Hosta Virus X epidemic

Post by **Chris_W** » Sep 15, 2004 4:22 pm

First Frost is another white margined Halcyon, so in theory it could be identical to El Nino. They were both introduced to the trade at about the same time and I had a choice of growing either one. I guess I didn't choose wisely

Liselotte · Post by **Liselotte** » Sep 16, 2004 12:29 am

Chris, what can I say?

Same here, although my Dutch supplier has not found a virus in his El Nino, I don't know if those plants have been tested. For the time being, all 2004 plants are left alone and watched for signs. It is too bad, most of those plants look fantastic for this time of year!
This virus ist taking the fun out growing Hostas.

thy · Post by **thy** » Sep 23, 2004 11:52 am

Liselotte, are you sure the hostas are not power washed for your country ? It is not a EU member country... thinking of a connection between your infected h. Striptease ?

I have scared mostly all Danish hosta gardener

but for now it seems like the only infected hostas we have seen are sold cheap from the big shops... In my oppinion they can easily be surplus plants from the US export

and power washed
Pia

Liselotte · Post by **Liselotte** » Sep 24, 2004 1:33 am

Pia, yes I am certain that my plants were not power washed, because they had some soil attached. also I have to say, I trust my supplier completely!!! It is Marco Fransen. He told me about the power washing required for the plants shipped to the US. He is a victim like Chris, getting infected stuff from suppliers. He is now only propagating from his own plants.
My problem is, that I may have infected other plants handled during the time I was potting the new plants. A problem during shipping (Post ofiice and customs!!!) delayed the delivery and I soaked the plants and trimmed wilted leaves. Never in a million years did I think I could be contaminating tools and the water

) So I feel, I am sitting on a bomb, ready to explode on me. Without the possiblity of testing, all I can do is isolate the new plants and watch for signs in plants handled at the time!
I have informed Hosta growers over here too. Nobody takes me seriously. Because now many discount places are selling Hostas, although sales people not knowing what a Hosta is, it is quite possible, that some of the powerwashed surplus is indeed ending im stores all over! They sell these Hostas so cheap, in some cases less than what you pay wholesale for TCs in the US.
I guess, the market will be destroyed by the people who wanted to make a fast buck, too bad for us Hosta addicts!

Liselotte

thy · Post by **thy** » Sep 24, 2004 3:08 am

Liselotte, I really hoped they was from an other place, most of the Danish hosta collectors get their plants from Marco, and None ( as far as I know) have seen a virused plant. I do trust him too and think it can be a good help with an inside country man to fight against the virus.

All best of hopes for the rest of your 2004 hostas...
As said before I had never thought of the soaking water to be a problem. I only soak one at the time, but it does not matter if the first one have a virus and a cut and some of the next ones have cuts too.
HUGS
Pia

Mystery Gardener · Post by **Mystery Gardener** » Sep 25, 2004 6:43 am

Chris,
Could you give the full address for sending hosta leaves to Dr Lockhart? I couldn't find the post where it was. Has anyone tried taking leaves to their local extension agency? I did yesterday and they had no idea what I was talking about. However he asked me to e-mail him with places he could learn about the disease.

newtohosta-no more · Post by **newtohosta-no more** » Sep 25, 2004 6:57 am

Welcome to Hallsons!

Unfortunately Dr. Lockhart is no longer doing HVX testing. Check with your local extension office, or local universities to see if they do testing.

Mystery Gardener · Post by **Mystery Gardener** » Sep 25, 2004 2:13 pm

Thanks for the information "newtohosta-no more".

As you all can tell this is the 1st forum I've joined, but it seems like I've waited for a good one!

greenseeds · Post by **greenseeds** » Sep 30, 2004 8:32 am

I got my test results back from Dr. Lockhart. More good news than bad!

The leaves I sent in that I suspected of having a virus all came back negative! Yeah!

Those were...Paradise Joyce (who obviously just looks funky in changing color), Striptease, Gold Standard, Parhelion (who's showing funky dark green bumps in patterns) Bottom Line (who shows a fungus type ring spots), Gold Regal (with tiny black dots, fungus), and El Nino. I'm virus free!

