hostas in potsas

can anyone help?, im fairly clueless, i love hostas and have ordered a few varietys, i know they can be grown in pots,but 1) any particular compost 2) how big of a pot for baby hostas 3) whats best to keep the slugs away 4) i have quite a hot garden with very little constant shade :( ,am i doomed to failure? this is my first posting new member, all help gratefully recieved thanku.

 

Since I've got nowhere to plant anything yet my hostas have been in pots all summer, and small pots at that. They have been just fine, but I watered every day in the hot weather. I really must re-pot the poor things!

As for keeping the slugs off, if they're in pots the copper tape is quite effective. I bought some off ebay. It doesn't stick very well to teracotta - I had to use some 'no more nails' on it Fine on metal & glazed though.

 

Ours have always been in the garden and are completely hardy. They have been in the same semi-shady spot for years. Thank goodness, this is one plant that the slugs or snails have never touched. Good luck with yours and welcome to gc madflower.

 

thanku sparkle, thanku Kedi-Gato, will try the copper tape and hope it scares the snails,

 

I would put them in bigger pots than they need as they can grow quite quickly and also they will be better insulated against temperature extremes.. They do better in semi shade but as long as you keep them watered should be ok in sun. They don't need any particular compost but if you are buying new then get the kind with water retaining granules and some feed to start them off.
As for slugs, yes the copper tape is good and make sure the plants or pots aren't in contact with anything else that the slugs could climb across on. Coa*se grit on the soil round the plants helps to keep them damp and repels slugs. You can also use things like Slug-off which is a white powder containing aluminium sulphate to deter them further.
Kedi-gato, you don't realise how lucky you are! There are a few varieties which are supposed to be slug resistant, unless you've got those you have very strange slugs!
Our member Hornbeam plants hardy geraniums round his hostas to help keep slugs off. His are are in the ground, but planted nearby the pots would probably do.

 

Thanku Gardening Guru, what type of feed would i use? and do i water through the winter? Please bear with me , told you i was clueless :eek: . many thanks

 

Any ordinary plant food will do. I don't water mine in winter, once they die back and become dormant they can fend for themselves.
Don't forget to put some polystyrene or broken pieces of pot in the bottom of your containers to help drainage, and in winter raise the pots up a little [for instance on wooden slats or the little feet you can buy] so that they don't get waterlogged in heavy rain.