Hello Chris, Im a new member to your site here, and just became one to be able to chat out this hosta thing. I've been reading my way through but now I had to register to be able to ask. HVX is just hitting me this year, and i think i have a good grasp on it, except for one thing that keeps tickling me about it. (im in a garden center here in vancouver,bc; and my hosta man retired!)
How possible is it for my uncleaned knife (un-knowledgable divider) have spread the infection from 'Striptease', to 'Halycon', to 'Gold Standard', and such and so forth?
I was under the impression that only able to spread between same cultivars, and not from a 'Striptease' to a 'Gold Standard'; but the scientist in me makes no sense of that noise.
Thank you very much for your time, its greatly appreciated.
Dykhof
HVX spreadability
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Chris_W
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Hello Dykhof, and welcome to the forum.
Unfortunately Hosta Virus X spreads very easily from one hosta to another on uncleaned tools, especially when cutting and dividing. It seems to spread easiest from cutting into rhizomes and roots and doesn't spread as quickly (but DOES still spread) when cutting leaves and scapes. Basically it doesn't seem to "take" as fast when cutting leaves and scapes as it does when cutting roots and crowns, which I believe is related to the surface area of exposer.
Roots and crowns may be exposed to the entire surface of the knife and the entire knife may become contaminated with infected sap so that the next cut has a lot of virus applied to it, making the chance of spreading the virus much greater. When cutting scapes you are only exposing a small surface area of plant material to the surface of the scissors or pruners and then you have to get that contamination directly into the cut on the next scape to maximize the chance of spreading it.
Maybe I should back up a little to clarify.
Some hostas are very susceptible to Hosta Virus X. When exposed to the virus they have a very good chance of becoming infected. Other hostas are not quite as susceptible to the virus, and may take repeated exposure to the virus before they are infected. Yet other hostas may be even more difficult to infect and may take repeated exposures to high concentrations of the virus to become infected.
The chances of transmitting the virus also goes up with the concentration of the virus, the amount of sap on the tools, and the size of the damage made on the healthy plant.
The next variable in HVX infection is the rate at which the infected plants show visible symptoms. Some plants show symptoms in a matter of weeks after infection, some may take months, others may take years, and it is possible but has not really been proven, that some plants may carry the virus and never really express visible symptoms. It is also possible for the symptoms to go into remission and come out again in later years.
Some plants that catch the virus easily and show symptoms rather quickly are the tiara family eg. Golden Tiara, Diamond Tiara and fragrant plants eg. Royal Standard, Honeybells. Shade Fanfare is also reported to show the virus extremely easily and quickly.
Some plants that catch the virus easily but don't show symptoms right away are the Halcyon family including Halcyon, June, Katherine Lewis, El Nino, etc. These plants catch the virus easily but take 2 to 3 years to show symptoms, if they show symptoms at all. Halcyon is getting to be a big problem and I think the field grown wholesalers supplying this plant are going to be in big trouble soon since you can only test Halcyon to find the virus.
The fortunei family of plants also catches the virus easily but don't show symptoms for quite a while. These include Francee, Patriot, Minuteman, Revolution, Gold Standard, Striptease.
Then the Sum and Substance family catches the virus easily. The chartreuse/yellow leaved plants show the virus in a couple years after infection but the darker leaved plants may be harder to notice as the mottling tends to be the same dark green on these plants. It isn't until the virus levels reach a high enough concentration for you to see the tissue distortion that you can visibly see the infection, so plants like Beauty Substance, Sum It Up, etc. may take a few years or more to really show the symptoms.
Another family of plants that seems to catch the virus easily is ventricosa. Plants like Ventricosa, Ventricosa Aureomarginata, Lakeside Black Satin, Lakeside Coal Miner can catch the virus fairly easily although I don't know the actual rate at which they show symptoms.
There are still other plants that may take repeated exposure to the virus to really become infected, and others that take a long time to actually show the visible symptoms. Symptoms are also quite variable from cultivar to cultivar, but this seems to be more of a cultivar response than different strains of the virus, although different strains may exist.
So to finally answer your question - yes, the virus can spread between different cultivars, and it can spread easily, especially depending on the plants involved. It can take years of watching to know for certain that the virus was spread, and it can take a while for the virus to spread throughout the plant, so it is advisable to wait an entire season to a year before having tests run since testing cannot pick up a low concentration of virus.
It is important to note that there is no cure for plant viruses (and there never will be a cure for them). Once a plant gets infected the virus is present at the cellular level and after the plant has grown a while it will be present in every part of the plant - the leaves, scapes, roots, crown - so you can't just remove the leaves or remove the symptomatic pieces to get rid of the virus, you have to destroy the plants.
Feel free to ask any more questions. I know that was probably all a jumble as I wrote it, so let me know if you need any of it clarified.
Good luck with your hosta business!
