Very worried, do my plants have HVX?

[cat]

Good Morning all,

Having just spent a week reading about [and looking at pictures of] hvx I find myself confused and seeing symptoms everywhere. Many of my first plants came from home depot and Wal-Mart I'm sure I have problems I need to deal with. Unfortunately I may have unknowingly spread HVX to some of my most prized plants as I just want on a dividing spree. I'd love to get some professional opinions; it breaks my heart to think that I'll have to kill of any of my plants.

Here are a couple of plants; I tried to get an assortment of different _possible_ symptoms

* Additional pictures and hi-res images available but could not be uploaded here.

[Tigger]

That Paul's Glory and Sum and Substance, most definitely. Sorry to say. The NOID from Lowes is also suspect. The Frances Williams may be o.k. unless infected after you got it (not showing symptoms). Liberty is probably not unless it has picked it up by transfer within your garden.

Good luck.

David

[cat]

That Paul's Glory and Sum and Substance, most definitely. Sorry to say. The NOID from Lowes is also suspect. The Frances Williams may be o.k. unless infected after you got it (not showing symptoms). Liberty is probably not unless it has picked it up by transfer within your garden.

Thanks David,

I do have some questions so I can better diagnose on my own next time. What was the telltale sign on Sum and Substance? After posting the picture I was comparing another of the same that I got at a different time and they look a lot alike. I know I'm missing something obvious just not sure what? At first I thought it was the corrugation but that now appears to be normal (from Internet pictures).

I thought for sure the NOID was infected with something, what should I look for before destroying it?

I was surprised and relived when you said the Frances Williams looks fine. It has not been in proximity to any of the "definitely infected" plants. Its new growth is so very strange, what's going on there?

And what's up with Liberty? That can't be normal

Thanks again for all your help, I've still got a lot to learn!

[ViolaAnn]

I concur. Paul's Glory definitely infected. If you've got lots of them, you've probably infected others in your garden. Francis Williams looks pretty much like ink bleed to me. The others I'm not sure.

You need to destroy the Paul's Glory plants and likely the Francis Williams and you need to start right now wiping down your tools (including your hands) thoroughly any time you work on one plant and go to another. If you've just been dividing plants and haven't been cleaning your tools well,you have probably infected others. There are several ways to clean your tools. I find the easiest for me is to keep Clorox wipes in the garden and wipe down everything. I've also kept rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle and used it and a cloth to clean my tools.

You may want to invest in some test strips so that if you see suspicious things on other plants you can test.

finally, don't replant with hostas where the infected plants were.

Ann

[Chris_W]

Hi. I know this is going to get confusing, but Frances Williams is not showing any signs of Hosta Virus X. Those new leaves are just showing really fast growth that hasn't had a chance to totally green up yet. That is not bleeding along the veins because the vein coloring is the normal color. In time these leaves will look perfectly normal. If it was virus, the "bleeding" would be a different or wrong color and then the rest of the leaves would be normal.

Next, the "Paul's Glory" plants are actually Gold Standard so they were labeled wrong, but yes, those definitely, without a doubt are virus infected.

With Liberty, that is one of the first leaves and it was damaged somehow. It doesn't show any proof or symptom of HVX. The rest of the leaves appear normal, so this was some kind of environmental damage.

Now the NOID that was labeled Karin is definitely virus infected. That is bumping plus collapsing tissue along the veins that just screams out virus to me.

Finally, I can't tell anything from the picture of Sum and Substance. It could be frost or cold damage and I can't really see what the veins are doing because of the dirt. I'd have to see other leaves on the rest of the plant to tell if any of the strange bumps and distortion is anything to worry about. Not sure what David is seeing to prove that this really is HVX, but unfortunately it wouldn't surprise me if it really had it...

Hope that helps a little more.

Chris

[cat]

Thanks so much everyone!

Chris thanks so much for the clarifications. There is so much to learn with hostas I'm just hoping I can come up to speed before I make any other HUGE mistakes.

Bad Wal-Mart, Bad Lowes! I can not believe they sell infected plants, the average gardener (and my local extension agents) have never heard of HVX.

Well the Gold Standard is going to the dump today. What a shame, lesson learned.

The NOID will go into isolation because this one was split before I knew HVX existed and was split during a massive splitting spree. If it's infected its possible that many others are to I will try and acquire test strips for at least this plant and a couple of others. On a side note no tools where used during the splitting only bare hands. I wished between plants as to not get completely covered in mud. The soil from this plant may have been mixed with the potting soil for lots of other plants; I really can't say for sure, it was a while back. It is my understanding that even if the soil was reused the chances of spreading the virus are somewhat limited? How long would you expect it would be before the split plants would show signs, or would be testable?

I'll get some additional pictures of the Sum and Substance (plants) today. They are covered with sooty mold after a woolly aphid outbreak. They have been sprayed with 3336-WP and should be fine.

Thanks for all the help,
-Brian & Jess

[cat]

As promised here are some more pictures of the Sum and Substance. Unfortunately the leaves have been beaten badly by a hail storm but are back to doing well. Lots of new growth popping up.

[Chris_W]

Hi Cat,

Since these are the oldest leaves on the clump of Sum and Substance I suspect that strange crinkling is cold damage or something else. You will see dark green splotches, spots, or mottling along the veins if they have HVX. I've never really seen Sum and Substance get distorted or collapsing tissue until way after you see the dark spots. I'd have to see some of the newer leaves or a picture of the whole clump to tell much more. I just don't see any HVX from these pictures, but like I mentioned, if another Lowe's/Walmart purchase, it wouldn't surprise me.

[Tigger]

I agree this looks safe for now. Sorry for my earlier mis-diagnosis. The dirt (sooty stuff) fooled me, and I was viewing from my laptop. Keep an eye on it, though; it may take 5 years for HVX to show up.

[cat]

First I want to thank everyone for providing feedback.

I was able to send off samples to a lab and have the results back.

Golden Standard & NOID both Infected.
Liberty affected by growth regulator herbicide (must have been before I received)
Sum and Substance leaf necrosis from sunscorch (tests showed no pathogens)
I did not send a sample of Frances Williams everyone agreed it was not viral.

-Brian

[Chris_W]

I hope you didn't spend too much to have this done but thank you for sharing the official results. Glad to know that I was right on with my diagnoses of them, and that's great that your Sum and Substance is clean!