Now, the nematodes have hit me really hard! All 5 samples I sent in tested positive (was a no brainer). I could have overwhelmed Dr. Lockhart with my now somewhere around 30 hosta who appears to be infested with them but I figured it would be a waste of this man's busy time. ~~~
The really great news about my nematode epidemic is that 'Elizabeth Campbell' was one of my worst hard hit hostas with nematodes at the first part of July and she tested negative for them now!

I cut her completely back and gave her two treatments of active ingrediant... Disulfoton (brand name Dexol : Systemic Rose Care, found at Menards) applied 3 weeks apart. My proof this stuff really does work! I didn't cut back the others when I applied this to them and they still have nematodes, being a systemic it makes sense that it has to be applied during the new growth stage of the plant. All of my infected hosta will get a two dose treatment in early spring before they emerge. I'm so relieved that I at least have a treatment for these bastages!!

hostako · Post by **hostako** » Oct 03, 2004 5:32 am

lilo
I take You seriously!
bert

Liselotte · Post by **Liselotte** » Oct 03, 2004 4:34 pm

Thank you Bert!

I started feeling pretty stupid, but now I think perhaps there are a few concerned Hosta lovers over here.
We need to find someome willing to test for the virus, without charging for an arm and a leg!

FreakyCola · Post by **FreakyCola** » Oct 04, 2004 3:04 pm

Got my results, are you ready for this? This is the Gold Standard that's been in my garden, untouched since probably six years ago. It looks like the pictures of Gold Standards that have Virus X. But here's what Dr. Lockhart had to say:

"Sample #1(Gold Standard) is infected with a spherical virus that I have so far been unable to identify. This virus was not detected by antibodies to three similar viruses that I identified previously in hostas."

I sent in six samples. This one has Virus WhoKnowsWhat and an all gold eye I took off a Golden Tiara that looked perfectly fine when I bought it does have Virus X, but a very low concentration. The gold eye still looks fine, but the Golden Tiara I got it from looked like it had the virus so I tossed it and sent the gold sample to be sure.

I also sent a Blue Mammoth that looked really strange one week after I bought it, it's ok.

I sent a Krossa Regal, a Regal Splendor and a Gold Standard I had in my sale. They all looked fine when I divided them and for quite a while after dividing them, then they started looking funny so I had them tested. I was really scared I had sold some with viruses, so I was really relieved to find out they were all virus free.

so now we have this new spherical virus to worry about. Oh boy!

Annika · Post by **Annika** » Nov 07, 2004 4:24 am

Chris, thank you so much for all this info. I will make a posting about it on the Swedish gardening forum I also frequent .......... the word needs to get around. The 'El Nino' I got from you this year looked just fine ( now it is asleep for the winter ). Will try and see if there is anywhere here in Europe that I can get it tested.

Annika

Liselotte · Post by **Liselotte** » Nov 23, 2004 5:44 pm

All season long I worried about the Hosta Virus X and was convinced my Striptease was infected and the possibility of having passed on the disease via tool, water etc...
We can't have our hostas tested in Switzerland yet, therefore, my only chance was taking leaves with me to the US when I visited in November. Unfortunately I had only live leaves of 4 plants left, among them Striptease, which showed the typical signs of the Virus X in summer (compared with the Hosta Library pictures), but the new leaves seemed o.k., anyway, Dr Lockhart's response was:

Dear Ms. XXX,
I did not detect virus of any kind in your
Striptease,
Paul's Glory or Richland Gold samples. The Gypsy Rose sample contained a
virus
with spherical particles that tested positive for Tomato ringspot virus
(TomRSV) by enzyme immunoassay. I have found this virus in hostas on
several occasions. It usually causes blanching of the leaves.

