Hi Jakki, I've seen roundup sprayed hostas come back a year later, so while it is worth a try to kill the plants with chemicals it isn't a guarantee, and then those roots could be down there contaminating things for quite a while. From the latest research (they aren't saying much yet) they are saying that HVX stays viable in the soil for months, if not years, from a contaminated location, so the recommendation is to not replant hostas in a spot that previously had HVX. Pretty scary stuff, if you ask me! There was always the possibility of HVX spreading by contaminated dirt particles (using a coarse contaminated sample to grind HVX into hostas is part of the inoculation process in research) and it seems dirt can hold on to HVX for quite a while. Also think heavy dust storm - if the plants get wind damage, bits of HVX could be floating around the garden. One major issue I see is that people continue to think that the green "ink bleed" is the only symptom. People post pictures here pretty regularly with HVX infected plants in the background and I don't even think they realize it. Many plants get distorted leaves, but others get NO symptoms at all. It's like cockroaches... If you see one you can be guaranteed there are others lurking about, even though you don't see them. There are millions of HVX infected plants out there, and it will take the effort of all of us to get rid of this huge problem. Chris

Passing the peace pipe to bboy and gardengal48. You both have worthy experience and advice to bring to the table, which we thoroughly appreciate. So no fights! Anyhow, HOSTA Virus X is fairly easy to spot in my experience, there are tale tell signs. Ink bleeding across leaf veins seems to be the best indicator (see pictures in my first post). Yes, environmental (cold/hot/physical damage) issues and even sporting (mutations) could throw one off thinking their plant might be infected - do your research - quarantine and watch the plant, considering testing if a prized plant, otherwise... don't take a chance, get rid of it. Nwnatural, to answer your question.... An infected hosta with HVX will languish and not perform well and some will most certainly die a very slow death. Not to mention how ugly and sickly the plant will look in comparison to a non-sick plant. Thanks for your interest! Azngrnthumbs, yes! please do speak up, whether it be The Home De-POT or Lowes, whatever nursery you happen to be browsing. Talk to the department supervisor if possible, they tend to be much more responsive. It takes a little bit of courage, but you're helping out the garden world. I've heard that Lowes has responded much better to customer complaints about HVX, they're supposed to be investigating their suppliers, much better than Home Depot response. Although, I still see many sickies at Lowes, sigh. Anyhow, awareness is the key, let the world know about this.

Heat wave here, so I've been procrastinating digging out this virused hosta. 90 * F today, a bit cooler...decided to get at it. Thought some of you might be interested in how it went. I assembled the spading fork, 2 trowels, a box of disposable plastic gloves and several plastic grocery bags. I wore a pair of rubber crocs, which I scrubed with Dawn dish washing detergent afterwards. The diseased hosta was pried out from the side away from the healthy hosta and came out pretty easily. I got most of the roots. I ended up not using a bag over the hosta as I dug because I wouldn't have had a good view of the drip line but I did keep it handy, gripped the hosta petiols to dispose of it into the bag and discarded the gloves inside out. I scooped out two and half grocery bags full of dirt using a trowel and plastic gloves....used 5 pairs of gloves. I think I may have cut one of the healthy hosta's roots, so I've devised a barrier (bkay's idea) into the hole ...a double plastic bag filled with potting soil. I'm going to leave the hole fallow until next year. Hope that healthy root heals before it can come in contact with diseased sap. Thanks everyone for your input. I really appreciated all the advice. BTW, the tools have been disinfected with Lysol foam spray after they were washed. There was hardly any soil on the tools because the ground was very dry. I'm sort of glad now that I didn't wet the soil before digging the hosta. I will wipe the tools down again using Lysol wipes.

Thank you all for your help; I really appreciate it! I will contact Chris Wilson and let you know what I find out. I didn't know there were viruses other than Virus X that could attack Hostas. Viruses are the worst to deal with because there's really no treatment or cure for them other than quarantine and destroy. I have never had spider mites attack hosta either, but because I've only been growing hosta for a few years, I wasn't sure if they could attack hosta or not. To be on the safe side and to rule out an insect cause, I decided to spray them. It's a very different looking plant for sure. The closest cultivar I could compare it to would be Hosta 'Purple Lady Fingers' or Hosta 'Stiletto'. I would be glad to post a picture of the entire plant. Other than the yellow-green flecks on the leaves, the plant looks pretty health overall. And aside from being a different color, the yellow-green flecks are pretty unremarkable--no browning or sunken areas where they are.