Virus or Just Ugly

[scottsmith]

Hello,
I've had this small Hosta in my front garden for several years. It has always been a mess not looking very pretty, but I never thought to be concerned. Now after becoming very interested in Hostas, I'm beginning to question if this is a sick plant or has a virus. This year the plant came in looking happier, still ugly, but better than it had looked before. It had lots of new growth coming on, so I decided to separate some of the new growth. Since doing so, one of the divisions is growing rapidly and has a bloom. The other division is doing fine as well as the mother. I'm not sure of the name either.

Attached are three photos, Mother Plant and then Division One and two

[Chris_W]

Hello and welcome to the forums. Unfortunately I would say that, from what I can see, those sunken areas look like Hosta Virus X. If you were able to take a picture that was a closeup of a leaf then I would know better. From a distance it does look sick.

Sorry.

Chris

[scottsmith]

Thank you Chris. These are not close to my other Hostas, but now I'm nervous. Here are two closeup images, maybe that helps.

[scottsmith]

Larger image of the original photo

[Tigger]

I tend to agree with Chris. Just to rule it out: was this (or your other hostas) affected by late frost/freeze? Chris, is it typical that first flush leaves show symptoms but second flush leaves do not?

David

[scottsmith]

David I can't remember any serious late frost happening this year. None of the other Hostas had any signs of damage.
The second flush leaves coming up clean is what I wondered about also. In one photo of the smaller leaf, you can see the beginning of the puckering starting on the upper left.
Again I have no idea what variety this Hosta is, maybe (Wide Brim), and not sure if puckering would be normal trait.

I believe these came from a garage sale years ago when someone did divisions of their own plants. I plan on digging them up and clearing out the soil. I have test kist but wasn't sure if it was worth concerning myself over since they are truly nothing special.

[Chris_W]

Hi, The closeup of the older leaf doesn't actually show anything but the NEW leaf has clear HVX symptoms when you zoom in. So it definitely is worth getting rid of it. If you want me to highlight the symptoms I'll edit it in Photoshop to mark it. I don't see any obvious frost damage on this one myself.

[scottsmith]

Thank you Chris. They're coming out along with all the dirt. I did realize I have two Hostas on the other side of that fence, but not seeing any signs of trouble. Fingers crossed it stays that way.
Need to make a road trip to visit your place- we're in Kalamazoo, not far.