HVX test strips

[chelielynn]

The hosta library is showing an HVX Test strip. Has anyone used these?

http://www.agdia.com/hosta/hostapage.html

Thanks,
Shelly

[Chris_W]

Hi,

I got some to try out and they are easy to use, just follow a few simple steps. I'll probably send some plants out for testing as a comparison, just to be sure. At least they should act as a double check/confirmation if you see symptoms on a plant, but if there are no symptoms I don't know what the lower threshold is to give you a positive.

[chelielynn]

That's kind of what I was wondering. There's just two I would really like to test just to be sure. I've got most of mine at nurseries where HVX is talked about but if I remember correctly finding a clean source for Halycon has proven difficult. Just wanted to be a little pro-active.

[kontyx]

Hello Shelly and everyone else. I work for Agdia (the company that has developed the HVX test strip) and would be happy to answer any questions that you might have. This is one of the most informative forums I have seen on the net and I would love to contribute to it anyway I can.

[chelielynn]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for posting first of all, a company watching the forums makes customer service a high priority. I was looking over your site but couldn't find anything on false positive rates or accuracy of the tests. Do you have any white papers that I missed that can be reviewed? Also Chris was wonder about plants that weren't showing symptoms, which is the reason that I am looking at these tests. Any of this information would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Shelly

[kontyx]

Hello Shelly,
Thank you for your question. As far as the accuracy of the test, it has a greater than 99% correlation with ELISA. All 252 leaf samples and 248 root samples that were used in the validation were pre-screened with ELISA and run in duplicate with the HVX test strip. There were two samples (one duplicate sample) that did not initially match with the Elisa results but when retested with another strip it did confirm. It is believed that the reason for this was user error on the first attempt. In regards to testing plants with no symptoms, Hosta virus X is a Potexvirus. That fact being said, it is bad for the plant but good for the test. This Potexvirus, HVX tends to be distributed throughout the infected plant and tends to reach fairly high levels as well. It is pretty well known that an HVX infection can remain asymptomatic years but as long as the virus is present, the strip should have no problem picking it up.

[chelielynn]

Thanks for the information Steve. This gives me good information to work off of.

Thanks,
Shelly

[kontyx]

You are very welcome and it is nice to talk to you.

[kontyx]

Im very excited and feeling the anticipation of leaving tomorrow to head out to St. Louis!!! This will be my first time going to St. Louis so Im even more excited. I will be running a booth at the convention to promote and demonstrate the HVX test strip so come on over and say hello. It will be nice to finally meet people in person

[JoshS]

Will you have strips available for sale in St. Louis, Steve?

[thy]

Need those too... so where and when

[jessicasteven]

Where does one go to purchase test strips without insurance? I don't understand if you can buy over the counter lancets but not strips. Please advise.

[Lessadragon]

The kits are available through Agdia. Here is the web address:

http://www.agdia.com/cgi_bin/catalog.cg ... 600%2F0005

Lynn