Tobacco virus question

[Leafmite]

Originally Posted by Pencil

I just read a comment on this post:
Question about virus
The person says that almost all tobacco products are infected. What do you think?
As I said, my Cymbidium in on the desk. My mun does some stuff around it every day and it gets touched. She doesn't touch it with her hands but with different parts of her body (ex. upper arms, face), clothing, hair. I don't know what to do. Should I give up large orchids with big leaves? I really don't want to do it because I like this Cymbidium very much and travelled to the other end of the city to buy it but if it gets infected, it will die and will infect other plants as well.

Don't panic! That is the most important thing to remember. The second is: These are only house plants and they are meant to cheer us and make us happy, not turn us into worried, unhappy messes. Decide now to enjoy the plants and hobby of collecting them! I had to do this a few years ago as I started to get upset about the entire virus, thing, too. Then I realized that if I spent the entire time worrying about virus, I wasn't going to enjoy the plants very much and so I just stopped worrying. I try to be careful to prevent virus but, in the end, I am not going to let worry over them ruin my enjoyment of them.

As for infection of a plant virus, the leaves must have a wound, an opening, for the virus to enter the plant. Just brushing against the leaves is not going to infect the leaves unless your mother is tearing them and the virus is actually provided an entry way into the leaf. Not all tobacco is virused and the virus does not survive in the smoke. It is the tobacco that is not completely burned that may contain virus. So, really, it isn't all that easy. The big chance of a smoker infecting the plant is if they are smoking while working with the plants (or haven't washed their hands well) and are cutting off blooms or spikes, removing old leaves, re-potting or dividing. If it was so easy to infect plants with the virus and kill off plants, commercial nurseries, plantations, conservatories and botanical gardens would be pretty much wiped out.

I hope this makes you feel better.

[Pencil]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

Don't panic! That is the most important thing to remember. The second is: These are only house plants and they are meant to cheer us and make us happy, not turn us into worried, unhappy messes. Decide now to enjoy the plants and hobby of collecting them! I had to do this a few years ago as I started to get upset about the entire virus, thing, too. Then I realized that if I spent the entire time worrying about virus, I wasn't going to enjoy the plants very much and so I just stopped worrying. I try to be careful to prevent virus but, in the end, I am not going to let worry over them ruin my enjoyment of them.

As for infection of a plant virus, the leaves must have a wound, an opening, for the virus to enter the plant. Just brushing against the leaves is not going to infect the leaves unless your mother is tearing them and the virus is actually provided an entry way into the leaf. Not all tobacco is virused and the virus does not survive in the smoke. It is the tobacco that is not completely burned that may contain virus. So, really, it isn't all that easy. The big chance of a smoker infecting the plant is if they are smoking while working with the plants (or haven't washed their hands well) and are cutting off blooms or spikes, removing old leaves, re-potting or dividing. If it was so easy to infect plants with the virus and kill off plants, commercial nurseries, plantations, conservatories and botanical gardens would be pretty much wiped out.

I hope this makes you feel better.

Thank you. It does make me feel better. I decided not to worry so much a couple of days ago after I realized that if I continue to be like this, it will be more painful and stressful to have orchids and I should better quit. I still have some moments when I worry.
The post that I later edited was about wounds. I had just cut the tips of 4-5 leaves of my new cymbidium when my mum went into the room. She had probably brushed the leaves because they were swinging. I was worried at first because there were open wounds and even cut a centimeter more of the leaves that were facing outwards an hour later (although I think the infected fluids would have already traveled a longer distance). I deleted this part afterwards because I thought it wasn't such a problem.

---------- Post added at 02:32 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:30 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Helene

I'll send you an pm later if thats okay have company now, but wanted to write something to you- a bit longer and personal. Lol- nothing scary, but just cause I think you are a thinker with a strong mind. (A good thing, as long as you use it to your advantage- can be a disadvantage when using it on thinking too much about stuff)

Thank you very much for the pm! I will write a response later because I have some work to do now.