Worried about virus in collection!

[Pelepel]

Hello Fellow Orchid Friends,

I'm a wee bit worried about my beloved plants. I want to see what others think is going on in these pictures. Each picture is a individual orchid. I'm scared they have some virus, or multiple. I know, jumping to assumptions is bad, but, certain ones were fine then started to get the dreaded "signs" on healthy leaves. I know there could be various things wrong such as bacteria, fungus, water, light, pests...so on. An experienced eye and general direction and I will be forever grateful! Still learning only after three years.

Picture 1: Peristeria elata (got it super healthy from Kawamoto Orchids last May, leaves got a pitting..not sure if that is is common in species, growing in S/H)
Picture 2: Cattleya seedling (bought it like this, and just picked it and two new growths that appeared healthy just fell off! )
Picture 3: Oncidium Sharry Baby
Picture 4: Dendrobium Spectabile (Got it to spike, yay!)
Picture 5: Bllra. Diana Dawn "Mt. Pisgah"
Picture 6: Encyclia cochleatum x Encyclia lancifolium. (aka green hornet)
Picture
Picture 7, 8,9: Den. Kingianum (just got that the other day, grower said leaves looked like that because it is so crowded, just want to make sure because better judgement said not to buy it)
Picture 10: Neo hybrid (rainbow)



What do you guys think? Thank you SO much. (I have several plants I'm concerned with as well, but these are the mains).

[NatalieS]

Well, the first pic looks more like a nutrient or water issue than a virus. The last pic definitely looks like an indented black spot on the underside of that leaf which I believe could be a mosaic or ring-spot virus - is it indented on the surface of the leaf as well?

I am not sure about the others - I will defer to someone with more experience on those!

Before you get alarmed though, viruses aren't necessarily fatal for orchids. How long have those marks been on the leaves? Does it seem to be spreading on some plants? I've read that viruses move pretty quickly, so if some of those marks have been there for a while, it might not be a virus.

[Zoi2]

The only way to know for sure is to test the plants.
Most of the black spots I see look bacterial/fungal. How is your air circulation?
Joann

[Discus]

I'm not nearly experienced enough to tell if those blotches are viral or not - the only definitive answer comes from antibody based testing. You can either send suspect leaves to a lab, or you can buy test strips. Agdia sells test strips, and there are several firms that offer virus testing. Whilst you can keep virused plants in your collection, they have a rather irksome tendency to spread, so you should either destroy plants you know are infected, or quarantine them (think of it as a level 4 biohazard organism, and you might just be paranoid enough, lol). Don't share unsterilised tools between plants, recycle old unsterilised media, share water, or even walk around touching the different plants without sterilising your plants.

It always irritates me at orchid society meetings when people talking about the various plants brought to the show table wipe their fingers along the leaves of many different plants (people like touching things I guess!) from different collections. I wonder how many viruses have been spread that way?

[euplusia]

It is difficult to impossible to tell a virus infection from the leaves. If you have deformed flowers with crippled sepals, petals or lip, with colour stripes and colour break, it is more likely. I also say that a healthy looking plant may be dangerous. Because it may also be infected without signs, so misleading you to forget safety precautions (use sterilized tools, avoid pot sharing and water sharing).
I believe from my medical background that infected tools are the main source of virus infections in plants, more dangerous than insects.
If virus infection of a plant has occured, normally signs will develop slowly, within years. Signs of infection by bacteria, fungus and insects develop rapidly. Fungus infection is generally the result of otherwise bad conditions and weak plants. Because fungi are everywhere, but when the plant is in stress, the balance is shifted and the fungus gets its chance.
I am especially afraid of soft mite infection and I have seen big orchid collections breaking down rapidly by these nearly impossible spiders, especially indoors.
In your case it seems, that very different genera became sick at the same time.
So this is not an scientific answer and virus infection is never excluded, not even on a healthy looking plant. But I do not assume that all these spots are signs of virus.
I would take care for proper growing conditions, air movement, fresh air, hours with lower humidity, appropriate temperature etc to avoid plant stress. Also I would check my nutrition schedule for trace elements and soluble calcium.
Then I would bring all my plants (I mean all) to a place where they can be treated repeatedly with remedies working both systemic and by contact against mites.
Hope this helps.

[goodgollymissmolly]

Second Euplusia' motion! Thanks

[Pelepel]

Thank to everyone and their replies. I truly appreciate it. These issues could be several contributing factors; however, some of these were my first plants and were bought with a not so experienced eye at a few shows. So, pertaining to a few questionable issues some have always looked like such and other developed symptoms both over time and rapidly. I guess there is no way of truly knowing like others pointed out until you either test for said viruses or treat possible problems. We are just so careful, try to keep good airflow and humidity is naturally high here. We always make sure to sterilize our tools between plants. We did loads of research before we got ourselves into this addiction, haha!

Winters are on the cooler side. So perhaps come spring things will look up again. I always hear of horrible stories about viruses wiping out complete collections and I'm hoping that isn't the case here.

Where is a good place to get tests?

Euplusia also pointed out a good point that perfectly healthy looking plants could be virus carriers. So, in theory, you can buy a plant in good faith and it can be a carrier. It's a very scary thought. I mean, how could you tell or know unless you tested it? And, I agree at the fact that at shows there is so much cross contamination. I've seen growers who have pest issues in their stock bring their plants to shows. Who knows if those plants don't have pests as well? How can there be any 100% guarantee everyone's plants are healthy and totally pest free? I suppose the same stands true for dog and livestock shows. Just something that crossed my mind when I go to shows.

I just bought that Den. King. the other day, so hoping that isn't something funky... Was told it was just too crowded in its pot hence the spotting.

[euplusia]

I am glad you like my post.

" A healthy person is one that is not examined thoroughly yet ".

There is a large number of viruses known to infect orchids (maybe 50 different). For sure there are more plant viruses, who are a a possible cause for orchid disease, but not known until today. So you do a virus test- I mean, on which method of detection is it based? PCR (Polymerase chain reaction) or simply transmission on other plant leaves. Are you sure to cover all possible viruses?
If you test positive for virus, it doesn´t mean that the leave spots are caused by virus as well.
If you test negative, it doesn´t give you 100 percent security as well.

So is the conclusion: There is nothing sure in this world.
The evil is always and everywhere.

[Merlyn]

There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY to verify if an orchid is virused by looking !!!! You can SUSPECT but that's AS FAR AS IT GOES by visual inspection !!!

The ONLY WAY to verify a virus is by testing !!!!!

[Leafmite]

To truly confirm a plant to be 100% free of virus, you'd probably have to mash a good part of the plant and carefully search the entire mess with an electron microscope. How much fun is that? And, imagine trying to convince a university that this is an effective use of equipment? Ha ha. If an orchid in my collection looks suspicious, it spends time all alone until it blooms or, if I think the signs are obvious, after much research, and the plant is in obvious decline, it gets repotted to the trash can (this hasn't happened yet but it is the backup plan). There are tests and labs but these sometimes, just as in humans, yield false results, so it is best to test more than once for accuracy unless, of course, there are many suspicious signs. I hope a cheap way to test for viruses makes its way here and becomes mandatory for all plants sold in the US. This would prevent quite a bit of anguish and would also protect agricultural crops.