Yes, we have a Tractor Supply store that is not to far. I will try to get by there later today. There are a couple of other things I need to get anyway. I am moving the hostas so I can water them with the alfalfa mix then.

Okay, I got the alfalfa pellets and got the hostas re-planted too! They looked better after I got them watered a bit. Two of them are just starting to get leafs up but are not opened yet.

Looks beautiful!!

Looks good. I've been MIA and got here too late to offer advice, but when I divide an older hosta, I often replant it in a group of 3. It will fill in and look much larger sooner. And should you want to divide it in the future, you can lift just one section.

@ Ann That is what I ended up doing. I divided it into about 3, may have even been 4 parts. I was also able to get a large bag of the Alfalfa pellets and will use them religiously now that I know about them. I have already learned a couple of good things for gardening from this site. I am so glad I stumbled across it. Wish I had known about it earlier for the sake of some of my plants, lol.

ViolaAnn said:Looks good. I've been MIA and got here too late to offer advice, but when I divide an older hosta, I often replant it in a group of 3. It will fill in and look much larger sooner. And should you want to divide it in the future, you can lift just one section.

Great idea Ann, I had forgot about that. I think you mentioned it before, might need to start taking notes but one thing I have noticed is that I learn a lot of stuff over the winter and then in spring I forget the details and try to find the article or post and cannot find it. So now that I discovered the star to the left of the acorn, if you click that on it will save or bookmark the post for you and it will appear on you profile page under stared items. Makes it easier to find stuff. Just saying.

Susan that's great info! I am glad you shared that. I am really new to ATP and it will help knowing how to save the info.

No Hosta ever *needs* to be divided. You can choose to divide it because you want to propagate it or because it has gotten too big for the spot that it is in. But division is never required in the way it is for other perennials. It will set plants back into a more immature stage of development.

In the case of the fairy ring or dead center of the Hosta as first presented, if you didn't want to move it you have two choices. 1. Leave it alone and it will leaf out into a nice looking clump. You will never notice the bare spot in the middle except for in April. My mother had several plants of Undulata Erromena that looked exactly like that top picture. She had them for decades. They looked great all summer long. 2. If the middle spot bothers you, you can take a narrow spade and dig out the dead middle part of the clump and replace it with compost. The Hosta will then grow into the middle of that donut in the years to come. My preference would be to leave it alone, unless you want to move it.

The professor is right on a couple of points. Alfalfa is a great balanced organic fertilizer for Hosta. But don't use the pellets. Those are bunny food. Alfalfa meal either scratched into the soil or watered in will do fine. If you've got a bunny or deer problem, try Milorganite (5-2-0). It will keep the critters away for at least a month while it provides an organic fertilizer. Secondly, that picture doesn't look like a four year old plant, as the professor says. But I don't think it's because of a lack of fertilizer. The plant shows an awful lot of growth for that age of plant. It could be that this plant received an excess of nitrogen from the fertilization of the lawn around it. Grass fert is often something like 32-0-4. That excess nitrogen will cause lots of leaf growth but not much root growth. In any case the alfalfa meal will solve the problem.

Just remember, never divide, unless you want to.

steve_mass,
I have never used Alfalfa pellets, yet. But as mentioned in several threads the pellets come in different sizes. Some are for rabbits and have additives, but others which are recommended for the garden are available as Horse food and is pure Alfalfa.

I was wondering about the pellets attracting some kind of unwanted animals into my beds...Could you just crush the pellets and scratch them into the soil?

Rose

I sprinkle them around the plants and moisten them. They break out very quickly and can easily be worked into the soil surface within hours. I haven't had any problem using them. I use the rabbit pellets which I can buy here with no additives.....I've made the tea before but think that is to much bother.

Thanks Paul. I'll look for them today while running errands! Do you add only in the spring, or is this an all-year thing?

I've used them in spring and other times. I think with Hosta you get the most benefit as they are beginning to grow in the spring. I use them on new iris when planting as I think they encourage increase. They would improve the soil at any time.

Well I did get the Alfalfa pellets. No additives. I mixed them in the soil and then added a little more soil to the bed. Watered really good after re planting them. It also rained here a day later so hopefully they broke down/dissolved okay. That hosta was planted in that same location for at least 4 years of that I am sure. I am making the Alfalfa tea to use also.

I use the horse feed pellets. They break down quickly and soak into the soil. I have no problems with rabbits recently and certainly no deer but I always use Milorganite to keep the cats out of the bed. We do not use any lawn fertilizer but if we did it would be the Milorganite.

Rose1656 said:I was wondering about the pellets attracting some kind of unwanted animals into my beds...Could you just crush the pellets and scratch them into the soil?

Rose

Rose, you can just throw them around the hostas and water them in. They will break right down. Crushing them is unnecessary.

I bought some pellets today and plan on putting them out tomorrow. Thanks for the information. I've heard of alfalfa tea but didn't really want to work that hard! This sounds pretty easy, even for a slacker like myself

I'm often obsessive about what I do in the garden but alfalfa tea is to much work when the pellets dissolve so easily in the soil when moistened.