Viruses and unconfirmed facts

[nikkik]

Last month, my orchid society had a guest speaker come in to talk about pests and diseases. He hit on the subject of orchid viruses and I have been thinking about some of the things he stated for the last month. Here are some of those things: he told us never to test for viruses, that throwing out virused plants is equivalent to killing a child with a cold (as a mother I found this statement extreme and unnecessary), a virused plant with appropriate culture will not show the effects of the virus, the only people who should be concerned about viruses are big commercial growers, and 90% of the plants that come out of Hawaii will test positive for viruses.

Most of these statements are the opposite of what I have always heard and read. I was wondering if anyone has heard these statements or knows of literature that would help me research some of the statements that I stated above(I know some are opinions). I would really like to see the facts about plants coming out of Hawaii because I know a lot of us purchase beautiful plants that come from there and I find this statement hard to believe.

[ALToronto]

I think he's right that most mass-produced orchids are virused. That's why I will never again buy one. As for his implication that viruses are harmless, that sounds to me like a lame rationalization. We probably cannot avoid virused plants, but that doesn't mean that we should embrace them. I keep all my phals separate from the other orchids.

[dounoharm]

I think virused plants, obviously, do not need to be in the breeding environment. if you aren't breeding or crossing plants, then for all practical purposes, virus testing is unimportant....I don't think its a real issue for the average home collector. just my opinion....good luck!

[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by dounoharm

I think virused plants, obviously, do not need to be in the breeding environment. if you aren't breeding or crossing plants, then for all practical purposes, virus testing is unimportant....I don't think its a real issue for the average home collector. just my opinion....good luck!

Actually in the breeding environment the virus won't generally be carried in the seeds, but if you're mericloning or stem propagating virused plants, yes the virus will be carried forward.

[Masdyman]

A virus needs to be carried by pest or by use of cutting tools etc so yes an orchid will be of no harm if the virus isn't transmitted.
So one orchid on a windowsill will do no harm, this same orchid in a collection has the potential to do harm.
Don't know about the 90% quote, what I will say is quoting this without 100% evidence could be very damaging.

[NYCorchidman]

That speaker person saying how 90% of orchids coming from Hawaii is virused is complete BS!
Has he done the examinations and statistical analysis himself?
I find it highly offensive and irresponsible to make such a statement and deliver it as "fact" to a group of people at a meeting.
Is he a grower himself?
Some local growers here always talk bad about plants from Hawaii as well, and guess what, they are all wrong! They talk to me and treat me as if they would a child in persuading buying locally.

Another thing, just like you pointed out, his anology of comparing virused orchids with child with a cold is stupid. and the strong expression of "killing a child".
very inappropriate.

While many virused plants can grow symptomless, they will still transfer the virus to other "not yet virused" plants via bugs and handling.

Many growers get very uncomfortable when the topic of virus comes up. My local guys all avoid the topic by saying theirs is virus free. some obvious signs when pointed out, they say it is fungus or mite or blah blah blah as if everyone is stupid and just buy what they say.

Big part of prevention is education and good cultural practice.
Everytime I hear something like that, it just gets so sad. That is why viruses will always be a big problem in the horticulture industry.

[nikkik]

Thank you all for you thoughtful responses.

---------- Post added at 06:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:34 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Masdyman

A virus needs to be carried by pest or by use of cutting tools etc so yes an orchid will be of no harm if the virus isn't transmitted.
So one orchid on a windowsill will do no harm, this same orchid in a collection has the potential to do harm.
Don't know about the 90% quote, what I will say is quoting this without 100% evidence could be very damaging.

I don't know if you were referring to me or the speaker, but I will reiterate that I don't believe this and I still got a shipment of plants from Hawaii after that speaker. I only asked if anyone could confirm and was actually hoping someone could present some evidence to the contrary (I know some on this board test their plants). And I'm very much in agreement that there is much liability in making a statement like that to a group of people.

---------- Post added at 06:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:41 PM ----------

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

That speaker person saying how 90% of orchids coming from Hawaii is virused is complete BS!
Has he done the examinations and statistical analysis himself?
I find it highly offensive and irresponsible to make such a statement and deliver it as "fact" to a group of people at a meeting.
Is he a grower himself?
Some local growers here always talk bad about plants from Hawaii as well, and guess what, they are all wrong! They talk to me and treat me as if they would a child in persuading buying locally.

Another thing, just like you pointed out, his anology of comparing virused orchids with child with a cold is stupid. and the strong expression of "killing a child".
very inappropriate.

While many virused plants can grow symptomless, they will still transfer the virus to other "not yet virused" plants via bugs and handling.

Many growers get very uncomfortable when the topic of virus comes up. My local guys all avoid the topic by saying theirs is virus free. some obvious signs when pointed out, they say it is fungus or mite or blah blah blah as if everyone is stupid and just buy what they say.

Big part of prevention is education and good cultural practice.
Everytime I hear something like that, it just gets so sad. That is why viruses will always be a big problem in the horticulture industry.

I would agree about 90% thing being BS too. And he is a grower on a small scale. Although, I always buy plants from our speakers, but I didn't this time if that tells you anything.

I would also agree with your statement about growers becoming uncomfortable with the subject of viruses. I saw a suspicious orchid at a show recently and when I asked the grower about the spotted pattern on the leaves he said it was too much sun. I've burnt my share of orchids and I'm positive it wasn't the sun. After I asked him, he ignored me even though I was already holding 12 plants, I decided to take the rest of my business elsewhere.

Thank you for your thoughtful and well worded response.

[tucker85]

There may be orchid viruses that don't cause problems or show symptoms, I really don't know. But I lost half my orchid collection a few years back because I didn't know about sterilizing cutting tools.The virus that spread through my collection caused deformed flowers with severe color break. It also caused the plants to grow poorly and look unhealthy. I've never tested for a virus, but now I sterilize my cutting tools every time I use them and I throw out any plant that shows severe color break or other clear signs of a virus.

[escualida]

I've tested all of my plants and here is what I've found:

1) I have a good amount of cattleyas, some of which have come from Hawaii (like Kawamoto), and none of them have been virused so far.

2) I have definitely had Phals with viruses and the 2 sellers with the highest incidence of virus have been Pine Ridge orchids (6 out of 7) and Orchids.com (about 75%).

3) The only other plant that has had a virus has been a Miltonia that came from Hawaii but the seller replaced it with a non-virused one right after I tested it.

So the 90% thing as far as I know is not correct. I do think that a lot of mass-produced phals will have a virus. Most of them in my experience have been symptom free but I have seen a few that deteriorated very quickly, have color breaks in the flowers, or the flowers don't last as long.

[Bud]

Hawaii is composed of several islands and zeroing in on Hawaii producing virused plants is impossible! Unless they purposely contaminated every orchid plant from island to island. That speaker is a fraud and sending false information. You should of confronted that speaker and exposed in front of everyone in that meeting. In fact Hawaii is very strict on import/export of plants and it is also hard on Hawaii sending plants to the mainland unless they have a permit/certificate.
The child with a cold is redundant....all humans have a dormant virus inside their body especially US citizens who were given inoculation from day 1 to 18th age (no one is allowed to enroll in grade school nowadays with out showing immunization records. We were all given very small doses of killer virus to be able to be immune to it)....
But with the plant kingdom I have not yet heard of a farmer giving virus to his crop to help immunize it. So, I strongly believe that plants have no virus by nature and they only acquire it by insect bites and contamination....so we must test it for the specific virus that will kill it if we see early signs to help prevent spreading it.