Kaky - I see you first registered on 9/27/06. Welcome!

Many people of leery of buying plants at the big box stores. Do you have a picture that you could post?

Teresa

No camera. I'm new to this... Thank you for the welcome!

View the photos of HVX. If they look anything like yours you could do a couple of things:
1. Return them
2. Plant them away from everything else and clean the tools you use with bleach. Check the FAQ section at the top of the home page for more info.

The ones you have mentioned are fairly common and inexpensive. For piece of mind you could return them and then post another thread here about online sellers. White Oak is one nursery that every newbie should know about. Nice prices and nice plants. Some plants are small when they arrive but they are healthy. Also at the end of the season the couple running the business has a close out sale with fantastic prices.

Personally - if I was uncomfortable I would return them. Then I would post a new thread and the other members here can give you great advice about online sellers as well as nurseries in your area that have quality plants.

Good luck and hope to see more of you as your collection grows!

Teresa

I personally would return them. I've gotten burned by HD hostas in the past, but that was before I learned of HVX. I don't buy hostas from them anymore. If more people returned poor quality merchandise, the vendors would have to stop selling it. Same thing goes with hostas, if the word got out to be very leery of buying hostas at big box stores, they wouldn't order anymore. Then maybe we can start to weed out the bad hostas...I can dream, can't I?

Anitamo - consumerism does have some clout!

First Katy, welcome.

Second, I hate to burst your bubble, but even having some experience under my belt, I too got burned with hvx at home depot and it was Gold Standard, I ended up black bagging them and putting them out for the garbage men to collect and dispose of.

Oh boy, I sure don't want this to turn you off from hostas. I'm afraid hvx is a growing problem with this plant, one us hostaholics are trying our best to fight, it really is a wonderful plant to have. I just couldn't think of not having my hostas, there are so many different ones, always one to suit any garden situation. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, take back the ones you got there and look into other resourses. There are many on line dealers and once you research signs of hvx from the hostalibrary.org, you can also go to other garden centers to find plants.

I am just speaking as a person who has been collecting this plant for years, I never tire of it. Once you see what a real hosta collector has as compared to what is offered at Home Depot, you will understand.

The last thing I want to do is turn you off from hostas. I'm afraid the mass growers are doing a wonderful job of that on their own, biting themselves in the butt in the long run. But it really isn't like that everywhere.

I suppose it depends upon the local nursery that provides the plants to HD. As a matter of curiousity, I always check the Hostas for evidence of HVX, when visiting the local stores. Have observed none, only pervasive mislabeling.
Rb

The problem with buying big box store hostas is that HVX may not show up for several years, but the plant is still diseased and one could unwittingly spread the HVX in their garden. I think you are safest buying only from people that specialize in Hosta that guarantee true to name, disease free hosta. I would not take the chance of introducing HVX into my hosta beds by buying lower priced hosta from big box stores.

Diann

Thank you all. I did return them. They seemed to be fine, but I agree it's the right thing. I have several nice hostas I bought from a hosta grower at a local garden shot. But I was lured by HD's low $$!

Gosh, I'm always a little surprised to read all the HD bashing here (and no I don't own stock in the company!). I've gotten some gorgeous and healthy hostas there for a fraction of what they'd cost elsewhere.

Of course it's buyer beware, but that's really the situation everywhere these days. This past season the worst cases of HVX I saw were all at the most upscale nurseries in my area. At one, I spoke with the owner who had never even heard of the virus. He was grateful for the information I provided (I left a list of informational websites with his secretary) but he was very exasperated and said there was "just too much to keep up with" in the nursery business. At another, there were even more infected plants on their lot this season than there were last year.

I guess all I'm saying is that huge stores aren't the only retailers that can carry infected plant material. As I learned this summer, the people that are in the plant business can be as oblivious to the problems in the field as the minimum wage workers at the mega-stores.

I think when you've paid $30 or more for a hosta, every so often it's just good for the soul to buy one for $3! Stick it in the ground, disinfect your tools, make sure no one runs it over with the lawn mower, and cross your fingers. Worst case scenario, in a few years if the plant is infected, toss it. HVX is much easier to control in a garden than nematodes are.

How would one recognize the signs of HVX and can pictures be posted in the FAQ's?? Thanks. I recently started collecting and have become hooked!

Dewdropin, check out the Hosta Library. They have a good section on HVX.

www.hostalibrary.org

Here is a link that might be useful: Hosta Library's info on HVX

If buying from internet, check out Hallson's Gardens. They have extensive experience with HVX. You can buy a DVD presentation on it. I have purchased virtually all my hostas from big box stores. One Lowes in my area had a unusually good selection of hostas. One that I thought had HVX, I posted a picture on Hallson's fine forum (www.perenialgardens.com) and found that it was probably OK. I will wait until next year to decided to throw it out or not. HVX is serious, but don't be paranoid like I was. I think I am correct in saying it can only spread from one hosta to another by contact with tools used in planting or dividing. Others may want to expand on this. Read up on HVX and don't automatically throw away your Gold Standards and Halcyon and others that are on the high suspect list. I have just about bought all the ones I want from the big box stores and will do more internet shopping next spring and will definately buy from Hallson's.

