Do I cut my hosta plants to the ground before winter or leave them?

Question

I live in the midwest and it will get pretty snowy.

Answer 1

Hi,
I have and will cut my hostas to the ground after having a hard frost here in zone 5 No. IL.
I tried an experiment this last August.
The plants were getting rather unsightly from slugs,sunburn, etc., so I cut them back to the ground, discarded the leaves into the compost pile.
By mid Sept., all the hostas had a new flush of leaves and now look better than ever.
This also helped deprive the pests that were attacking them.
I will cut these back again soon, as this may help deter left-over plant material that pests thrive on, plus make spring start-up easier.
Hope this helps, Dave

Answer 2

Yes you can cut hostas to the ground before winter. Yes you can also leave
them. Personally, I think the spring cleanup will go much smoother if you cut them down now. You can mulch them or just throw them somewhere out of the way and they will eventually decompose. The problem with hosta leaves
is that they can sometimes hide snails and slugs and I don't like them in
my compost. I bag them and send them to the local compost.

Answer 3

I will cut mine back this fall as they get pretty mushy come Spring.I leave a lot of other plants alone..seeds for the birds or winter interest, but not my hostas.

Answer 4

Yes, you should cut them down, but leave about an inch stem at the bottom. They will grow better next spring. Cover them with some mulch, or leaves..etc..to give them more protection, through the winter. You don't have to cut them back if you don't want to, they still will grow again next year. Hope this helped..good luck..

Answer 5

Just cut the flower stems off and leave them alone. If they are too thick (the hostas), you can dig them up, cut them in half, and then replace the halves where you want them. It is hard to kill them.

Answer 6

Hosta can stay contained in the floor over the iciness. I only enable them die again contained in the fall and enable the dried leaves stay in position for the iciness as a floor conceal. contained in the spring, only gently rake over the spot earlier the recent shoots emerge to get the useless leaves off.

Answer 7

I don't cut my hostas down till they are looking pretty ratty. Probably doesn't matter if you do or don't for winter.

Answer 8

My one thought is that with some perenials (tulips and dafodils), the plants need nutrition provided by the leaves to help with growth in the spring - so it's not recommended to cut the leaves until they are dead.

Answer 9

You do not need to cut them. Even if you do, leave the leafs on the ground as mulch. They will disappear next year and enrich the soil.

Answer 10

I just cut mine back to the ground yesterday (Maine). It won't hurt to leave them, but at this time of year they are starting to look bad