Sad day: Newly spotted HVX on established hostas

[Linda P]

Yesterday I spotted several badly infected leaves on a huge 4 year old clump of Dance With Me. This came from the same nursery on the same
day as I got an American Sweetheart, which I pitched year before last, also virus infected. It went straight from the nursery pot into the ground,
with no cutting or dividing, so no chance it was infected that way. Now the entire huge clump will have to go, and leave a large spot in the hosta garden
that will either stay empty or be filled with something else. More shocking to me was the discovery of something that certainly appears to be HVX on an 11 year old clump of Radiant Edger, which has not shown any sign of virus in all that time. I got another Radiant Edger the same year in a trade that was obviously infected and immediately pitched it. This one, however, came from a different source and appeared fine all this time. It's never been divided, and I don't cut scapes, but leave them on til spring and clean them up then by breaking them off. Hopefully I've not transferred the virus from either of these to anything else, but I'll be on the lookout.
Just a warning to everyone to make sure you never become lax in cleaning tools between plants, as you never know when a plant may be hosting the virus,
but the symptoms are not apparant.

Linda P

[ogrefcf]

Sorry to hear that Linda . The plants you sent me are all doing great! The Lemon frost seems to be sporting also. I'll have to get some pictures.

[rockNhostas]

Sorry about your plants.

[Trudy]

Bummer Linda....feel bad for you in the discovery!

Scary to think how long this virus can hide

[jgh]

so sorry... I

've been so lucky so far... guess its time for me to do a thorough garden tour with a critical eye...

I did have a hosta person last week tell me I had a virused plant, but what she was seeing was cold damage to a small plant that has grown in a hollowed-out rock for about a decade. It survives year after year, but depending on thawing time and cold snaps, it can look kind of odd. Anyway, I think HVX has some of us spooked enough that we start to suspect anything out of the ordinary... and who can afford to test every suspect?

I'm sure you know what you are doing... Sorry you have to remove such old friends...

[Chris_W]

Hi Linda,

Can you take pictures of these to share with us, maybe as a second set of eyes to make certain that you are seeing HVX and not something else? Like JGH said, lots of us are spooked about things these days and all the strange weather this spring doesn't help.

[Linda P]

I will get some soon. I'm in Minnesota at my son's house now. When I get back I'll dig out my old camera and snap a few pics. I'm fairly sure about these two. I've not removed them yet. My neighbor, who is 85, and not in the best of health but still keeping up with her big Hosta garden, came over with a Sweet Home Chicago that was definitely virused. She gives away a lot of divisions,and I've not been able to get her to clean her shovel between plants. About 3 or 4 years ago she had a striptease that was virused and I'm afraid she may have transferred it around her garden before she knew about the virus. I do have a test strip I plan to use on the Dance With Me because it is a big beautiful clump.

[thy]

11 Years

Are you sure... I hope not

Send pics and get the 2. oppinion

[kHT]

Oh Linda, how sad.