Its up to you. By the time you get them they have already changed hands once, and sat around for, what, a month? According to a discussion on the OTHER forum (if you need to know the person is you can contact me), the symptoms can show up very quickly. I recall him saying a month or two, but don't quote me ont hat specific number; he had purposely infected cattleyas for research purposes, and the damage showed up in the newest growth quickly. So a month should be a long enough time to get a positive result.

Think of this this way: if I get your post right, the virus free plants are sent to this company who cut off the roots. If they're working with virus free plants, wouldn't it stand to reason that the risk of spreading a virus would probably be minimal? Its playing the odds, really. I think you'd be safer here than to accept plants from random people who know you as the orchid guy. You at least know where the plants are coming from.

It comes down to this: Take them or not; how worried are you about viruses?

Slight amendment: I since found the thread I was thinking of. He only references that the virus damage on the cattleyas showing up on the blooms on the next growth. Didn't say how much time had lapsed. But I'm still pretty sure a month is long enough for a virus to get a presentable grip on a plant.

There was a thread a while back on one of the forums about cutting the roots. You might try a search.

Hi Nick - don't know the truth/not truth of it, but in searching out virus information several years ago, someone who knows way more than I do told me that virus travels forward in an orchid, i.e., the newest growths will show the most severe infection. He thought that a newly infected plant might possibly provide an unvirused division from the oldest growth.
Assuming any of this is true (which I am wishy-washy about), I'd still test a leaf that develops after you start growing these discards.
Weird what people will throw away. And we will grab up.
Regards - Nancy

I'm not freaked out about virus, have no difficulty dealing with it. The original plants should be virus free, he get's them from Belgium or somewhere over there. Theoretically there should be no problem. But since, I assume, he has minimum wage workers using one tool to cut the roots on hundreds of plants it only takes one to cause a problem with many.

I think I'll grow them separately and test the new leaf on the first few then take it from there.

Nick, could you answer a question for a newbie? How will you test the new leaf?
Thanks Marion

Marion, under most circumstances you take a small sample of the leaf and send it to a lab to have it tested. I think there are some less-accurate home testing kits you can obtain, but labs would be the superior choice.

Herherhup! I have lived in Brazil for 7 years, am a member of the local OS and have NEVER seen a virused plant. I have never heard anyone here discuss virus. It's not an issue. It seems to me that these barbaric practices that you have been describing ARE the main reason for spreading virus. I wouldn't have anything to do with it. Tell this twerp of a woman that if she wants to throw her money away good look to her. You want to keep your orchids healthy....

Marion, I have confidence in the home tests and would use them if the leaf looked anything but normal.

Brazil must be a blessed country. A nation larger than the continental USA without a virused orchid is a miracle unless some people would not recognize virus if it bit them in the butt.

Nick

Virus or no virus do you really want a bunch of generic, mass produced, phal noids?

I don't but I have 3 daughters, one daughter in law and my internist's office who can't get enough catt hybrids and phaelies. My blooming Lepathes just don't do it for them.

Nick

The thread heading says it all "Virus, virus everywhere".

It is all in the realms of the great unknown....

How many viruses affect orchids?
Are there different strains of virus?
Which viruses go from Garden Plants/Weeds to our beloved orchids?
What are the effects of say CMV on orchid types other than Cymbidium?

Do not know the answers, but i can certainly attest to the tears and hysteria that i have seen at orchid shows and meetings over the years.

Last Monday night at an orchid meeting, one member would not show me her suspect Cymbidium leaf in the body of the Hall. Leaf viewing was in an ante room.

Magic Johnson (Arthur: this is a famous NBA player) has it all. A healthy charming wife, a healthy kid, a full and rewarding life and the HIV virus. It's all what you make out of it.

This woman I'm talking about pays $75 for very nice looking Phals, 4 or 5 a month. Most of the ones I saw had tags. There is no doubt in my mind that for the sake of my kids who like to decorate their homes with these things, I'll take them in. Sounds like no one really knows how soon one can test for virus, I suspect it's with the first new leaf.

Nick

I just sold my home and watched Realtors buy pots of Phals to stage homes for sale. They stick them everywhere, bathrooms, kitchens, etc. I had a bunch of plants in bloom but no Phals. They weren't interested in anything but Phals. I could have made a few bucks if I had known.

Jane

Probably that's the stuff I'm talking about. This gal does her own decorating and she does not limit herself to Phals, according to her. All I saw was Phals, but that could be the time of the year. She does not like Cymbidiums, too large.

Another guy from that area did that with me years ago but that was a bust, he bought all kinds of orchids but never watered them and kept them until they were virtually dead. I stopped that arrangement. This lady claims she watrs them once a week. We'll see.

Nick

If you can obtain them and they are in decent shape, I agree, scoop them up. But yes, definitely keep them seperate. Phals are a bit hardier. You may get a good number that are clean. And checking in the medium might get you some names too!

Enjoy!

OK Nick. I'm warning you. I'm gonna say something.......

I wouldn't worry about giving those plants to your children and friends. As far as I can gather from what you've said,your kids aren't serious they just like to decorate. So no harm no foul.

Still think if growers OR whoever tested for virus then we wouldn't have this problem. ginnibug

No problem, as you say my kids don't care whether they have names as long as the flowers are pretty. I still need to make every effort to keep the collection virus free. Since I'll have these new plants for a year before they are likely to re-bloom, I should have no problem dealing with it.

Nick

Hello,

I am new to this forum and have been a hobbyist for about 5 years.
Window growing with lights and humidifiers (big window ^.^) and now in the process of building a green house. Obviously no expert.
Began with traditional phals...now I mostly have catts and have very good success with them. With the green house coming, I decided to virus test my collection of about 80 plants and 15 were virused; ironically, ten were the "failure to thrive" group I've been hanging onto and had little reason to continue after that. But I LOVED those plants just the same. The other five have CymMV and are doing fine quarantined.
Nick, if your collection is fairly valuable and/or sentimental...WHY RISK bringing in these plants?
My recommendation would be to take them ONLY IF you have a separate place to nurture them before you give them away to your family and friends.

Denise