I’m not an expert, but I have had a hosta that developed HVX. There are great pictures on the Hosta Library front page, on HVX Middle column.. Take a look. Usually the virus will manifest with a lot of mottling in the tissue, ink bleed, thin tissue, collapsing tissue.....can you post other pictures? I would like to see the leaf that is hanging over the edge. I will withhold my opinion as the are others with more experience here.

Welcome to the world of hostas and the hosta forum.

debra

I am with Debra on this one. Please show a close up of the torn leaf hanging over the edge of the pot. HVX usually shows up later but that leaf looks very funky.

What do you mean shows up later? Like in a larger plant?

I got this from a neighbor. I literally just learned about hosta virus last night! Now I’m super paranoid here are some more photos.

thank you! Thanks for the help.

So sorry to say this but I would get a garbage bag, trash them and not accept any more from that neighbour. HVX usually shows up later in the season regardless of the plants size. If you look in the Hosta Library they show photos of HVX and there is classic ink bleed on yours.

Thank you, peren! I appreciate it so much. I am more than thankful that I happened to find a thread on the virus here just last night. Otherwise, it could have been devastating for my garden! I was reading on the hosta library last night about it.

I didn’t really notice the ink bleed. I’m not still sure that I know how to identify that. But it was the puckering that made me want to ask to be sure.

I will tell the neighbor so he can work on getting rid of it. I gave him a beautiful August moon. I’d hate to see it get the virus too!

thank you so much for your help.

You are most welcome but I would have been much happier to give you good news! I do hope the gifted August Moon did not go into HVX infected soil.

I hope he hasn’t planted it yet but I don’t know. I hate to tell him the bad news also. But I don’t want him to pass it on to others and so he can get it Out of his garden. He’s new to gardening also so it’s like the blind leading the blind here. Lol.

is it a good idea to just not swap hostas at all? We have a nextdoor plant swap - all plants not just hostas.

This is not accurate:

"HVX usually shows up later."

If a plant is infected, it shows up in the spring. I bought a huge Royal Standard in the summer. It was summer in Texas and wasn't pretty, but showed no signs of HVX. It showed up the following spring. I grew hosta in pots, so it was not a huge problem. But it was not evident in the previous season.

bkay

clean whatever shovel dug it up ..

i miss chris

ken

Thank you, bka, for that very clear photo. I can definitely see the ink bleed!

ken, not my shovel, so I’m good. phew.

I am so glad to see the other pictures today...... it was that funky leaf that was bent over that concerned me. Yup, definitely HVX! I had a gold standard a couple of years old when the virus hit it. If you put it in the ground, you can’t plant another hosta in that spot for several years and should make sure you get the soil tested until you do.

debra

Broke the bad news to the neighbor 😭

The Chris that Ken mentioned owned a most trusted Hosta growing business and was extremely proactive in educating commercial and home gardeners about HVX. He made a huge difference in protecting our gardens.

He is retired now, but left a lot of valuable gardening information on the internet for reference only.

Take a look whenever you like. Tons of information on all perennials.

https://www.perennialreference.com/hallsongardens.html

This is the specific link to the HVX virus forum he created

https://www.perennialreference.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=63

The neighbor actually said that he just bought a hosta Home Depot. After reading about the HVX , he thinks this hosta has it too. I haven’t seen it so I can’t say either way.

Has me wondering... is it safe to buy hostas from the big box stores??

Well you appear to be a new hosta buyer so it may be difficult for you to spot. I think you will find many more problems with plants from big box stores. Their employees aren’t trained to recognize these problems. I can’t tell you how many miss labeled hostas I bought at big box stores and one of them developed HXV within 2 years.

debra

@djacob Z6a SE WI yikes! I only want maybe two more varieties of hostas which I don't think would be offered at lowes etc. I will stick to the local nursery for those. I am getting to the point where I want specific plants as room is growing smaller and adequate planing (rather than random buying) is becoming more the norm.

@bkay2000 thanks for your view. now I dont want to buy hostas from anywhere... I guess it is just a risk you have to take. if you get the virus, then you do the remediation. how long can it take to show up once a plant is infected? many years right? so even a great nursery could have a plant with the virus showing no symptoms and then pass on to the consumer?

