Looks like HVX to me. Too bad

My Curly Fries is in a lot of shade and has leaves like that, because it can't seem to make up it's mind whether it wants to be green or gold. I vote no HVX.

Well, this one is in nearly full sun. I get the variation in color is no biggie - it's those blotchy spots in the central leaf that make me squirm. This would be my first HVX in my garden. Planted Curly Fries a year ago.

Where did you get this Curly Fries from?

Home Depot.

That probably confirms our fears then :(

Guess that'll learn me, huh?

I'm pretty early on in my hosta career here, but I have to say... The amount of very clearly HVX infected plants I've seen at garden centers this year is convincing me to not buy from anything but reliable online vendors. Out of the 7 nurseries/ garden centers I frequent, there have only been 2 at which I haven't seen infected plants. And one of those 2 is Lowes, which I know is just a matter of coincidence. Do you guys just find it everywhere?

Not at Lowes, so far.

me either I buy hostas on line from nursery's only a few (2) from lowes no HVX yet.

Just to be clear, my comment was not to recommend Lowes as a source. Rather, I was intending to indicate that the fact that I haven't seen HVX there is just conincidence and should NOT be considered evidence of reliability. The big box stores mostly get their stock from the same places... All of the rest of the places I have seen HVX infected plants have been local nurseries and garden centers which I otherwise trust for other plants. Which is discouraging.

The way I see it, diseased plants are a possibility regardless of where you get yours from. Some places are more aware/careful and therefore reduce the possibility/risk, but I'm not sure I could consider any source to be 100% safe. No one tests every single plant for any yet alone "all" diseases before selling. Sure they try to get their hostas from clean sources (TC labs that test for the most common/contagious things before they start multiplying the plants), but things can always go wrong somewhere along the way from the lab to the end consumer. IMO you take a bigger gamble when you give in to temptation and buy from places that don't care/know much about HVX, nematodes, etc. Maybe Lowe's is just better about tossing plants that look ugly, weird, show obvious symptoms, but that doesn't mean that they don't have some that just aren't showing symptoms yet (and, as we know, HVX specifically can take several years to show its face). I've only bought from 4 online sellers, technically 3 since I haven't had the first one's plants in the yard for a long time, but did accept a gift from a friend that came from an "unknown" source so that could have been my "big box store" hosta for all I know. Most likely I'll start spot testing mine next year to put my mind at ease since my collection has exploded this year and the hostas are planted much closer to each other now than they used to be. Wish the tests hadn't gone up in price...

Pretty Birds, agreed - it is a possibility anywhere. However, one would think that a vendor that specializes in hostas would be more likely to notice obvious signs of HVX and be rid of the plants. Certainly avoid sending them out to customers.

I would consider 2 different approaches when I pointed out diseased plants to 2 of my favorite local nurseries. At the first nursery, the manager picked up the plant I pointed out (from a full tray of Majorly Obviously Infected Striptease plants) and headed for the trash. I called after her that there more - she should check the rest of the plants. She replied that she didn't have time to check over all the hostas. I probably won't be shopping there much more for plants of any variety. Although they do have reasonably priced rocks...

The second nursery, I mentioned at the checkout counter that I saw a tray of gold standard that looked concerning. The cashier said she would let the manager know. The next time I visited, the whole tray was gone, and obviously many other hostas had been culled. I would feel much better about buying from that nursery in the future.

And I get that sometimes things can look like HVX that aren't actually HVX. And I get that nurseries probably get tired of people who point out "diseased" plants that are really perfectly fine. And I know that I'm a newbie. But these were classically symptomatic - much clearer than my curly fries above.

Anyhow. Just kind of rambling now...