Article on Orchid Virus
 

Interesting, but somewhat disturbing article.

The Other Orchid Thief: Virus Ravages the Popular Flower [Slide Show]: Scientific American

Susan

Sue, Thanks for posting this. This great info for the people new to the hobby. And a good reminder for the old as well. I remember back inthe 80s a local grower that I knew and became good friends with was very concious about the viruses. Every plant that came up with the slightest sign was quickly discarded. He also provided cut flowers to florists. So he used a clean blade with every plant.

This is very important.
Quite a few of my earliest orchids had CymMV and four had ORSV.
How do I know?
After 3-4 years mulitple plants succumbing to failure to thrive and flower. I ultimately noticed an older flower pic of one plant limping along and recognized a color break.
Many dollars and Agdia ELISA tests later, I discarded 1/5th of my collection with positive virus tests.
I went from about 85 plants down to 68 or so.
I have saved three CymMV+ plants currently thriving but have quarenteened them.
One of the ORSV+ plants was also a thriving and flowering Phal WITHOUT a noticeable break in the color of the flowers...I triple tested it and was sick to throw it away.
It was quite an ironic eye opener that virtually all the plants that were positive were ones that were struggling. But again, I had beauties that were positive too.

My earliest plants were cheap and most were NOIDS.
However, I also had nursery grown named plants never repotted that were CymMv+.
The old pic of color break(ORSV+) I noticed was of the flower on the plant when I bought it and walked it out of the nursery....just too inexperienced at the time to realize it.
I was not well educated about bleaching and sterile blades etc...and it has cost me.
Half of the discarded plants were named and between $25-$50 per plant. And don't forget the cost of $4 per ELISA test.

In addition to the cost of the plants, one has to also look at the time; the wasted time, effort, fertilizer, growing media etc that you invest into your virused plants. It has been a very discouraging experience for me.
I now virus test every single plant after I buy it and would absolutely notify the nursery and ask for a refund if it came up positive.

My only other choice to handle this matter would have been to just give up orchids period....:rofl:
Let me know when hell freezes over too!

Very interesting article, glad you posted it .. Gin

The article is a very good lesson for a beginner. I realize that when you don't know much about viruses, all the orchids you have are "healthy", and after you are more informed about the issue, many became "infected".

Thanks Eyebabe for sharing your experiences!