I don't know about the HVX, but the last hosta is Purple Heart.

I'm not an expert either but I don't see any sunken areas that occur as the virus causes the cellulose which supports the tissue to collapse creating sunken areas in the foliage. Again though I'm not an expert.

Scott

That looks like cold damage to me.

I don't think we've had any cold.

On the Royal Standard - there are three plants there and only one has the bleeding.

bkay

The 'Royal Standard' looks like it has ink bleeding and I'd consider it very suspect. The 'Forest Fire' looks sun burnt -and slug damaged-, the 'Purple Heart' also looks suspect, a close-up of the leaves at the 7.30 and 12 position will provide some more detail and hopefully a definitive answer, its veinal pattern could be ink bleed or possibly a form of chlorosis....

Pieter

I'd be worried about the Royal Standard. It looks virused to me. Pieter is right about Forest Fire. I also think the Purple Heart is OK. That just looks like new growth to me. I would bet those young leaves will green up fine in a few weeks. If they don't that's a problem. But just watch them. I often see that pattern with the new growth on seedlings.

Steve

Chlorosis is common here, as we have alkaline soil and water.

Peiter, I can't get those areas you are mentioning any closer. My photo isn't that good. If I'm over there close, I'll go take another shot next week.

I don't think it's slugs. I have similar damage (not nearly as bad as the arboretum) and the slug bait didn't slow them down. I've only seen two slugs this whole year and I'm going out at night regularly. What I've caught in the act are cut worms and some other kind of caterpillar. Dipel (powdered BT) works, but leaves a white residue on the leaves that doesn't wash off. I sprayed with liquid BT last weekend, but still found more damage.

It looks like two bad hosta years in a row for us.

Would you email the guy at the arboretum and tell him about the Royal Standard? They're putting up the Chihuly exhibit right now and he's probably under water with chores.

bkay

bkay

BKay, the holey slots? That is what I had, and it was sawfly larva. Some of the Bayer spray which has Merit in it will do the trick. The rose spray was what I used, not as potent as the other, but it seems to have slowed them down. I got some more, and also got some insecticidal soap. It is worth trying.

I don't think that is HVX in the Royal Standard, but it is almost definitely virused. My first guess would be Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus(TSWV), or Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV).

WHAT!!!!
You mean hosta can get MORE THAN ONE KIND OF VIRUS?
First I heard of it. Now I"m flumoxed. Here I am growing tomatoes and cukes in the garden.

Drats!!! Has anyone ever had virus on hosta besides HVX?
Oh drats!!!

Besides the 2 I mentioned above, I have seen Tobacco Rattle (TRV), Arabis Mosaic (ArMV), Impatiens Necrotic Spot (INSV), and probably a couple others I can't remember off the top of my head.

Here a a couple links:

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/sul14.pdf
http://www.hostalibrary.org/misc/hybrid/diseases_of_hostas.pdf

email chris .. and provide him a link to this post.. and get the definitive answer

my GUESS ... fast growing early growth.. that bolted somewhat.. with possible cold damage.. at critical leaf expansion .. not my kind of cold.. just not warm ...

i dont see the bleed.. bleeding is thru a vein.. all yours SEEMS to be within a given pair of veins .. and i think there is some sun/camera issues with light shining thru..

its all so common looking to my repeatedly frosted.. and some frozen hosta right now ... [though i admit that second pic doesnt look good]

but i have been wrong before ... and ALWAYS defer to chris ...

email chris ... he is probably too busy to check thoroughly.. but will pop in upon request ...

ken

You might go to the hosta library to the tab HVX pictures it has a example that looks a lot like your Royal Standard

Hi Moccasin,

When I first looked at the picture I had the same thought as Buckeye - it looks like a virus, but not exactly HVX, so probably some other virus. Yes, there are a lot of plant viruses that hostas can get I'm afraid, its just that HVX is the most common one found. And Buckeye is an expert on this, so I would trust his judgement.

About the other ones, those are all fast new growth that hasn't completely colored up, even the Purple Heart. Though the leaves on Purple Heart do have signs similar to "ink bleed", that isn't the way it will look with a virus. When you have virus ink bleed, the part that is bleeding out from the veins will be the wrong color. In this case, the correct color radiating out from the veins is dark green, which is the exact color the leaf is supposed to be. If it was a lighter color radiating out with the correct color between the veins, then you have a problem. But as the season goes on the leaves pictured above will color up normally.

Hope that helps a little more.

Chris

Oops, sorry, saw the original poster is bkay - sorry for the mixup.

Another couple of posts to the HVX threads which go in my folder.

Buckeye, thanks for the links also. It surprised me about the other viruses, since HVX was the only one commonly discussed.

I need to do a lot more reading.

I found this informative:

Here is a link that might be useful: Odd Looking Hostas

They know about the virus on the Royal Standard. They think it's TSWV. As far as they are concerned, it's all part of the trial and finding out what and which varieties do well here.

As far as the extensive caterpillar(?) damange; ditto. They rarely spray. If something has to be babied to stay alive, they abandon the trial.

bkay

I hope they realize that TSWV is a vector spread disease. Thrips can (and will) spread that disease right down the row. TSWV can spread much more easily in a garden than HVX, which is only spread mechanically (by digging and cutting).