eBay's marblekg (Gary Beinemann) - Orchid Virus Superspreader

[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by BrassavolaStars

This disturbs me. I believe I have two plants from this seller. I hope they haven’t been spreading disease to others in my collection. Maybe I got lucky and didn’t get a virused set (fingers crossed).

You may want to test them for the peace of mind that comes from knowing.
My favorite phalaenopsis is a huge vigorous spotless plant that puts out many perfect flowers on multiple spikes for many months at a time, despite having ORV. I'd like to have a virus free collection, but I have to settle for knowing to used extra care when handling this, and a few of my other plants. Most of the plants that tested positive showed no outward signs, a couple virused plants had virus symptoms, and several I believed were probably virused tested clean.

---------- Post added at 04:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:29 PM ----------
I admittedly have a bad habit of buying on eBay. I try to stick to reputable vendors like the ones mentioned earlier on the thread but sometimes a seller has something really rare that I’ve been looking for that I wasn’t able to find elsewhere. Usually a Cattleya division or hybrid that isn’t common.

I don't think it is a bad idea to buy orchids on eBay, but about half the plants I've purchased on eBay recently have tested positive for virus, including some near blooming sized mericlones that I would expect to be virus-free. That said, I've also received several older well-known awarded plants with virus, from Chadwick, Odom's, SVO, and Waldor's. Gary Beinemann (Marblekg) is the only seller on or off eBay who responded negatively when notified.

The Agidia tests cost about $7/plant with tax and shipping if the 25-test kit is purchased. That's not cheap, but it isn't terribly expensive, either. The test kits don't test for all orchid viruses, only the two most common. It is wise to handle all orchids as if they have a virus, even if they test clean.

It is impractical for most sellers, especially commercial sellers, to test all the plants they sell. This isn't necessarily true for the hobbyist-seller. Nonetheless, an increasing number of eBay sellers test their plants prior to listing and say so.

My advice to people buying on eBay is to do what I've started doing. Test all the plants you purchase, no matter who they're from, then contact the seller if they test positive. Gary Beinemann, eBay's Marblekg is the only seller, on or off eBay, I've encountered who responded negatively. He's also the only seller I've ever seen blithely display a lack of due diligence with orchid handling practices in his listings.

[BrassavolaStars]

Thank you for the advice. I did test both plants and one was negative for both viruses and the other has ORSV. I keep a giant stockpile of immunostrips as I worry a lot about viruses as my collection is pretty sizable now.

[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by BrassavolaStars

Update: The first Cattleya is clean (me in my clumsiness knocked it into the sink where I was bleaching and flaming my tools though right on the open cut so I amputated an inch further and will spray with physan. Hopefully I didn’t just infect it that way but I’m pretty sure the bleach in the sink would have killed anything.

The second Cattleya has ORSV .

Now I will probably spend the whole night worrying about infecting the first one. I’ve only had the second one maybe a month and it spent little time in my greenhouse so hopefully it didn’t spread anything. That said, it did have sap on the surface since it is growing a new lead. Not to mention, I have a lot of splashing water in my GH…

I have plants in my collection for years with ORV and others with cymMV. I used to water all my orchids by submerging plants in a sink full of water, and it didn't seem to spread it. In fact, the number of infected plants in my collection was much lower than the number of infected plants recently arriving from sellers (both on and off eBay).

I think you can be certain that the virus doesn't travel through a plant fast enough that removing an inch wouldn't be far more than was necessary.

Rather than flaming, which I've also used successfully, I suggest buying single edged razor blades. You can find them on Amazon for as little as a nickle each.

-Keith