Visual inspection of leaves for free (or donation)

Post by **Chris_W** » May 18, 2006 9:57 am

Do you have hosta leaves that you are considering testing for HVX but don't want to spend the money yet? The alternative is to send me some leaves and I will do a visual inspection for you. We will do this for free or if you want to make a small forum donation or purchase our HVX DVD that would be helpful.

Send two or three suspicious leaves of each plant you want inspected in separate ziploc bags for each plant. Cut the leaves, cleaning your scissors/pruners between cuts by wiping with disinfecting wipes or rubbing alcohol and paper towels between cuts, and put the leaves in a ziploc bag with no excess moisture. Label the bag with the name of the hosta and mail the leaves to our post office box at:

Hallson Gardens
PO Box 220
Brooklyn, MI 49230

You can send them 1st class mail if you are not too far away, or send them priority mail if you are very far away from Michigan.

Include your name, phone number, and email address so we can contact you with the results, and if possible drop us an email ahead of time to let us know the leaves have been sent.

If we can't tell from a visual inspection or if we are unsure then we will let you know and you can consider testing them, but most of the time we can tell you if it is HVX, possibly another virus, or some other kind of leaf damage, or if the leaf looks normal.

We look forward to helping you out!

Sincerely,

Chris Wilson and Brian Hall
Hallson Gardens

wishiwere · Post by **wishiwere** » May 18, 2006 5:01 pm

Wow!

Chris and Brian! Yet again, you two are going above and beyond the call of duty! Dang it, Now I'll just to make it a promise to get down and there and buy some more plants and spend, spend, spend!

You guys are just too nice to a bunch of hostaholics like us on this forum!

ALthough I don't have any I'm currently worried about, I think it's fantastic what you are offering!

Thank you!

newtohosta-no more · Post by **newtohosta-no more** » May 19, 2006 11:36 am

A very nice offer, Chris! I'll have to do some strolling through my yard and see what looks suspicious (when it stops raining

) Sometimes I think I am just paranoid and looking so hard at the leaves that I am imagining things now.

wishiwere · Post by **wishiwere** » May 20, 2006 4:22 pm

I have 2 really old hosta (honeybell) that are in an area that gets hits with frost hard when none of rest of the yard does every spring. It causes leaf malformation, and I always do a double take, so I understand thinking your paranoid Joan!

newtohosta-no more · Post by **newtohosta-no more** » May 21, 2006 9:14 pm

Yes, Jane...and this year has been my worse so far with regards to my hostas and a hard frost. They just came up too early this year! So many of my hostas look bad, but I'm going to wait for that second flush of leaves before I make any decisions about whether or not there is anything more going on. At that time I will probably need to send some leaves to Chris to look at. I sure hope there won't be many.

ICGardner · Post by **ICGardner** » Jul 08, 2006 10:05 pm

Shoot! I had some leaves on El Nino that looked suspicious to me but I already took them off.

Is that enough to stop the spread or do I have to get rid of the whole plant? I was thinkng that it probably wasn't HVX as the plant came from Hallson's.

Post by **Chris_W** » Jul 08, 2006 10:14 pm

Hi,

What did the odd leaves look like? If it was HVX then you would want to get rid of the whole plant, but if it was something else like frost damage then that's just surface damage and nothing to be concerned about.

We did have a batch of El Nino from 2004 that had some test positive and we wrote everyone who bought those from us. I'll see if I can find when yours was sent in my records.

ICGardner · Post by **ICGardner** » Jul 09, 2006 5:55 pm

Thanks, Chris! From seeing pictures of HVX on this forum, I was pretty suspicious that it was the virus. If any more leaves look funny, I will be sure to send them to you. I got El Nino from you in either 2004 or 2005.

gamekeeper · Post by **gamekeeper** » Oct 16, 2006 1:20 pm

Dear Chris and Brian,
I started a small bed last summer with little preparation or research and the looks of the plants this year I suspect they have the dreaded blight.I will send several specimens asap.Can all from one plant be in the same bag? Your assistance will be appreciated.
Peter

Post by **Chris_W** » Oct 19, 2006 7:40 pm

Hi Peter,

Yes, you can put all leaves from the same variety in one bag. There may not be much to see this time of year, though, since so many plants might be starting to go dormant. But I'll take a look for you.

Talk to you later,

Chris

Visual inspection of leaves for free (or donation)

Visual inspection of leaves for free (or donation)

Sending leaves