Chris
Unfortunately Hosta Virus X spreads very easily from one hosta to another on uncleaned tools, especially when cutting and dividing. It seems to spread easiest from cutting into rhizomes and roots and doesn't spread as quickly (but DOES still spread) when cutting leaves and scapes. Basically it doesn't seem to "take" as fast when cutting leaves and scapes as it does when cutting roots and crowns, which I believe is related to the surface area of exposer.
Roots and crowns may be exposed to the entire surface of the knife and the entire knife may become contaminated with infected sap so that the next cut has a lot of virus applied to it, making the chance of spreading the virus much greater. When cutting scapes you are only exposing a small surface area of plant material to the surface of the scissors or pruners and then you have to get that contamination directly into the cut on the next scape to maximize the chance of spreading it.
Maybe I should back up a little to clarify.
Some hostas are very susceptible to Hosta Virus X. When exposed to the virus they have a very good chance of becoming infected. Other hostas are not quite as susceptible to the virus, and may take repeated exposure to the virus before they are infected. Yet other hostas may be even more difficult to infect and may take repeated exposures to high concentrations of the virus to become infected.
The chances of transmitting the virus also goes up with the concentration of the virus, the amount of sap on the tools, and the size of the damage made on the healthy plant.
The next variable in HVX infection is the rate at which the infected plants show visible symptoms. Some plants show symptoms in a matter of weeks after infection, some may take months, others may take years, and it is possible but has not really been proven, that some plants may carry the virus and never really express visible symptoms. It is also possible for the symptoms to go into remission and come out again in later years.
Some plants that catch the virus easily and show symptoms rather quickly are the tiara family eg. Golden Tiara, Diamond Tiara and fragrant plants eg. Royal Standard, Honeybells. Shade Fanfare is also reported to show the virus extremely easily and quickly.
Some plants that catch the virus easily but don't show symptoms right away are the Halcyon family including Halcyon, June, Katherine Lewis, El Nino, etc. These plants catch the virus easily but take 2 to 3 years to show symptoms, if they show symptoms at all. Halcyon is getting to be a big problem and I think the field grown wholesalers supplying this plant are going to be in big trouble soon since you can only test Halcyon to find the virus.
The fortunei family of plants also catches the virus easily but don't show symptoms for quite a while. These include Francee, Patriot, Minuteman, Revolution, Gold Standard, Striptease.
Then the Sum and Substance family catches the virus easily. The chartreuse/yellow leaved plants show the virus in a couple years after infection but the darker leaved plants may be harder to notice as the mottling tends to be the same dark green on these plants. It isn't until the virus levels reach a high enough concentration for you to see the tissue distortion that you can visibly see the infection, so plants like Beauty Substance, Sum It Up, etc. may take a few years or more to really show the symptoms.
Another family of plants that seems to catch the virus easily is ventricosa. Plants like Ventricosa, Ventricosa Aureomarginata, Lakeside Black Satin, Lakeside Coal Miner can catch the virus fairly easily although I don't know the actual rate at which they show symptoms.
There are still other plants that may take repeated exposure to the virus to really become infected, and others that take a long time to actually show the visible symptoms. Symptoms are also quite variable from cultivar to cultivar, but this seems to be more of a cultivar response than different strains of the virus, although different strains may exist.
So to finally answer your question - yes, the virus can spread between different cultivars, and it can spread easily, especially depending on the plants involved. It can take years of watching to know for certain that the virus was spread, and it can take a while for the virus to spread throughout the plant, so it is advisable to wait an entire season to a year before having tests run since testing cannot pick up a low concentration of virus.
It is important to note that there is no cure for plant viruses (and there never will be a cure for them). Once a plant gets infected the virus is present at the cellular level and after the plant has grown a while it will be present in every part of the plant - the leaves, scapes, roots, crown - so you can't just remove the leaves or remove the symptomatic pieces to get rid of the virus, you have to destroy the plants.
Feel free to ask any more questions. I know that was probably all a jumble as I wrote it, so let me know if you need any of it clarified.
Good luck with your hosta business!
Chris
Hello there Chris.
Thank you very much for your answer to my inquiry earlier this spring. I never did thank you, and so now I do. Your answer was very thorough, insightful and educational to me.
On the note of educational, I am considering writing a brief information sheet about HVX to promote or bring awarness of this problem/ issue to the gardener level. I see you have a DVD available, which I think is a great tool to use aswell.
I was wondering if I could possibly use some of your answer to me, as a quoted reference for the ease of me creating this document. Cut and paste is easier than regergitation in my own words you see, and rather than plagerize, I would rather quote, respectively.
Thank you very much for your time
Dykhof
Thank you very much for your answer to my inquiry earlier this spring. I never did thank you, and so now I do. Your answer was very thorough, insightful and educational to me.
On the note of educational, I am considering writing a brief information sheet about HVX to promote or bring awarness of this problem/ issue to the gardener level. I see you have a DVD available, which I think is a great tool to use aswell.
I was wondering if I could possibly use some of your answer to me, as a quoted reference for the ease of me creating this document. Cut and paste is easier than regergitation in my own words you see, and rather than plagerize, I would rather quote, respectively.
Thank you very much for your time
Dykhof