Lakeside Looking Glass ill with something

ViolaAnn · Post by **ViolaAnn** » Jun 10, 2008 4:04 pm

My Lakeside Looking Glass was good looking for most of last summer. Then it faded out to almost nothing. I was happy to see it come back this year, but that was short-lived as it clearly is not well. To my eye, it doesn't really fit the classic HVX symptoms, but I'm not really sure. I would appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks,
Ann

Pieter · Post by **Pieter** » Jun 10, 2008 4:25 pm

Ann,

Does not look healthy to me. I had -operative word- an Undulata this spring that started to show what you are witnessing and I did NOT want to take a chance and tossed it. The collapsing tissue is typically associated with HVX.

Post by **Chris_W** » Jun 11, 2008 9:45 am

Hi Ann,

Sorry I didn't reply sooner but I saw the thread and agreed completely with Pieter. I'm also not sure if it is HVX - if it is it is one of the worst cases I've ever seen in such a short period of time - but I would not keep it around no matter what it might be..

The Lakeside hostas are unfortunately very susceptible to HVX infection and can catch it quite easily

Sorry!

Chris

ViolaAnn · Post by **ViolaAnn** » Jun 11, 2008 12:12 pm

Thanks, Chris. The plant will be gone before the day is out.

newtohosta-no more · Post by **newtohosta-no more** » Jun 11, 2008 5:46 pm

Sorry about you L.S. Looking Glass. It's always pretty early in the spring, but I've never seen one look that awful! Poor thing.

jobranch · Post by **jobranch** » Jun 11, 2008 6:09 pm

Chris - curious: why would the Lakeside series be more susecptable to HVX? I am trying to understand why certain hostas are listed this way. Is it due to their mass appeal and therefore have a greater chance of getting the virus?

ViolaAnn · Post by **ViolaAnn** » Jun 11, 2008 7:26 pm

I've had a response from the nursery where I bought LLG. They have already tested their other stock and it tests negative. They are going to repeat the test on another plant to be sure.

To date, I've only had one other confirmed case of HVX in my garden - last year in June and the two plants were never close to each other. They came from different sources too. I've been aware of the virus for some time and sterilize tools. I suspect it may be something else which has infected the plant, but I've still dug it up and it's been sunning itself on my patio all afternoon.

Ann

Mary Ann · Post by **Mary Ann** » Jun 11, 2008 8:26 pm

Jo, I don't remember many details or who did it but there was an extensive study done where many hosta cultivars were deliberatately injected with HVX virus. Results showed which hosta were very suseptible, some resistant and varying degrees of suseptibility in between.

Here's a great link on hosta diseases and pests . . . .
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/SUL14.pdf

jobranch · Post by **jobranch** » Jun 12, 2008 8:26 am

Thanks Mary Ann. I have seen that publication, actually have it saved on my laptop. The list you talk about is it similar to the one of HVX hosta on the Hosta Library or what Chris has put on the HVX forum?

Jeff

Post by **Chris_W** » Jun 12, 2008 10:14 pm

Hi Ann,

I was thinking that HVX is of course not the only virus to affect hostas. If they were testing just for HVX that can't rule out some other virus problem here. In our testing Dr. Lockhart has found 4 or 5 other viruses in hostas, a few that he couldn't even identify. HVX is simply the most common one.

Jeff, Dr. Lockhart did a study several years ago to see the effects of HVX infection on different hosta cultivars. Some caught it really easy, others caught it but took a long time to show any symptoms, and others seemed much more difficult to infect, often taking numerous inoculations before they became infected.

Mary Chastain has a lot of Ventricosa heritage in her hostas, and Ventricosa just happens to be one of the plants that can catch it fairly easily.

ViolaAnn · Post by **ViolaAnn** » Jun 12, 2008 11:16 pm

Thanks, Chris. That was my thinking - that it was likely something else. I DID salvage three leaves and couriered them to the nursery where I purchased it. While it's obviously ill with something and likely best out of my garden, I decided I would like to know whether it was HVX. Whatever, it makes me rethink times I might not have been as diligent as I like to be about sterilizing.

ViolaAnn · Post by **ViolaAnn** » Jun 13, 2008 7:40 pm

I got a message from the nursery from which I got LLG. Sent her three leaves by courier yesterday and she tested them.

