This is the first I've heard of Fireworks being HVX positive, but doesn't surprise me as Loyalist, Revolution, Patriot, and Minuteman often carry HVX without showing symptoms. All depends on the original source of the plants. If they were from Dutch plants there is a good chance of infection as they rely on visual diagnosis in the fields, and even their TC produced plants become infected when they are imported through contaminated handling practices.

With that said, I am curious what led you to think that your Fireworks might have HVX? I don't see anything wrong with it, just looking at this picture. I would contact Hampshire Hostas to let them know of your result. They might want to have the test repeated by a laboratory, just to make sure it wasn't a false positive test (which can be possible with the strip test).

ctopher mi - The closest leaf in the pic, on the right side of the leaf it is bumpy, as were a few other leaves. With the info I have read about HVX, it lead me to think mine may be infected, hence I bought the test strips. It showed positive on the fireworks but not on my gold standard, which I also thought might be infected due to the mottled coloration.

Yes, I understand a possible false postive since I read with the test strip instructions that not always will you receive an accurate result.

So what to do? Is it safe to leave the plant intact and never divide it? Or just make sure you disinfect all your tools....is that enough precaution to take?

Thank you for your input.

Ms Jo

Ah, I see it now! Didn't notice that reverse distortion in the leaf. Good eye on that one.

I wouldn't take a chance with it. We really need to stop this virus from spreading so much, so I wouldn't take a chance keeping it. Even if you are careful the only way to really know it hasn't been spread is to test everything in your garden since symptoms take so long to show up.

And about the Gold Standard, this could just be color changes as it goes from green to yellow. It just isn't Gold Standard because it is missing the solid green edge.

Will be interesting to hear what Hampshire Farms says. I believe there is a woman on this forum that works for them, HostaRed I think, so maybe they will have a chance to see this thread.

Please don't take this as a diagnosis but I do think the fear surrounding HVX leads to over diagnosis.

That said, we simply canÂt diagnosis without proper testing and the test strips are considered effective.

The biggest fear is that HVX will spread through out our garden yet no one that I know of is reporting that. Since IÂve never found symptoms in my garden it is hard to say but Tony Avent told me that HVX is way over diagnosed and he visits most tour gardens. He felt that in many gardens there is some indication of virus, I donÂt say HVX because there are many viruses, yet he didnÂt find serious wide spread infection. One garden I visited that has 1000+ hosta varieties has one large old hosta with pretty clear HVX that has never spread. This grower has the plant fairly well isolated yet it is about 15 feet from many other plants.

If I found a large plant that had been in my garden for some time and had no apparent spread I would leave it alone.

A bit different with a new small plant that can be returned, the H.ÂGold Standard for example is a nice plant but common and available at reasonable prices.

I generally quarantine new plants but IÂve never removed a plant from the soil.

A long way to say I donÂt think the fear is justified by the facts, show reasonable caution and donÂt worry. I think reasonable caution in your case is return them and move on. Of course, the fair thing is to tell the grower what you found.

Thank you Butch and ctopher mi! I appreciate your input and plan on removing the fireworks hosta and speaking with the grower. It has only been in the ground for 3 weeks so the root system should not be too extensive.

Knowledge is power to overcome!

Ms Jo

"Knowledge is power to overcome"
Ms Jo

I've told this story many times.
About 15 years ago I traveled to a local hosta club meeting with the brightest horticulturalist I ever knew to listen to a presentation about hosta. The man put on a nice presentation with a lot of photos of various hosta and gardens, very pleasant. While he was showing one hosta then another she punched me in the ribs and whispered; "listen to him talking about this plant and that plant and he doesnÂt know crap about how to grow them".

Knowledge is the best defense against calamity, arm yourself. Look for the place to relax and enjoy the beauty without fear.

the close up photos also look like you may have a spyder mite problem, I get those on some of my hosta, hard to get rid of, they blow into my yard from my neighbor's nasty tree!!

Paul

Oh my, I didn't see that. I will check it also. I have 2 other gold standards in other gardens and they do not look like this one.