I realllly need to add here...I don't care where you bought your Hosta, but this time of year is a bad time to try to diagnose any potential problems. Hostas are going dormant now, they will have "fall leaves" on some that actually mimic hvx in some cases, and otherwise most are looking ratty anyway. If you suspect a problem area, individual plant, whatever......just make a note of it and look again in spring.

OK I'll add my two cents.
Do some research. Not all HD stores have vendors that supply infected plants!
If you like what you see look at the tag or container and see who the grower is.
Look on line and see if they are proactive with hosta growing & HVX.
There are many different suppliers that some of the stores use. Some are not interested in quality plants but some are.
In our area there is one supplier for perennials and they are pro active.
I am only speaking about HD stores. What may of happened one year doesn't mean it will happen the next. Vendors do change.
And even quality nurseries who are pro active get burned with infected liners. It just happens!

Thanks for that advice hostared, it makes sense. I've been tempted by HD & Lowes, but hesitate because of all I read. I don't mind getting mislabeled plants, but don't want to take home sick plants.

My home town Lowes sells the same plants from the same growers that supply the upscale nurseries in my area most of the time, Lowes has fall sales, my local nursery does not, I went to the upscale one and was amezed at all the diffrent new perennials they had and I loaded up my cart, never would I have done this at a box store.

checked out and then got told they are not perennials that will look better next year but shabby looking annuals that they moved over to the perennial table, which they do every year and makes for some very unhappy plant buyers. yeah I returned them all, next time I'll just trust my judgement and not who I buy from. I know most of the perennial that are sold around here, but just the very basic annuals that are out there and they did have some diffrent looking ones.

I have not been very happy with buying from nurseries in my area, I've seen just as many troubled plants there only they want way more $$$ and never seem to get new stock. if they have three types of hostas they are well stocked!

kaky...
Chances are that your local HD supplier of Hostas and perennials, is Stacy's Greenhouses in York, SC. They supply and stock the tables in my local HD's. I have spoken to one of their reps and they are well aware of plant viruses, including HVX. Check for their label on the plants. I do not endorse their products, but I can say that I have never found any evidence of HVX or nematodes in any Hostas with their label on them. Occasionally some mislabeled one's, which is par for any large grower using employees that was introduced to Hostas yesterday!

What surprises me, if you reread the original post - the purchased plants hadn't even been examined but, nonetheless already diagnosed with HVX. And for no other reason than the purchase had been made at HD.

I value the information imparted on this forum, and I'm fond of my small collection of hostas (some of which actually came from the big boxes and are amazingly disease free), and I don't mean to be off putting, but I'd like to see less hysteria when someone finds a bargain instead of paying garden center prices. Price is not always an indicator of quality and sometimes it simply is not HVX!

I recently bought a Fire and Ice at Lowes. It looked like it may have something wrong with it, but was just $7.98. I spoke to the vendor who happened to be there and she said it would be OK and besides, Lowes has a 1 year guarantee on plants. She had a "probably will be OK" attitude. The problem I see with big box stores is that most of what they sell is on the suspected HVX list that can be found on the web. So, learn what HVX infected plants look like and make the best decision you can. Some of my favorite hostas are on these lists - ones that I can't do without, so I have educated myself and I make purchases as best as I can. I have only purchased one hosta from the internet - a Great Expectation and I was unhappy with it. So, I have canvassed the local stores to make a visual inspection of what I buy. By the way the site for Hallson is actually www.perennialnursery.com. I will purchase from them in the spring and trust that they are aggressively watching for HVX.

I got a lot of my early collection at Home Depot and Lowe's, Bout 4 years ago, right before HVX got widespread. Now you just have to look closely not only at the plant you picked up but the others of the same cultivar, to see if any in the batch look suspicious.
I bought a Fragrant Fire and June Fever at Home Depot a couple weeks ago because they were bigger now than the ones I paid about double the price for a couple years ago.
Of course I'll be watching for problems, but I'm willing to take a chance sometimes.
Dave

Do the tags with the hosta say who is the grower? I saw some with HVX at our Lowes. The tags said Berry Farm Hosta, Grand Haven, MI, but I couldn't find anything on line for them. I think when we see infected hosta, we should try to find out who's putting them out there on the market. Really, office people at Lowe's and Home Depot, are only concerned with ordering x amount of stock. If all hosta growers starting writing corporate headquarters saying the hosta you are purchasing from so and so are infected, maybe that would get their attention.
Pam

Really, HVX is only one of a variety of problems I see with hostas at the big box stores including Wal-Mart. I saw a Sea Thunder at a Lowes and tried real hard to justify buying it, but it was in too bad a shape from some fungus or bacteria. They must have had 30 like this for sale and they were happy to sell them. But I have seen unhealty hostas at local mom and pop nurserys as well and I feel they should know better. I look to them as being more of a expert on things. The big box stores may do something about a problem hosta depending on the person managing that department.