What is wrong with my hostas?

Question

They have flourished and flowered for six years, and now the leaves are brown and have small holes all over them. What is wrong with my beloved plants, and how do I save them? Thank you.

(P.S. I have other plants mixed in with them, and they are fine. We just got back from vacation, and I'm wondering if the hostas got too dry?)

Answer 1

I've been home and have been watering mine, and they are getting brown and have holes in them too. I have seen several slugs and wondered if they were causing the problem. In another location the hostas are doing just fine.

I'm looking forward to reading the answers you get. I seem to recall that they got the same way toward the end of summer last year too.

Good luck!  

Answer 2

Slugs.

Answer 3

The holes are due to bugs, most likely slugs, possibly cabbage worms.  You need to spray with an insecticide. But...depending on where you live, your hostas may be just dying back with the end of the summer approaching. Are they done blooming? Then you could just cut them all down to their base and be more watchful of any bug infestation in the spring of next year. Slugs love hostas, by the way.  They seem to go after the light-colored ones and not so much the blueish/green ones. You can see the slugs at work if you check under the leaves at night with a flashlight or in the early dawn hours. You can also see a shiny trail that they leave behind on any nearby cement or rocks.

Answer 4

slugs...slugs...slugs  If the holes are throughout the leaf then it's slugs...if you just have edges nibbled away then it's probably rabbits.  Rabbits are kinda finiky tho and will only eat certain kinds of Hostas.  If you think it's slugs, one remedy that people swear by is putting saucers full of beer around the plants for a few weeks.  The slugs are attracted by the moisture and then just get really drunk and die.  If you use the beer treatment, remember to top off the saucers every day or so or it wont work....good luck

Answer 5

Hostas don't like a lot of sun and keeping them well watered if they are in the sun is important. Another possibility is that the plants may need to be divided to allow them to thrive again. Many plants need this done after a few years of growth. The nice thing about dividing hostas into more smaller plants is that you have more of them to grow in other spots. Hope this helps!

Answer 6

See any spider webs around them? You likely have some kind of insect invasion.