Orchid virus soapbox

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Ray

A greenhouse plant, due to no "social distancing" (where have I heard that before???) is far more likely to be a carrier, so if it has been shipped, can carry the virus to another collection (artificial "colony") very easily.

Totally agree with you Ray! The phyiscal/social distancing comment really hits the spot here!!! People not only spread virus among themselves, but also responsible for spreading orchid virus! (and spreading other things - other organisms).

[Angel Orchids]

Having grown orchids for over 25 years, about 4 months ago I began testing every orchid in my collection. I ended up discarding about 30% or my collection! Depressing!

Since then, I test EVERY new plant that comes into my collection. The results have been equally depressing:

1. Ordered 25 plants from Kalapana Tropicals, 5 tested positive. They were very gracious and sent 5 replacements that they tested before sending.

2. Ordered 19 plants from Hausermann's, 5 tested positive. They offered a one-time 50% credit, but said in the future they would not offer any credit for virused plants. They told me they could not guarantee virus-free. I have been doing business with Hausermann's for 20 years, but NO MORE.

What I find particularly disturbing about some of these vendors is that they have no plans to stop peddling these virused plants to their customers. It seems common that many of these large vendors are running about 25% infection rate in the plants they are selling.

On the positive side:

3. Ordered 10 plants from Brookside Orchids, ALL tested negative!

4. Casa de las Orchideas has a strict virus policy. They guarantee all of their plants and also offer to test any plants before they send them at the customer's request (and expense - $4 per test I believe)

Basically, I find the field is narrowing of sources where I can be assured that I am buying clean plants. At $4 per virus test, it is not cheap to test an order of 20 plants and find that 25% are virused. I welcome any input on other vendors that are serious about selling virus-free plants.

[Iklaikk]

Thank you thank you thank you THAAAANNNNNKKKKK YOOOOOOOOUUU!!!!!!! for this rant. You answered a question that I couldn't figure out the answer to.

Originally Posted by MJG

The other thing for me is that I am beginning to build a huge terrarium that I hope to fill with lots of beautiful orchids all sharing the same little ecosystem. They won't be potted. They'll be closely planted, sharing water. God forbid if I accidentally introduce spider mites or aphids. So I'm going to keep testing.

I am also planning a large terrarium, and wanted it as natural as possible with all the plants all mounted and sharing an eco system, but how do you do that without risking every plant in there?
Oh. Now I feel a little slow. Virus tests. Got it.
Thank you for getting up on that soap box.

[aliceinwl]

I think the problem is that a lot of the orchids that can carry viruses but be asymtomatic with proper care are picking up viruses where they’re grown overseas. When distributors import them, they’re already infected. The margins are probably too low for distributors to afford to test every plant they sell.

Since a lot / most of the Oncidium intergenerics and the like ultimately end up in box stores where they are about as disposable as cut flowers, as long as the blooms look good, there is not going to be an economic incentive to go through the extra trouble to ensure virus free stock.

I feel like distributors are kind of caught. In lieu of a virus free guarantee, maybe they could offer testing at additional charge? But, then they’d have known virused plants that they couldn’t knowingly sell (if they’re ethical) that they’d be forced to take a loss on. I can see them thinking it’s best just not to know...

[thefish1337]

For people with virused plants and those who would like to protect their plants from virus, you might want to consider treating your collection with Rhodopsudomonas palastris.

Characterization of Rhodopseudomonas palustris population dynamics on tobacco phyllosphere and induction of plant resistance to Tobacco mosaic virus

Analyses of expres-sions of plant defence-related genes showed that,starting from Phase III, bacterial cells in the Type 3and Type 4 colonies produced unidentified signals toinduce host defence againstTobacco mosaic virusinfection. In addition, we determined the crucial roleof aggregates formation of GJ-22 cell on plant phyllo-sphere in terms of bacterial cell stress tolerance andISR (induced systemic resistance) priming. To ourknowledge, this is thefirst report focused on the col-onization process of a phyllosphere biocontrol agentand gave a clear description on the morphologicalshift of bacterial colony on phyllosphere

Isolation of Rhp-PSP, a member of YER057c/YjgF/UK114 protein family with antiviral properties, from the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris strain JSC-3b

Herein, this protein is designated Rhp-PSP. Rhp-PSP exhibited significant inhibitory activities against tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) in vivo and in vitro. To our knowledge, this represents the first report on the antiviral activity of a protein of the YER057c/YjgF/UK114 family and also the first antiviral protein isolated from R. palustris. Our research provides insight into the potential of photosynthetic bacterial resources in biological control of plant virus diseases and sustainable agriculture.

Yes that is correct, this bacteria produces anti-viral proteins AND induces systemic resistance in plants.

[Ray]

Interesting.

Rhodopsudomonas palastris is present in Quantum-Total, so that’s another one of those unseen benefits.