Thanks Paul!

Ms Jo

I have a sun and substance that is about 4 years old. It does not seem to have color differences on the leaves, but they are severely puckered and tattered looking like some of the tissue collapse descriptions. I am not a hosta person, but visit here and am concerned about this one. Is there always color variations with HVX

I am not an expert on HVX, but I read that some hostas infected with HVX will have a mottled coloring. Therefore I used the worst leaf from my Gold Standard but it tested negative.

Sometimes tests are not always accurate either. All I know is that I will always be cautious when buying hostas from now on.

Ms Jo

Ms Jo--I am sorry your Fireworks turned out positive. The good news being that you acted right away and can take action. I think I'd also return the other plant--it obviously was mismarked as a Gold Standard and doesn't look all that great anyway. Then I'd take my $ and go elsewhere. :O) Mary

I spoke with Hampshire Farms. They took immediate action and notified their grower in Michigan. They were great to work with and offered to return my money or another plant. They brought me a new Fireworks and actually gave me 2 (with 3 & 4 eyes). I have planted them in a separate area. They definitely look better than the first.

I have purchased several plants from their nursery and have been very happy with the price and plants.

As I say, knowledge is power. This experience has taught me to inspect the plant thoroughly before I purchase.

And thanks to this forum, otherwise I would not have had a clue that there may be something amiss!

Ms Jo

your gold standard looks fine. normal color change...i have several old ones like this that are disease free.

They were great to work with and offered to return my money or another plant. They brought me a new Fireworks and actually gave me 2 (with 3 & 4 eyes). I have planted them in a separate area. They definitely look better than the first.

Don't take this the wrong way, Jo, but why would you take more plants that quite likely came from the same TC batch and stand a very high chance of being infected as well? More importantly, nice as the offer to compensate is, why would they even offer, unless they can assure you they are NOT from the same batch? Did you ask? While it is obviously on your most-wanted list, if I'd been in your shoes I'd have considered a different one on my shortlist.

Having said all that, have you tested them yet? Given your experience with the first one I certainly wouldn't risk it and I'd use another two strips if you are intent on giving these a try.

Good luck and let us know how you fare....

Yes, i was wondering the same thing?
Carol

Pieter & Carol~
Believe me; I thought the same thing about taking more plants. They assured me they would pull & check all fireworks hostas. Yes, I tested them and they were both negative.

If it can take up to 3 years for a plant to show damage from the virus, must you test it constantly? Does the plant have the virus even before you can see the deformity on the leaves?

Yes, I understand your point. My husband asked the same thing. I can only say that I trust they did the right thing. I could ask, why would they consciously give me more infected plants? This I cannot answer, but wait and see.

Thank you for your concern and input.

Ms Jo

They assured me they would pull & check all fireworks hostas.

That's good to hear, BUT, that is only a visual check. You did the right thing however and actually tested. And the fact the tests were negative is very encouraging. The strips from what I understand, test for the presence of the virus. And just because it has not yet manifested itself yet visually, does not mean the plant is not infected. Of course the plant can be infected prior to showing deformity and discoloration, those are visual indications of a fairly strong infestation, in the early stages it will not show anything.

Like you, I would like to think they would not consciously give you yet more infected plants, but, as said above, they only did a visual inspection, which in and of itself is no guarantee. IMHO they should have used the same test you ended up using. When it comes to dealing with batches of any given Hosta variety coming from the same TC lab in the same shipment a good many nurseries would prefer to err on the side of caution and consider the entire batch to be suspect and depending on their relationship with the lab and their terms of business would either destroy the whole batch or return the whole batch.

Since they have not said one way or the other as to whether or not all these Fireworks are likely to be from the same batch, my suggestion is to keep them in relative isolation for the next couple of years or so just to be on the safe side. As said, it's encouraging the first tests came back negative but as you said yourself, AGDIA does warn about false indications and it would be wise for you to test them again next year.

Good luck with them and may they eventually prove to be clean for you.

Pieter