Hallson Gardens

Does my Sum & substance look like its infected with HVX or hopefully, lack of water? I've had this plant for 5 Years and it has finally taken off but the large leaves look strange. The new leaves dont look like this. I have just learned about this virus and have a substantial hosta bed,60 plus plants, and am now worried.

did you get some freezing weather after this plant unfurled this year? If so, and the newest leaves aren't showing any damage, then that could be the culprit.

HVX infection in Sum and Substance doesn't look like this, but for me it is really hard to see what is going on here with the bright lighting. Also, were the leaves wet at the time this picture was taken and after the leaves dry out is the color more consistent? That would lead to frost/freeze damage instead of virus.

New pictures of this plant, especially the newer leaves, on a cloudy day might be more helpful, but like I said, I've never seen HVX on sum and substance look anything like this.

Wish I could be more helpful on this one.

Chris

That third pic looks like bad HVX to me.

David

Hard to say Tigger. To me the third pic looks more like translucent frost damage.

Yes, we did get freezing temps a couple of times when the plant was up quite a bit. The color is constant and dark when the leaves are dry. The veins on the underside are normal color. I will keep a cautious eye on it. I was wondering if it was some frost damage as well. I will take a pic on a cloudy day and post that.
Thanks for your help and I am really appreciating this forum!

Here are more pics on a cloudy day.
Also noticed an apple green Hosta this morning that looks like it may have the virus.i will post it also.

Oh my God, yes, that is bad HVX. The original pictures just didn't show it that clearly

Sorry

Chris

Well crap, I am really concerned now cause that plant hasn't moved from its spot for at least 5 years and I got it from a division from my mom. She has divided hers and they look wonderful. So the only thing I can think of it was transferred from me cutting the scapes off. The apple green and it are in completely different beds.
I have been using bleach and Clorox wipes for a couple of weeks now.
How long do you think I should watch all my hostas for?
Should I avoid adding any new hostas?

It is hard to say how this plant got HVX, but with an infection this bad it had to have it most of the time but either you didn't notice the subtle early symptoms or it wasn't showing at all for a while. The infection may have even occurred back when you were taking the division from your Mom's. Scape cutting isn't as easy to transfer as other types of cutting. Unfortunately animal grazing hasn't been ruled out as a method of transfer too.

The other thing that I hate to mention is that some plants won't ever show symptoms. Patriot, Minuteman, Halcyon, Francee, and a few others can have HVX without showing anything. You might have one of these in the garden that is the original source. So remember to clean and disinfect everything from now on.

If you have a spot where you've never grown hostas to start new things that would be safer, at least until you can get the garden cleaned up. Also you might consider buying HVX immunostrip test kits from AGDIA. They aren't cheep but you can test multiple plants (3 or 4) per kit and if you get a negative then you just ruled out those 3 or 4 plants as being the source. If you get a positive test then you will want to go back and test each individually. You can buy the test kits from AGDIA online: http://www.agdia.com