I noticed weird shape rings on the foliage of 2-3 stems of my planted in 2015 fall Old Faithful. Should I be concerned that it is ringspot virus and if yes, is there anything I can do about it? And should I be worried?

Are any other plants in that bed looking more yellowish than normal? Could it just be an iron deficiency in the soil? I'm not familiar with that one....

I planted all of bare roots separately in the center of lawn around 3 ft apart, some of peonies in other beds are showing yellowing - probably iron deficiency, but I do not worry about them. Those rings, though...May be someone had them or dealt with the similar situation before.

http://www.missouribotanicalga...

viral disease one...concerns me

Southern Peony blog mentions viruses and basically owner keeps the plants regardless...

I'd send that image to the place that you purchased the plant. It may be mosaic but I am not sure. It seems less possible that it acquired this from your location and more probable it was acquired from the previous location.

THat does look like ringspot virus. I had a Bowl of Beauty peony with this condition. I dug it up and disposed of it. People growers said not to worry about it as it does not affect plant's performance or growth nor do they spread to other peonies. This year Edulis Superba peony is showing these symptoms. I will dig it and dispose of it too. I will take a photo of it and post it on here.

Thanks, Karen. Why are you disposing the plants if growers say that it is perfectly safe? Did those peonies have virus from the beginning or they started showing symptoms later? Waiting for your photos.

I just don't like the look of them. Plus they happen to varieties of peonies that I do not care much about and these are cheap enough for me to get replacement if I really want to grow them in the future. Now, if they happen to a peony that I love and can't easily replace, then I would just quarantine it to a corner where it is not exposed to other peonies and used a separate set of tools to prune them. The growers told me that although there is no found risk of virused peonies spread by animals (like mites spreading virus from roses to roses), they still recommend disposing them if they are replaceable. If they are not, just be careful about using tools around them.

Since this happens with Old Faithful peony which is rather expensive and rare, I recommend that you grow it in its own space with no other peonies around it and use its own set of tool for now. The virused condition comes and goes from year to year. If it is healthy, the symptoms sometimes don't show. If it is stressed, the symptoms will show from mild to severe. Mine is average right now.

From my iris days, it was always recommended to carry a container of 10 to 20% bleach solution to dip any trimming tool into before using the tool on another plant to prevent spreading diseases. Burn any discarded diseased plant. Avoid planting another plant in the same hole or area where a diseased plant was removed due to the soil being likely to harbor the disease. Sanitation was very important with iris and roses but peonies were never mentioned.

Thanks, Karen. I'll contact with Bob after most important peonies are opened and I'll know for sure they are right ones. I did not notice those rings until heat wave hit us about 10 days ago and I was very careful with watering them - remember someone said she lost one OF because it was tricky.