Thank you all! Axel, thanks... I was reading this yesterday too, the Calville Blanc is at around 18 mg /100gr, some others I found today. 30 - 35 mg in Braeburn 25 mg in Sturmer 15 - 20 mg in Idared 16.... in Ribston 15.....in Blenheim Boskoop I used to pick thousend of pounds, back in Switzerland when I was a teen. I loved this apple the most for picking, lovely looking with red cheeks, late apple, huge sturdy trees. But I don't think I have eaten more than five apples fresh,.. too sour! We stored some, execllent keepers and one of the best cooking apples. Actually, I had a graft on one of my trees here and had some apples on for two seasons, fireblight got into this tree and choped it down, but forgot to keep some scion wood. Hopefully I can get it back. Konrad

These comments are directed towards the the question: "Also, how do you clean a virused plant using cuttings? My experience of virus, admittedly not any which affect roses, has been that they are generally systemic," ------------------------- It is common to read in the general rose virus reviews something along the lines of the following: "Cuttings from an infected plant will be infected - no matter what portion of the plant they were taken from. The disease is systemic: The entire plant is infected, whether visible signs of the disease are present, or not." see as one example: http://www.goldcoastrose.org/ A Cornell 1998 rose virus research paper (not in the cited abstract: http://www.actahort.org/books/234/234_53.htm The statement is in the "must be paid for" full paper.) stated: "Virus distribution in apple, plum, and cherry trees is irregular" (they then give 1963, 1973, 1984, and 1986 references.) it is likely that virus distribution in rose is also irregular. This explanation appears to be reasonable since virus inoculated plants frquently exhibited some shoots expressing no symptons. It is possible that the virus has not been distributed throught the plant." ------------------- Since then, one French http://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1094/PHYTO.2000.90.5.522 and one Polish study http://150.254.175.4/ptfit/pdf/PP38a/PP38_091-098.pdf have confired the irregular distributions. -------------------- The French reported that: "A total of 89% (59 out of 66) of Anna stems was entirely PNRSV negative when axillary shoots from these stems developed after the decapitation of the floral stem, after the development of cuttings, or grown in vitro were tested by ELISA. ELISA tests of leaves from these stems were all negative. Since IC-RT-PCR conducted in parallel on all the explants from three (out of seven) of these stems also were negative, we suspect that these stems were virus free, even if they belonged to infected plants, or that the viral titer was very low in the stems." http://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1094/PHYTO.2000.90.5.522 ---------------------------- Thus, the French reported that they suspect that they were able to obtain clean plants from cuttings (as determined by the use of ELISA or PCR). They leave the door open that a more sensitive method may find a low amount of infection. ---------------------------------- This is what was reported concerning California Davis ROSE VIRUS experience: "Oddly enough, one way they eliminate virii is by clonal propagation. Simply put, if you culture enough buds (~100) some small number of them (two or three maybe) will be virus free. The drawback is space, labor and the need to index all the test plants." http://www.rosebreeders.org/forum/read.php?2,38492,38492#msg-38492 See the following thread for a discussion of the possibilities of cleaning cuttings in a hot climate. Here is a link that might be useful: garden web thread on possibilities of cleaning cuttings

I saw it yesterday in the thread under the post "the calm in year four". It was from lindhoan20x or something similiar. Sorry for my inaccuracy. It's easy to spot, though, and this person just repeats a line from someone else in the thread, then leaves a weird link that looks like Asian spelling. Diane

Or, you have spider mites or something sucking the sap from the foliage. It more resembles that to me than RMV. Though this is only anecdotal and not "scientific", Ralph Moore, who operated his nursery (Sequoia Nursery) for 70 years and grew roses for nearly 90, stated several times over the many years we were friends that he had never been able to transmit RMV via any method other than grafting/budding. And, he TRIED. He was also able to maintain roses free from viral infection for over half a century, even when grown closely with obviously infected ones. Dr. Walter Lammerts, who raised Queen Elizabeth, explored radiation effects on roses and shared radiated plants of Queen Elizabeth and the radiation induced mutation, White Queen Elizabeth with Mr. Moore. He had rows of easily 7' tall bushes of them. In the adjoining space, he grew numerous stock plants of his Pink Clouds which he used for the miniature standard stocks. it's the stock upon which Burlington Roses buds the majority of the budded roses she produces and all of the standards they sold at Sequoia for decades. That Pink Clouds was virus tested in the last year or so and found to be clean. While viruses may be 'tricky', in roses, they are much more difficult to transmit than some would have you believe.