And where can we find those plants from Walters?
I never worried about a thing with hosta...dig a hole and bury them...shovel on a bit of compost....water often and there you are. Getting too big for the spot? Heave it out of the ground pry it apart with a couple of spading forks or carve up with my special "hosta knife"...never worry about sterilizing the thing, stick the pieces in the ground and there you are...
I really would look forward to those days again.
Nothing to worry about now but slugs and wabbits.
Linda C

I don't worry about it now? But it exorcises many.

Ask the supplier if they are using Walters virus indexed liners? It doesn't mean they will have virus if they don't but if they start with Walters virus indexed plants those plants will not have a virus.

Email me and IÂll look in to it if enough are interested.
Wilddog_202 at yahoo.com

Hi,

It is nice to know that a big supplier like Walters is taking plant viruses seriously. Or at least the TC side of their business is - I've had virus problems with their bare root plants... That little bump in the road aside, it really is nice that a wholesale company is doing this much work to protect the consumers in this difficult day and age of global plant commerce (and cross state trading). Unfortunately there are still way too many wholesalers, nurseries, and gardens that have this and other viruses for us to begin getting complacent.

One small note - Virus Indexed and Virus Free are two different things. You can index, or screen, for a set of known viruses, but if a plant has a virus that isn't part of the regular screening then it won't be picked up. I've seen it in other plants where they were Virus Indexed but still ended up having a virus since it simply wasn't part of the battery of tests.

ctoper, Good point except they are indexed against known hosta viruses.

ctopher: Curious - why does it matter if the plants are indexed for viruses that effect hosta?

Westy

When hostas are virus indexed they are looking for specific viruses that are known to infect hostas, however there are other unknown viruses being found in hostas as well that simply haven't been identified yet so they aren't part of the battery of tests.

So it is just a matter of semantics. Virus Indexed is great, but it doesn't mean Virus Free.

ctopher, you have me on a technical point. Nothing is virus free including you and me. If a hosta is symptom free and is tested for viruses and one is found it is assumed not to effect hosta in a negative way so it would be ignored. IÂm sure that some viruses have a positive effect so no one would want hosta to be virus free without knowing the effect of such a radical procedure.

Back to the value of virus indexing, Walters is testing for viruses that are known to cause problems in hosta such as HVX. They can say to a high level of accuracy that these hosta are free of known harmful virus.

I felt I had really good news and find myself in a semantic discussion.

More good news, I've found that Hallson's goes to great lengths to be virus free which is of course an over statement but that's all anyone can do. White Oak is another nursery that works to avoid virus.

This is not promoting anyone because there are many nurseries working to grow and sell clean stock.

Please Please don't take this as a complete list or a recommendation.

I can tell you that the big boxes pay little attention to quality or even hardiness of the plants they sell. Searching for and finding sellers who work to get, maintain and sell clean stock is worth the trouble. Instead of searching for HVX at the big boxes, don't even look.

I talked to my botany professor today re viruses and while she didn't know of a similar example in hosta, she said the colors of the leaf of the Tri-color Beech tree that is so expensive is the result of a virus - discovered and propagated. I thought that was pretty astounding. Maybe not news to you experts?

Westy

Wow, I had no idea Westy! That is really interesting! Kind of "one man's trash is another man's treasure" in the botany world. LOL

EO, Hallson's not only is great about combating diseases, they also sell HUGE plants w/ roots that hang to your knees. LOL Plus there's always that nice surprise of a bonus plant!!!

Speakin' this Dutch girl's love language w/ free stuff. LOL

"Speakin' this Dutch girl's love language w/ free stuff. LOL"

That's why you little sawed off white skined girls are shade gardeners.

Red; Dutch tan!

I boughts hostas from Garden Crossings this year, and was VERY pleased with the hostas I received. Big and Healthy. They recieve their stock from Walters.

EO, I don't burn - must be the swiss-german side of me or something...LOL

lmao...sawed off white skinned girls...well that is a first,for sure!!!