Opinions on viruses

[MJG]

I'll present a second dissenting opinion. My feelings about virused orchid are much the same as katsucats.

You ask about experiences with viruses. I do not have a huge collection of orchids (60 or so). Years ago I started testing each orchid that I acquired as it came in the door. I had one orchid that tested positive early on. I decided to keep it because it was sentimental -- a gift from my daughter. But I knew it was virused and decided I'd be careful not to expose my other orchids. It never exhibited any symptoms of virus, just a positive test.

A few years later a previously healthy and tested orchid started to go downhill badly. It exhibited some virus symptoms. I tested it, and it tested positive with the same virus as my daughter's gift plant. I had obviously transmitted the virus. Meanwhile over those years, the gift plant had stopped growing and flowering. I threw them both out. The virus didn't go raging through my whole collection, but it was a wakeup call.

The other thing I'll mention is that for years almost all of the orchids I bought were virus-free. Lately it's been just the opposite. This spring alone I've bought 8 orchids that have tested positive. These were from 4 different merchants. In every case I've gotten rid of the orchids and gotten refunds or a replacement (with me paying the shipping). Warning -- some merchants are cooperative and professional and some are pirates. Anyway, I am not sure why I'm seeing so much more virus lately, but recent events make me very glad that I am testing everything. I cringe when I think that I could have added 8 virused orchids to my collection this spring.

There are lots of nasty orchid pests and ailments that everyone encounters. For me, the difference with viruses is that they are not curable. And at some point if you allow enough virused orchids into your collection in my experience they will spread.

[Roberta]

With regard to Ctt. Porcia (note spelling) 'Cannizaro' I think that you can be quite certain that it is virused (as I recall when I tested mine, CymMV) The original FCC plant was virused, transfered to its mericlones. Been collecitng awards since the early 1970's. It shows no sign. Mine lives under a rose vine for shade... well away from the rest of the orchids - and blooms its head off every fall. I'm certainly going to keep it - it is gorgeous - but I also handle it so that it won't infect the rest of my collection. It doesn't go into society displays... but now it is too big and heavy to take anywhere anyhow. If it were in a greenhouse I'd be more concerned - diseases in general spread more efficiently in enclosed spaces than in the open air. (Plant viruses are not nearly as contagious as the human ones, orchids don't cough)

[SouthPark]

Thanks Roberta. I fixed the spelling - as I keep forgetting whether I had Porcia or Portia. Mine is Porcia too (not Portia).

It's thanks (actually no thanks) to the genius (or 'geniuses') that decided to have one orchid called Porcia 'Cannizaro' and another called Portia 'Cannizaro'.

[Roberta]

There is no such thing as Portia 'Cannizaro' ... if you have one it is a misspelling. The cultivar Ctt. Porcia 'Cannizaro' has lots of awards, so the name is in the records of AOS and other national societies where it was awarded. You won't find that cultivar name associated with Ctt. Portia (which is a different hybrid) . Remember, a cultivar refers to a specific plant. (Neofinetia falcatadefinitiona follow different rules in Japan and Korea, topic in another forum... that's not what we are talking about here) Ctt. Porcia and Ctt. Portia are both Guarianthe bowringiana hybrids, the other parent is different.

[SouthPark]

Mine is a Ctt. PorCia 'Cannizaro'.

I have seen the following links:

orchidweb link

orchids.org link

awards link

grand champion link

----- so if there is no such thing as PorTia 'Cannizaro', then that's a pretty ridiculous situation how they're using the wrong names on those particular pages.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Roberta

There is no such thing as Portia 'Cannizaro' ... if you have one it is a misspelling. The cultivar Ctt. Porcia 'Cannizaro' has lots of awards, so the name is in the records of AOS and other national societies where it was awarded. You won't find that cultivar name associated with Ctt. Portia (which is a different hybrid).

Roberta ....... are those websites (orchids.org etc) displaying the wrong information by callling their orchids Ctt. Portia 'Cannizaro'? Just double-checking only.

[Fairorchids]

I agree with Ray. I maintain clean procedures in the greenhouse, but I grow plants for sale (from flask or compot) and I buy plants from Hawaii for resale (500-1000 annually).

• To virus test each plant is prohibitively expensive. It would require resale prices 1.5 to 1.8 times what the plants are currently selling for.
• To virus test one plant takes time, several minutes for the actual process, and a wait period for the results. Doing this for 1000+ plants is unmanageble.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

Roberta ....... are those websites (orchids.org etc) displaying the wrong information by callling their orchids Ctt. Portia 'Cannizaro'? Just double-checking only.

It is wrong. Likely not intentionally so... I see plenty of orchid tags (species as well as hybrids) where spelling is rather phonetic and therefore incorrect. (People make errors a lot bigger than this... ) "Porcia" and "Portia" sound very much the same (essentially identical) when spoken. So it's a very easy mistake to make.

And we know that when a tag is written, it takes on a life of its own. Here, the cultivar is the giveaway since it is documented due to many awards. Most of those misspelled tags, you just have to look 'em up. To say nothing of the incorrect IDs... I have seen some pretty strange ones, especially on hobbyist plants, most people don't question anything they see on the tag. Me, if I get a plant with an incorrect tag, I just correct it and move on, often the research gives me a chance to learn something. ( I LOVE Orchidwiz)

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Roberta

It is wrong. Likely not intentionally so... I see plenty of orchid tags (species as well as hybrids) where spelling is rather phonetic and therefore incorrect. (People make errors a lot bigger than this... ) "Porcia" and "Portia" sound very much the same (essentially identical) when spoken. So it's a very easy mistake to make.

Thanks very much Roberta! That really sorts it. That also changes my previous negative view about why somebody would choose 'Cannizaro' for both a Porcia and a Portia cultivar. To me ..... that was a ridiculous move.

It is nice to hear and know that there truly is no such cultivar named Ctt. PorTia 'Cannizaro'. Thanks for helping to set this straight.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

Thanks very much Roberta! That really sorts it. That also changes my previous negative view about why somebody would choose 'Cannizaro' for both a Porcia and a Portia cultivar. To me ..... that was a ridiculous move.

It is nice to hear and know that there truly is no such cultivar named Ctt. PorTia 'Cannizaro'. Thanks for helping to set this straight.

Just for the record, Ctt. Portia (C. labiata x Gur. bowringiana) was registered in 1897. Ctt. Porcia (C. Armstrongiae (1907) x Gur. bowringiana) was registered in 1927. Both have been around for a LOOONG time - well before either of them started accumulating awards. (Both highly awarded, so there is record of common cultivar names) If you hear "por-sha" don't you think of Julius Caesar's wife? If you do, you'll spell the second one wrong. In all of these years, I think that you can reasonably assume that happened a lot. The people who came up with the grex names had been dead for a long time and so did not know the confusion that they sowed.