In my catalogue from Seabright Gardens it says the virus is only to be found now in the hostas from the big box stores, that the growers have done away with it.

Comments?

Yippee!!

I have never purchased any from a big box store...

I would take that with a huge grain of salt. There are still nurseries out that that don't know or don't care to know about HVX and some of them get their plants from the same sources as box stores. But yes, if you have a quality nursery, especially one that specializes in hostas, they are probably buying from suppliers that are testing for the virus and eliminating it. I'd still watch every new hosta for awhile.

You are so right Ann! In fact I buy from the same companies as the big box stores on occasion, but never hostas. So, I would definitely think many of the garden centers do not buy exclusively from the growers.

There is no way to tell until the leaves sprout is there?
I can not afford the kit.
I just received some roots which look healthy and have healthy shoots,
but that does not mean they are virus free?

Caroline, where did you get them? If you got them from a big box store then you might want to keep them isolated for a year. If you purchase from a reputable grower who does testing for you then that is better and you should be ok.

I ordered from a reputable plant seller.
I have my question in to them to see if they test.
But I guess Hostas are like Cannas---isolate any new plants ---or start from seeds.

They do not come true from seed. But if you have time you can get some nice plants, just not true to parent.

A couple of years ago, I saw hostas at Lowes that had definite signs of hosta virus X. I told the garden manager there, and they pulled and returned the entire shipment. All of them! I saw hostas at our biggest locally owned nursery, same situation, and they argued with me. Told me that it was a rare disease, not found in our area, and there was no way I could tell from looking that the virus was on their plants. I brought them a handout that I use in talks and they still didn't budge. they kept selling the diseased plants.
The big box stores have experts they can call, and have deals with their suppliers where they can return unacceptable plants. The locally owned stores rely on in-house "experts" for the most part, and most of them really can't take the financial hit of destroying a whole group of plants. In a perfect world, they would have called on someone at the extension and would have confirmed what i observed, but I think they underestimated the seriousness of the disease.
Or maybe they underestimated the passion of local gardeners, because as others saw the same thing, word got around. It cost them a lot more in the long run.

I heard the same thing last year from a person who was looking at Coneflowers at a big box store and saw that they all had Aster Yellows.

It's so strange to me that places like local nurseries are willing to stick their fingers in their ears and go, "Lalalala! I'm not listening!" when we talk about HVX. I suppose they might hear a lot of talk from less informed gardeners who like to pass themselves off as "experts" (I like to say that those people attended the prestigious institution of MSU -- Make Sh*t Up), but when a gardener who is a specialist in a certain type of plant provides valuable information, you'd at least think they'd take it upon themselves to listen and investigate further.

On the other side of the spectrum, though, occasionally nurseries do work well with their customers. I was walking through the hosta house at one local nursery and came across a worker watering the hostas. He greeted me, and we chatted for a bit, and I told him I was a collector. We ended up talking about how to care for hostas in pots, and he was excited to hear about things I'd had success with. He told me that he found collectors of certain plant types great resources, because they invested so much time in learning about culture for that particular plant. So, not every nursery person is unwilling to listen, which is good news!

Seems like most are just out to make money and push them out like they were any other merchandise. You will see them put plants out front so people will see them on the way in. They pay no mind to full sun or shade so by the end of the day they are fried.

I was at Stein's (chain garden center in the upper Midwest) today and saw a 'Sum and Substance' that might have had HVX. It was hard to tell by eyeballing it, especially with a solid-colored hosta. I suppose it could have been some sort of frost damage or nutrient deficiency issue. I can tell you that I wouldn't have purchased it, though, which is sad because it was an enormous, gorgeous plant.

From experience I have noticed all things go in cycles. Diseases mutate, change to something else, or go to another host more desirable host be it plant or humans.

At first I would not buy any new hostas from anyone until it worked itself out and there were less hostas out there that had the virus. It has been 8 years since I purchased or traded hostas. Last year I started picking up and ordering them again as I saw something that caught my eye.

I have an advantage of having a lot of land so I can add the new hostas far from my original stock. I have 3+ acres. But there is no guarantee. But gardening for me has never been a guarantee. Gardening for me has always been stepping out and taking a chance. So I am chancing that the virus is not as wide spread as it was 5 years ago.

If I see a hosta at HD, Lowes, My local nursery, and it looks healthy I am buying the plant and go with my gardening philosophy of chance. The chance I take could make a beautiful garden of hostas that I might not have had if I had hide in fear of what if.

I sure would do the same thing if I had the space.

I understand when you have limited space and a small shade garden you would not want to risk killing the good hostas you have.

I found some cheap hostas at Aldis last year that I am using in my driveway bed. It is an acre away from my shade garden in the back of the house. In that bed was ventricosa, and Lancifolia you cannot get any more common hostas than those two if they get infected it is no loss at all but a couple of new hostas to brighten that bed looks real good.

American Halo


and Great Expectation

Very nice Hostas and some good logic.

The problem with that logic is that if you plant an infected hostas in that space you won't be able to plant hostas there again. Also, always practice good sanitation when weeding and dividing your hostas. HVX is spread by the sap from the hosta and so you can inadvertantly spread it while clipping off scapes, or pulling off damaged leaves and then touching a hosta elsewhere in your gardens.

Well said!