Afraid to ask about this one...

[party_music50]

Hi --

I got this hosta in spring '04. It was supposed to be Frances Williams, but the coloring has always been as shown, and the leaves are elongated and pointed, so I don't know what it is.

It is planted in a LOUSY location: very dry, poor soil, with pine tree root competition. We had an unusually dry spring and I completely forgot about it, so it got almost no water... as it came up and leaves unfurled, the leaves looked (embarrassingly) like this:


Could this just have been caused by stress from lack of water and/or frost? or is it something horrible?

Thanks for any help!

[Chris_W]

Hi there,

I am sorry to have to tell you but yes, what you see here is Hosta Virus X.

And I agree, this is definitely not Frances Williams.

This is an excellent example of HVX in a green leafed plant. There isn't any color change, just sunken and distorted tissue that follows lengthwise through the leaves.

Sorry

Chris

[party_music50]

(sigh.)

This is my first, then. RATS! (using stronger language here. lol!)

I will now look around the forums here for info on proper removal, disposal, cleanup, etc.

Thanks for the help! At least I can be proud that it's an "excellent example".

PS: Since this is my 3rd season with it and it's never shown problems before, is that unusual?

[newtohosta-no more]

Sorry to see that you have a problem with that hosta. It really is a good example for all of us to see. I loved your comment :" At least I can be proud that it's an "excellent example". You really know how to make lemons into lemonade!!
As to being unusual for a plant to wait this long to show symptoms?....apparently it's not unusual. Some don't show visible signs for years and years. Sad ,but true.

I'm sure Chris posted on here about disposal of infected plants and then the amount of time you need to wait to replant in the same spot. You have to give all left behind plant material a chance to die, so you're talking several weeks ,if not longer.

Again...sorry about your hosta,but I'm glad you were able to get a definitive answer from Chris.

[Kas]

And it looks like it used to be f. Stenatha, also known as Fools Gold.

Kas

[party_music50]

Thanks for the condolences. I'm *really* glad that it didn't look like FW when I got it, so I put it in an out-of-the-way spot, surrounded by Astilbes and other things.

However, I think you're probably correct about the ID, kas! Thank you for that! but it's bitter-sweet for me....