Hi Ann -
Thank you for sending the plant leaves. They arrived today in outstanding condition. There was enough good material there, and no decay. I have to say - those leaf markings were pretty severe - the worst I have seen. I was able to perform the AGDIA HVX test on the material supplied and the test strip had a positive mark for the validity of the test. It also had a positive marker for HVX. So yes - that plant material tested positive for HVX.

I guess the good news is - you now know precisely what it looks like, first hand. It is scary when you think what might have been contaminated by transfer from it - instruments/ tools / I am feeling really guilty, as I supplied you the original plant material. I have tested my remaining stock - and it was the only shipment I received of it - and mine all tests negative. I am doing another of mine again - what - ?? do I expect a different result from yesterday?? Not that I WANT it to be positive -not a chance. But if there is the SLIGHTEST chance I could have it here and be passing it on, I really really REALLY want to know that.

I honestly do not know how your plant became infected. At this point we can say with surety that according to the AGDIA HVX test, it has it. We can also say that the source stock from which it came, is clear, and that would lead one to speculate on what modes of transfer might be involved. One plant you might consider, is a thick dark blue
hosta, as they do not show the infection easily.

I will not make an issue of reimbursement either for the plant or for the $20 cost of sending the leaves. It is not likely that the virus came from her. Yet the demise of the plant was EXTREMELY rapid. Something else in my garden must have it and not be showing the signs and I must have been careless enough to have spread it. That's why I hope to get my hands on some of the test strips if the co-op works out.

Ann

Post by **Chris_W** » Jun 13, 2008 9:00 pm

Hi Ann,

Try to think back. What else did you get in that shipment, what else did you plant at the same time, and did you ever trim it or touch it last year? I really think it had to be infected at least some time last year to look like that this year.

Thanks for the follow through on it as it helps us all learn more.

ViolaAnn · Post by **ViolaAnn** » Jun 13, 2008 9:33 pm

I have a list of everything that came in that shipment -

'Lakeside Looking Glass', 'Lakeside Shoremaster', 'Last Dance', 'Little Sunspot', 'Praying Hands', 'Outhouse Delight'.

They all look very good, but I bet those would be more suspect than the others wouldn't they?

ViolaAnn · Post by **ViolaAnn** » Jun 26, 2008 3:13 pm

The nursery from which LLG came from has sent me another. It doesn't look real good, but the owner tested it twice with the strips and even sent the strip along with the plant. Since she tested, I will accept the new plant, grow it in a good terra cotta pot and observe it for awhile.

Ann

Pieter · Post by **Pieter** » Jun 27, 2008 9:23 am

Ann, if you're in the habit, like me, of re-hydrating a shipment of bare root Hostas by putting them a bucket of water for at least 6 hours or more, than you ended up inadvertently subjecting all those plants to what ever sap-borne evil one of them may have had. In your case HVX, in my case last year it was nematodes. You would be well-advised to pay particular attention to all those other ones for a couple of years, not sure I'd go to the bother of digging them up and potting them though, just watch 'em like a hawk. With my experience last year I now take a different approach to re-hydrating bare root Hostas, upon receipt I put each plant in a separate container. I save those quart containers you buy yogurt in -I drill holes on the side at the bottom and use them as pots for small divisions- and find they do nicely for smaller plants, the larger ones I find buckets for.

ViolaAnn · Post by **ViolaAnn** » Jun 27, 2008 5:16 pm

Pieter - I did that last year. This year, I thought better of it and each plant had its own cup of water. Fortunately, most were minis or very small. And I didn't order as many. Most this year came from local sources already planted. I think I'll put a coloured marker next to the plants mentioned above as a reminder to watch them carefully.

ViolaAnn · Post by **ViolaAnn** » Jun 27, 2008 9:55 pm

Was out gardening this evening and it occurred to me that I have 4 other plants at risk. I received an infected Gypsy Rose 2 years ago (discovered it mid-June last year and pulled it out, but it could well have infected others in that shipment.

Yikes! I don't think that all 5 plants that I ordered at that time shared the same water, but probably 1 or 2 did. However, I don't know which ones anymore; so that adds 4 more plants to the suspect list.