All you can do is hold onto your love of hostas and learn, learn, learn. I have changed my habits considerably since learning about HVX. I keep a closer eye on things than I used to but not to the extent that it ruins my enjoyment of my hostas. Take things as they come but don't rush to judgement too quickly. This years weather has been unusual and it has caused many hostas to look a little different than normal as they unfurl.

First of all, HVX usually doesn't kill.

I learned something recently. Sometimes the potting medium that retailers use can sabotage us if we have a different type of soil.

For instance, if you have clay and you take a potted hosta and plop it into a planting hole, potting medium and all, you're kinda encouraging water to sit on the crown in wet times.

Also, is it possible there are pests involved?

I would buy some test kits and be sure a hosta has HVX before I threw it out. You can get them from Agdia. They advertise on the Hosta Library front page. In those places where you know you had a plant that had HVX (i.e. Striptease), plant a different perennial.

Keep and enjoy the hostas you have unless you are sure, then take steps to isolate and eliminate the diseased plant. Lastly, make sure you are cleaning your tools after working on or near your hosta with a 10% bleach solution. This includes cleaning when cutting flower scapes. Don't go from plant to plant doing this without cleaning your tools. Remember HVX spreads from the plant's sap. Of course any new hostas should be bought from sources that carry disease-free tissue cultured plants.

Steve

Until this year, I was proud of the fact that I had no disease in my garden. Then I looked at So Sweet and got worried. Folks here confirmed Hosta Virus X. Then I noticed that Ginzu Knife, Brim Cup, and Ventricosa Aureomaculata all looked bad, so I bought a test kit which arrived yesterday. Ginzu and Brim are sick; Vent is okay.
I dug out and discarded the three sick ones and replaced them with astilbe, fern and coral bells. Some people say not to worry because the disease won't kill them, but a post about a month ago said that it appears that snails and slugs can carry the disease from one plant to another, so leaving diseased plants in the garden is not a viable option.

I think you have to discard them as soon as you're sure they're diseased, put something other than hosta in their place (the disease lasts a minimum on 18 months in the soil), then clean and disinfect your garden tools.

That last step is critical to avoid spreading the disease. When I discovered that So Sweet was sick, I dug it out, then cleaned and disinfected every one of my garden tools. Now whenever I use any tools in the hosta gardens, I rinse them off and wipe them with Lysol disinfecting cloths. I sure hope that's enough.

Good luck! With a collection of 300, I'm sure you don't want to have to pitch everything. And I'm also sure that many of them are not yet diseased. Good tool hygiene could bring the disease under control. Nance

p.s. None of the diseased ones came from good hosta nurseries; the bad ones came from hosta society friends and sales and general nurseries.

Yes, get the test strips or post some pics on the Hallson boards HVX section for opinions. Sometimes funky things can happen in the early Spring to make us think there is a problem when there might now be. Last year I had hail ruin everything in June, followed by losses to voles and then the nematodes showed up. I was very down about growing hosta too, and it was a sucky feeling because I love them so much. About the only thing I didn't have last year was HVX, but I've that, too. Do what you can to prevent it moving forward and try to focus on the good things.

coll, make sure that these hostas were not getting nipped by frost. My garden had 3 frost nights in May 2010 and several early hostas had malformed leaves and leaves with streaks, Those hostas are coming up clean this year, also no late frost this year.
Bernd

post some pix and get our opinion ... link below ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

i had nematode trauma one year and almost threw in the towel and burned my entire yard. ;D

make sure you know that plants are diseased for sure first... and work on things one plant at a time. i find hvx much easier to deal with than nematodes....if that's any consolation. LOL

the good news is that i am nematode-free and lived through it!

I agree with ademink. Nems, so far, are the worst adversary in the hosta garden. HVX, I can deal with.

I'm not sure. On one hand, I hate nematodes more because apparently they can spread easier- really who, can control overhead watering. Rain, anyone? I had nematodes show up in several last year, including some new ones I got by mail order. BUT, at least I have the option of heat treating them to kill the nemes, which I can't do with HVX. I don't want to have to trash a nice hosta I've grown for years because one Spring it shows up with signs of HVX, but that is your only choice unless you don't mind keeping it around (I would mind).

It remains to be seen if last years heat treatments worked, but if they did, then that's the route I'll take from now on. I might even start heat treating all new hosta I bring in just to be safe. Nothing I treated last year appeared to be set back this year. But of course, the ultimate sucky thing about nematodes is that they can easily be brought in by other plants. It seems like everyone's brunnera has them, and I know I've got some heuchera with them.

yep...that's where mine came from - other plants. my tricyrtis and brunnera are like pariah in my yard...planted all alone away from everyone, practically like the boy in the bubble. ha!

if i ever see them appear again, i officially don't give a rats arse. I just will never trade plants w/ anyone and will live and let live. lol

I know that sad feeling you are going through. I have a pair of Fried Tomatoes that I am pretty sure are infected. I don't think I would mind quite as much if it would show up while the plant is young. It just really hurts when it shows up on a 5 year old plant. I got both of these plants at the same time from the same vendor so that makes me think maybe they have been infected all this time. I was so hoping that this would be the first summer I wouldn't have to pitch a plant. All in all it is discouraging.