Sincerely,
B.E.L.Lockhart, Professor
Department of Plant Pathology

How do I deal with this Tomato ringspot virus? It seem that many plants are susceptible, but raspberries are mentioned. Wild raspberries grow in this area everywhere.

thy · Post by **thy** » Nov 23, 2004 7:07 pm

That' is good news, sorry for the tomato virus, but you are free of the virus X.
Think Marco will be glad too

Have been looking for ways to send an infected plant to the US.. but you just sneaked it in

Pia

Liselotte · Post by **Liselotte** » Nov 24, 2004 2:31 am

Yes Pia! I am sneaky

What is a gal to do if I can't find any one to test?

O.k. Just before I left for the airport, I cut the leaves. The little plastic bags were prepared, labeled and the yellow envelope addressed! I figured, if I get into trouble, all they can give me is a 50.00$ fine for not declaring plants. But leaves, are they plants?

Perhaps we can have our plants tested in HOLLAND? I hope so! If anyone has an address, please help us poor Europeans

Post by **Chris_W** » Apr 13, 2005 9:21 pm

I sure had hoped that last year's discussion would be all we would need, but now that things are starting to show up even more widespread I think we need to bring this back into live discussion.

Jean from Omaha, NE gave me permission to share these pictures here. The first is Birchwood Parky's Gold and the second was labeled as Royal Standard.

Per Jean, the manager at Lowe's said this is not Hosta Virus X. Sorry, but this is EXACTLY what Hosta Virus X looks like. When the new foliage comes out looking the same maybe they will think twice? Maybe if enough of us complain they will think twice? In the meantime I would boycott ANY hosta coming out of these stores, even if they are not showing symptoms because it can often take a season or longer for symptoms to show.

Primroselane · Post by **Primroselane** » Apr 13, 2005 10:22 pm

Hi Chris
Does anyone know how many stores these Hosta are in? Are they from a grower that you know of? Is it just Lowes? I have been warning everyone that I know. They sure look bad. I still think that My Sum and Substance that got the Virus X must have had it when I purchased it from a local nursery near here and was just dormant for 5 years, because they were isolated from other Hostas in my yard.
Do you think that is possible? It was healthy for the first five years. I can not thank you enough for all your help.

wholyhosta · Post by **wholyhosta** » Apr 14, 2005 7:12 pm

Hi Chris and all,
Chris, thanks for the great jobs you are doing keeping us informed on HVX. And Lucille, beside Lowe's, I saw signs of HVX on hostas at Home Depot- it looks different on different colors of hosta leaves. Also found signs at two local nurseries in NE GA. It would be interesting to see if there is a common supplier.
And from Lowes- I think they are making a public stand that "the hostas were inspected and showed no signs of disease, blah, blah, blah.....' defensively! and hoping it will die down and go away. Seems to be getting worse to me from the previous years' postings I've read. I'm not blaming Lowes, they just ordered the plants but.... if if they go on the attack, and start concocting 'inspectors' to defend something that's not their fault, then they are making it their fault for keeping these plants in their stores. I got the same excuse passed along to me by my son when the Lowes manager called me and I wasn't home- he told my son essentially the same thing as the Lowes mentioned by Chris. I think anyone who reads about HVX on this forum should email Lowes complaint department, because I think we are getting more and more attention by doing this. Who else is going to fix this if we don't fix it ourselves?

Brenda B

LucyGoose · Post by **LucyGoose** » Apr 14, 2005 9:29 pm

Thanks Chris for bringing this up again.....I was at a nursery that last year had Royal Standard that was virised...I, in a nice way, told them...They did nothing about it, cause they were still out when I went back later on...Okay, I was there the other day getting potting soil, and this sweet old lady ahead of me was buying slug bait...I told her, yes, start it now....then other lady that worked there says, *yeah, there is a new disease in hosta's now...* I said, *what ,the HVX virus?, Remember me from last year telling you guys that your Royal Standards had it?* She just shut right up!

I want to go back again when they get their hosta's to see if I see it again, and I WILL bring it up to them AGAIN!....This is a pretty big nursery, too....

Thanks for the pictures, as I need to see them so I can for sure tell if they have it!

Hallson Gardens

Hosta Virus X epidemic

First Frost

Virus

Dr Lockhart's address

Virus

HVX

Virus X

Hosta Virus X epidemic - updated orginal post