Hallson Gardens

This would seem to go against the practical wisdom of viral transmission, but in the latest (April 2007) "Grower Talks" Dennis Lewandowski of Ohio State University noted that the latest info shows the HVX virus can be seed transmitted.

YIKES!!!

Just a warning for all you seed swappers out there on Hallsons!

I was just setting here this morning & wondering about that.

Claudia

Actually, that makes me feel even better about swapping seeds only with people here.

I think Chris has done an excellent job of alerting the Hallson's Forum members on the symptoms and risks of HVX and I think this may be the most vigilent group of hosta afficianados that gather in one area. Okay, it is a cyber gathering, but I'm sure you all know what I mean.

Anyway, I know I have personally trashed a couple of hostas I suspected of having HVX (thank you for the education, Chris) and I would never send seeds from a plant I suspected of having HVX and I feel confident that the Hallson's folks feel the same way.

What scares the heck out of me is the thought of getting seeds from eBay. YIKES is right!

Good luck and I hope everyone who is starting seedlings is confident of the source of the seeds or takes every precaution to keep those seedlings segregated until they are as sure as possible that no infection is present.

Alexa

Thankfully I got all my seeds from the exchange here and the majority from Chris.

But I was wondering about it after Charla posted pics of seedlings from seeds she got off ebay. But I had looked on ebay. Nixed the idea after reading about several people getting ripped of by sellers.

Claudia

DryGulch wrote:This would seem to go against the practical wisdom of viral transmission, but in the latest (April 2007) "Grower Talks" Dennis Lewandowski of Ohio State University noted that the latest info shows the HVX virus can be seed transmitted.

Is this new information and contrary to what has been thought previously? Before I purchased my seed on ebay, I had asked a reliable source about HVX and transmission thru seed and they said that like other viruses it wasn't transmitted. I think the sellers I got the seeds from on ebay are reputable and have been growing for years, but I didn't ask any of them about HVX. I only bought from 4 sellers...I guess I can contact them. I will say that the sellers I bought from performed exactly as they said they would, provided product that was as good or better than advertised, and most also sent free seeds, too. I had a good experience with ebay buying of seeds (which is the only thing I have purchased on ebay), but I do have a question now about HVX being transmitted.

<----- Hoping Chris will chime in.

Darn it if that is a fact

Hope to know for sure soon

Alexa you are right

Pia

Apparently, this is true. Here is a link to an abstract on the subject:

http://www.actahort.org/members/showpdf ... rnr=722_11

Thanks for the link John.

It does now look like HVX can be transmitted by seed.

The transmission rate was low on the Blue Cadet mentioned, but this simply adds more fuel to the argument that you should NEVER keep an infected plant in your garden.

In this study it appears the infected plant was the pod parent. Since even fewer viruses are pollen transmitted I bet the chance of pollen transmission is low to none, but who knows!

Thanks again for sharing this new information. We are always learning more about this.

What a beast this HVX thing is....

Well, I emailed the 4 people I bought seeds from off ebay. 3 have responded so far...2 with very good news, they had heard the report and for years have been taking precautions against HVX. They are both state licensed growers and described their HVX prevention practices to me and it was good! The 3rd one new what I was talking about, but had not yet seen the report and was thankful for the info. I emailed him back asking for his prevention strategy, but he was very eager to answer and to help out. I AM VERY REASSURED!!! The forth one I only got a few seeds from and the seedlings so far are unimpressive, so if I don't hear back or don't get good response...out they go!!! Whew! I know I still need to be vigilent, but I do feel much better. I would be devastated if the HVX got my streaky babies!

BTW, DryGulch, although this is very bad news I do appreciate you bringing it to our attention!

Yeah, very bad news, and it makes me rethink a lot of what I thought I knew about viruses.

I would hope Chris is right about the chance of transmission in this fashion. Think of the implications, if not. If your neighbor down the way has infected hosta and the dizzy bee pollinator flies from his infected hosta to your hosta collection of prized plants and you have seedlings from them, or pollen flicks off on a freshly cut scape...could that infect a plant? What concentration of the virus for some of the more suseptible plants does their need to be?

I posed this question of seed transmission to a plant pathologist friend of mine. He directed me to the same abstract John posted the link for, and added:

The generalized answer is "yes to seed transmission" and "no to pollen transmission". I'll qualify that by saying I'm not sure anyone has looked at pollen transmission of HVX in Hosta.

Bottom line is that this disease is too new for a lot of research to have been done yet. Just because most potexviruses behave a certain way doesn't necessarily mean HVX will behave the same way. From the above abstract it seems the percent transmission via seed is pretty low (7.5%) and I don't know if the seed is just surface contaminated (in which case the seed can be disinfested) or if the embryos are infected. Obviously that needs to be
worked out. Hope this answers your question(s).

Thanks for the info, buckeye, but with this new info out, I must admit I am still a little panicky. I heard back from 3 of the 4 people I bought seed from and am very confident that they have taken all the precautions that can be taken. Haven't heard from the 4th and if I don't soon...those seedlings are in the trash! Fortunately I hadn't transplanted or disturbed any of them, so I'll just be a little more cautious when I do. Thanks everyone!

Bringing this up to the top, as this is the first time we learned that HVX could be transmitted by seed. There is a link to the abstract posted here too.