Viewing post #1230798 by ViolaAnn

You are viewing a single post made by ViolaAnn in the thread called Hosta Newbie beginning my journey..
Image
Aug 1, 2016 1:39 PM CST
Name: Ann
Ottawa, ON Canada (Zone 5a)
Hostas Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Region: Canadian Enjoys or suffers cold winters Composter
Seed Starter Annuals Herbs Canning and food preservation Native Plants and Wildflowers Vegetable Grower
Betsy - do you know about Hosta Virus X (HVX)? If not, please Google it and read carefully. You may have healthy plants from Walmart, but plants from there have a high incidence of HVX infection. The problem with HVX is that it can be in a plant and not show symptoms for several years or even ever for some varieties, but it can be spread to other healthy plants.

It is a wise idea to treat any new plant as potentially infected, but especially ones from box stores, many of which have no idea what HVX is. Meanwhile, it would be a good idea to grow the plants in pots for a season or two (because the current advice should you have a plant infected with HVX is never to grow another hosta there again) and to develop a habit of disinfecting your tools between plants. (Using a Clorox wipe and rubbing them down thoroughly should work).

Most of your new plants look healthy enough except the second Francis Williams. It may be just the picture you got of it, but it doesn't look great to me; so I'd keep a careful eye on it.

Good luck with your new plants. If you do mail order again, check out Hallson Gardens in MI. Chris Wilson is an acknowledged expert about HVX and you can be sure to get good plants from them. And do try to avoid Walmart unless you plan to isolate the plants.
Ann

Pictures of all my hostas, updated annually and tracked since 2008 begin at: https://violaann.smugmug.com/G...

« Return to the thread "Hosta Newbie beginning my journey."
« Return to Hostas forum
« Return to the Garden.org homepage

Member Login:

( No account? Join now! )

Today's site banner is by Murky and is called "Ballerina Rose Hybrid"

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.