Nick, please no virus threads. I have written before about the STRESS that this causes to humans.

Now you know that i do not love Cymbidiums but i have in my possession a large standard Cymbidium that has a few suspicious marks on the leaves. If a Cymbidium fancier saw it he/she would freak (they are all in my opinion quite mad) anyway the flowers are perfect. Its not CMV but possibly something else.

When i said it was in my "possession" it was given to the local orchid society by a terminally ill member a few months before she died. I was supposed to give it TLC and sell it in Cymbidium flowering season.

Now, because of those suspicious marks i cannot sell it, just in case it is virus and i do not like to put something in the garbage bin that might be fine.

Hi Nick,

I have my Cymbidium collections all in my backyard under a shadecloth all yearound next to the GH we live in the same zone. So your cyms will be fine. sufe ca

I had a virus once when I was a kid and my mom tried to discard me! But then I was given lots of antibiotics. :)

The question begging to be asked here is, Were any of those orchids actually lab tested for viruses?

Sc

Sweetcicley, I have 1000 plus orchids. i'm not about to start testing them all for virus.

Sure, you can never accept pressies from other growers, restrict visitors to your collection and test every incoming plant for virus.

Might be fine if starting from scratch, but the great unknowns are the presence of virus in surrounding garden planfs and weeds and which viruses infect particular Genera of orchids and so on.

More later.

Sc

When I see a color break in the flower of a Catt, there is no need for virus testing. Get the GC ready. Similarly when you see a longitudinal streaky color break in the green chlorophyll of the new growth of a Cymbidium, no need for testing. I tested enough of them 10 years ago but no more. Certain features are characteristic.

The real rub is that plants who are perfectly healthy and look 100% normal can still harbor these sneaky little buggers. That's what this is all about.

Nick

I am of the mindset that all Cymbidiums are virused and anytime I touch/divide one I wash my hands thoroughly and sterilize where ever and what ever it touched.

Ive often wondered about environmental factors playing a part in the display of virus. Ive observed a number of the same clone express color break and disposed of them and wondered if the rest of the divisions where there fore infected. Not sure if something like a spray, temperature, or water in the margins of blooming cause it or not. All I can do is speculate and anonymously contribute.

Arthurm, what is a 'pressie'?

ok Ok OK, Arthur and Nick! I got it, and that's wot I thought.
No you didn't and you're going to err on the side of foregone conclusion. Ok.

I'm with sos, sorta. From what I have read on this forum, I'm inclined to think that certain lines of orchids are long since infected. Some are probably highly resistant. Others, hardy types among which virus is endemic, are able to grow and reproduce without expressing any apparent fault.

Since I don't breed, show, or sell orchids, I don't have to worry a lot about viruses, EXCEPT that I am cautious about from whom I buy plants and am very careful about handling the ones I have. I try to follow antiseptic guidelines. Even so, every time I pick up two pots in a row without washing, etc. (all the time) I run the risk of spreading something. Frankly, the wonder is that ALL orchids are not virused.

Yes, Arthur, What the heck is a pressie?? :)

Sweetcicely

Pressie??? perhaps present? Gifted plants that both Nick & Arthur referred to.

God speed on your greenhouse too! Which is much more exciting and interesting than amateur orchid viral theories.

Andrea, from Columbia Orchids has a degree in virology. If you make your way to the show in anticipation to fill voids youve had by not having a greenhouse talk to her about it. Then buy some Telipogons from Juan Carlos!

Why are you wishing Telipogans on me. I tried those little buggers once, super careful, everything by the book. They all died in due order, don't talk to me about Telipogans. I had much more success with Disas and D cuthbersonii. If you live in San Francisco that's no beeg theeng, they grow like weeds up there. Down here in SOCAL its not so easy.

I'm excited about the greenhouse too, 30' x 12' cut in half, cold on one side, warm on the other. One of my other sons and I are doing it all ourselves, wood plus agricultural plastic and shade cloth. Monday to Wed next week should see it happen.

Then its on to Odontoglossums, Draculas etc etc.

Nick

They are that much more fussy than Draculas? If there is any from Ecuagenera or Columbia Ill try them out, definitely hoping to get some strange Pleuros though!

You got to be kidding comparing Telipogons to Draculas. Here is what Jay Phal has to say about them:

Telipogon H.B.K. 1816 SUBFAMILY Epidendroideae, TRIBE Maxillarieae, SUBTRIBE Telipogoninae

There are at least fifty species in this epiphytic, cloud forest, cool growing genus found from Costa Rica to Peru with the highest concentration in the high Andes of Colombia. They prove to be one of the most difficult orchids to maintain for any length of time. They are delicate, dwarf epiphytes without psuedobulbs, made up of clustered or distant, speedily deciduous, leaves ,which, from the axils arise a slender, few flowered inflorescence. They need damp cloud-forest conditions with deep shade, cool temperatures and ample air circulation. The cloud forest areas not only are damp but a permanent fog blankets the ground and light is rarely high, as it is difficult to even see 10' on a 'clear day'. They are one of the wettest orchids that you can grow and as such need to be misted constantly and watered regularly.

Please take note of his second sentence.

Nick