Did You Know ..... Hostas Have Eyes?

Eyes on Hosta Francis Williams

Sometimes when there is a description of a Hosta having two or three or more eyes, it refers to the number of shoots that are coming from the crown to eventually make the shoots and foliage.

Single Shoot from Young Hosta with One Eye

Usually, when you buy a young plant say in a 4” or 5” pot, it will be a single eye and therefore produce just one growth. Over the years, these will develop to have many more shoots, forming a larger growth of foliage and shoots.

The Hosta puts its energy, during the winter into producing healthier root system and creating new eyes or buds for the following spring. It does not do this during the growing season. All the effort has been made over winter. The growing season is generally for the Hosta to grow, reach its maximum for that season and convert all that light into useful energy and store for the winter effort.

However, some people can’t wait for this to happen naturally, and decide to do something more drastic to stimulate more eyes, sooner.

I wish to discuss two possible methods for increasing the rate at which the plant will develop, with the warnings that come with them.

The first method has a lovely name… it’s known as ‘Stomping’

It sounds very drastic, and indeed can be. Consider your normal winter border care, when all the Hostas are still tucked up in dormancy, and you can’t see any shoots, how careful were you, not to stand on a precious clump of you favourite Hosta. I must admit, I am so careful, but still don’t know if I have damaged any crowns by standing on them, or as it will be know as ‘Stomping’. It’s exactly the same thing, but done on purpose.

Stomping is when you actually go out and stomp, or intentionally step on the Hosta."..

The theory is that by damaging the earlier ‘eyes’, it will promote the later ones to produce more eyes, eventually giving a bigger plant.

So! What do I think of stomping?

Stomping is never a good idea. It is a primitive bash-it-with-a-club sort of technique that does massive injury to the plant. The only reason people do it is to cause more buds to sprout. This is the plant's response to the trauma, but those new shoots will be small and there is the risk of infection where the smashed remains of the shoot is decaying. It will not make a larger plant, just a plant with one or more small new divisions. The same holds true for other methods of doing serious injury to the plant like cutting through the rhizome. Sometimes minor injury will stimulate more growth, other times not. Different cultivars react differently. In production some are spurred to more growth when the roots are roughed up while others just sit.

Rossizing a Hosta

Rossizing a Hosta

Another practised method is called Rossizing.

and pushed down into the crown. The cut surface then dries and forms a callous tissue. New vegetative buds then form along the cut and produce new plants.

This method is attributed to Henry Ross of Ohio.

Hosta fanciers have developed, of course, more successful ways of propagating Hostas through division, one of which is called “Rossizing,” after Henry A. Ross, who first introduced this method for Hostas. This method of plant propagation is very successful with plants that are slow in producing new crowns. If done correctly it will not really affect the plant during the growing season, even as it produces a greater number of eyes in the following season.

The procedure is fairly simple. Carefully remove the dirt from around the Hosta to expose the root plate, out of which the roots emerge. Locate a place about one or two inches up the stem, and push a very sharp knife or razor completely through the stem so that it comes out the other side.

Now, cut straight down until you have cut all the way through the root plate. You have now basically divided the plant’s root system in two, while the plant above-ground has been largely left untouched, and remains a single plant. On a plant with a large stem, additional cuts can be made, by moving to a new spot approximately 90 degrees around the stem. (More experienced gardeners have done more.) Each cut should then be given a little fungicide to prevent disease and to encourage root growth.

Since you haven’t really disturbed the plant, the operation is usually very successful. All you need to do is to replace the soil and keep the plant well watered and fertilized throughout the summer to encourage good bud growth. The size of next year’s buds is dependent upon how early in the season you do the operation, so the best results will be attained if you rossize the plant as soon as it has fully emerged in spring.

Bare-rooted Hostas can also be “rossized” before planting. They are already suffering from shock, so you might be advised to wait a year.

Anytime one affects the internal structure of a plant, one weakens the plant and risks introducing diseases, so nothing is guaranteed. However, this method has proven very successful over the years, and is used by many Hosta providers.

Personally, as a Hosta lover, and someone who is very patient, I would generally advise you to steer clear of both methods and just be a little more patient. If you happen to ‘stomp’ on your Hostas accidentally, whilst clearing leaves, then so be it, but damaging any plant intentionally just can’t be right.

If you want to have a go, then please feel free, but let me know the results.

To learn more about Hostas, you may interested in reading : Grow and Maintain Hostas In Containers,  Benefits of Companion Plants, What Are the Common Mistakes to Avoid When Growing Hostas?, Ways to Protect Your Hostas from Slugs and Snails and "Uncovering the Advantages of Bare Root Hostas:

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Rewela Hostas