The Home Depot near my old house always had Hostas with HVX. I pointed it out to a manager (very nicely) and he said he’d get right on it. Went back a few days later, still there with more crammed in. I haven’t bought Hosta from a big box store in years. I usually buy at our Hosta Society spring show as there are great vendors there. However, I do keep them in a separate part of my garden for the first few months. Same way I treat new chickens coming into the flock, new birds are quarantined until I am sure no illness. Kind of a pain, but saves the heartache.

I’m with Annette, I now only buy from reputable online venders. End of story.

debra

I agree with debra. Buy from online nurseries that specialize in hosta.

bkay

I simply don't buy any plants or shrubs from big box stores. I only purchase from very reputable nurseries in person. Not all local nurseries are the same. Some carry disease free plants and offer a guarantee on shrubs and trees, that's where I shop Otherwise, I order online from places I know send healthy plants. Why waste cash on plants that have issues? The Home Depot in my area won't even water the plants, they get the local growers to send over people to do that. If I can't get a hosta (or daylily) from a source that's well known to me, I don't buy it.

Miles-how do you know if an online seller sends healthy plants? Just by trial and error? Experience? In another thread a poster was stating that they keep getting mystery plants from buying online. They look like the plant they ordered, then they end up being something else?! I have never ordered a plant online. It’s a little overwhelming to a newbie. Too many choices, not knowing which sellers are good/reputable etc etc etc.

Mamaham, Recommendations from the people here is probably your safest bet. I have bought from online sources that people here recommended. I have had nothing but good results with these purchases. While not everything I ordered turned out perfectly, they were what I ordered and as described. Any failure I would attribute to me buying something that I was dying to have even though it was probably not a great fit for my situation. But for the most part I have been very pleased. And I have a cart full of stuff from Naylor as we speak.

Speaking of Naylor Creek, my order just arrived Monday. Here's the first (smaller) half. I forgot to grab a pic of the others pre-potting.

I've decided everything is going into pots this year to grow more roots, then plant them out in the fall. Here they are ~36 hours after planting, starting to perk up already.
Some Maple River Gardens' plants behind them just coming up. They shipped dormant so they got potted and stay outside. The new NC ones come inside at night until the temp stays above 40F. Oh heck, here's a pic of the MRG newbies.

I also got some from Hostas-Store a month ago. Some of those went right in the ground. Here's Prime Meridian

Some minis: Cameo, Cracker Crumbs and Platinum Tiara
and War Paint
hmm, maybe I should have started a new post for this, oh well.

The places that i have ordered from are all recommended by people here on the blog who have had experience with them and know that they send disease free plants that are packed well so that they don't die in transit. Also, I want to know if they have received good sized plants, except of course for very special hostas that are sold in 1-2 crowns. I just got a number of miniatures from Bob Solberg at Green . I got very healthy plants that were exceptionally well packed and were shipped overnight to me last Friday. I will post pictures when I can on another thread. I am also expecting an order from Sebright after the 15th. I've dealt with Sebright for several years always getting large divisions with healthy roots and are packed very well--Sebright is in Oregon and I'm in Ohio and the plants get to me in pristine condition. In the past, I ordered a Gunther's Prize from Land of the Giants Hosta, it reverted to a common hosta, Gunther's Rim the very next spring, Jeff replaced the plant without any charge. I used to have a large hosta grower near me that is now out of business, Wade & Gatton. I loved to go there and see the plants in person, but I don't have any place like that nearby so my purchases are almost all online. I don't want to spend money on plants that carry the virus or just won't thrive in my yard. The above pictures from others show what kind of plants that you want to get, healthy leaves and lots of roots. Plants that failed were usually my fault since I have ordered plants that won't thrive in my yard. For example, I planted numerous dogwoods years ago which don't do well for me, these were great specimens from local nurseries but as soon as the roots hit my clay soil they began to die.

No matter how large the pit we had dug out and filled with good soil, etc. they failed. Finally I had the last one replanted at the rear of my property and it sort of hangs on--lesson learned I can't grow dogwoods.