half when you divide them. Don’t worry too much about damaging the roots with water. Hostas roots are pretty tough and resilient. Next, especially if the clump is small enough, separate the hostas by hand. Grabbing the stems, use a gentle, back and forth pulling motion to break the plants apart at the appropriate rhizome joint (the central area from which the roots radiate).

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However, if you are separating a large clump, and you prefer larger clumps than just individual hostas, it may be beneficial to just split the large clump into smaller ones (without worrying about where the rhizome breaks), like into thirds or quarters, by using a serrated knife to cut through the original clump of hostas. Start by spreading the roots so that you can decide where you want to cut the cluster. Then begin to cut through the crown first, not the roots. Try to avoid cutting stems in half so as to preserve the maximum amount of hostas. Then, try pulling the roots apart by hand (using the same back and forth motion as above), again trying to avoid breaking the roots. If you can’t separate by hand just yet, make the cut a little deeper, repeating this process until you are able to separate the hostas by hand.

After the divisions have been made, it is important to remove some of the larger leaves so that the plant does not experience rapid water loss, which may even kill the plant. Some of the older, dead-looking leaves can be removed from the hostas as well. Then, plant the hostas, making sure to place them at the same level of deepness as you first removed them. But don’t be fooled into thinking that smaller plants will take a long time to grow. These types of plants are extremely resilient. If you can’t plant right away, place the hostas in a cool place away from direct sunlight. Either place them in some damp soil or cover their roots with some damp peat moss. Keeping the roots from drying out is imperative. However, if the roots do dry out, place the hostas in a buck of bucket of water for no more than a day, as the roots will begin to rot after this time period.

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After watering liberally for the first two weeks after planting, the young hostas will be ready to be left alone to do their magic. All you must do is sit back and enjoy.