kathy, maybe your gold standard just isn't testing positive yet?

Mbt we are on same wavelength... and why I suggested testing say... a month later maybe? Or later still but certainly before the onslaught of dormancy....or next spring.

Very good information MBT.

Thank you,

Jon

MBT, where there is a will, there is a way. Hats off to you. :-)

Clarification! Love it.

Sherry

MBT6b, thanks for soliciting this information and posting it here. I think we/you/they have conclusively proven that scientists are not particularly good communicators.

so to be clear..I had a gold standard that tested positive for HVX (now carefully removed)..another one planted next to it tested negative but it could test positive eventually?..if 2 years pass without symptoms am I in the clear?

I think the honest answer would be, nobody knows. The weasel-word answers would be: (1) It PROBABLY could still test positive, but it MIGHT not, and (2) you PROBABLY can't assume success after two years without symptoms.

guess I'll be on high alert from now on...

Well then! Good job! and thank you MBT :)

Thanks for bringing this info to us, mbt.

The good thing about my Gold Standard is that I planted it in my herb bed. I'm not planning on putting any other hostas in there, and as of now that would be never another hosta in that bed. So I can let it grow and maybe divide it which is why I put it in the herb bed - it's sunny and the hosta should grow fast enough to divide it regularly. I need about ten Gold Standards for a future project. By the time I get it divided into ten hostas it should show symptoms of HVX if it's infected. I'll test it regularly, but the new leaves look healthy.

Keep us posted Kathy. The photos of GS with wet frost damage were interesting.

Were any of Lockhart's HVX studies published in peer review journals? Just curious to take a read.

https://www.apsnet.org/publications/plantdisease/backissues/Documents/1996Articles/PlantDisease80n09_1040.PDF

Thank you! :D What a treat. Interesting that this paper says HVX also infected Nicotiana benthamiana in their trials.

Dr, Lockhart's explanation for a possible confusion that HVX virus exists in 'soil' as well as his proposal for a phase II research project conclusively dispel the theory that HVX virus can survive outside of living tissue.

I. Objectives of Proposed Research

The AHS-funded HVX research project carried out during
2007-2009 was designed to answer a number of questions that are of frequent
concern to hosta growers; in particular the means by which the virus can be
spread to and infect healthy hostas. Among the results that were obtained, two
were of particular interest and judged to warrant further investigation. These
were the following:

1) HVX can be transmitted from infected to healthy hostas on
cutting tools.

2) HVX can be transmitted to healthy hostas from infected
residual root tissue present in the soil.

Based on these results, an additional research project is
proposed to address the following issues:

1) What are the most effective and practical means of
decontaminating cutting tools in order to avoid spread of HVX? 2) For how long
does HVX-infected residual root tissue remain infectious to roots of healthy replacement
hosta? 3) How much virus-infected residual root tissue is needed to cause root infection?
4) Are any perennials planted to replace HVX-infected hostas susceptible to root infection
by residual hosta roots present in soil? 5) Can root-to-root spread of HVX occur
during post-harvest washing of roots for removal of soil?

II. Experimental Methods

To achieve the research objectives listed above the following
experimental approaches will be adopted.

Cutting tool decontamination tests using readily
available, non-hazardous liquids(e.g. detergents, milk protein, oxidizing agents)
to determine which are most effective in eliminating HVX surface contamination.
2) Plant healthy hosta test plants in soil containing HVX-infected root remnants
at increasing intervals after removal of the original virus-infected plants.
Test plants will be grown for two seasons and assayed for HVX infection by disease
symptom development and serological and PCR testing. 3) HVX-infected root pieces
will be mixed in varying amounts into garden soil in which healthy hosta test plants
will

Be planted. These test plants will be observed
and assayed as described above for evidence of root-to-root HVX transmission.
4) A range of shade-adapted perennials, possible replacement plants for HVX-infected
hostas, will be inoculated experimentally with five different isolates of HVX.
These plants will be observed and tested
for evidence of HVX infection as described above. 5)
Todeterminewhetherroot-to-rootspreadofHVXcanoccurduringpost-harvest washing, healthy
and HVX-infected hostas will be bound together and subjected to
water-washingunderconditionscomparabletothoseemployedincommercialnursery
operations. Healthy hosta test plants will be observed and tested for evidence of HVX
infection as described above.

If someone disagrees on this point then I expect they should provide a link to proof of their suggestion. Anything outside of facts proved on HVX virus may be interesting, but are completely irrelevant.

Jon

Emphasis mine.

Jon, did anyone ever accuse you of being an absolutist? In science those things which have not been proved are not irrelevant, they are the next subject of research.

Kathy

I am definitely not an absolutist, however when something has been proven for hundreds of years and is entirely logical I do not accept someone arguing something completely different without any proof. Examples would be that viruses can live in plain soil or that hostas have some unexplained ability that prevents them from being killed by glyphosate or that glyphosate only acts on the foliage of hosta and doesn't disrupt the enzymes in hostas as it does in every plant known except one wild grass and the genetically modified crops developed using this grass. Those that argue against these facts are absolutists...absolutely wrong.

I do plan to follow up on my glyphosate tests very soon. I have learned a lot about the recommendations and effectiveness of various doses and the variation has been quite dramatic.

I have for a while recommended using glyphosate for quite a while and I think I am obligated to follow through with it so if someone tries it out they would know what strengths to use and what to expect.

My statement was intended to make absolutely sure that the matter of HVX living outside live tissue was well settled. I absolutely don't want to go over all that again. There is absolutely no doubt that it cannot live outside live tissue. It has no structure that would make this possible. Pretending that by some unknown chemistry this is biologically possible ignoring hundreds of years of scientific observation and science itself is not logical and it is not possible that it 'might' occur.

Jon

Jon, in the future you should post your information regarding HVX and/or your RoundUp experiment in your own thread. It makes sense that you start your own discussions in case anyone might want to reference your experiment.

MBT, when I post some results on my experiment I will. I think my comments are relevant to this post which is directly related to my posts. Don't you agree?

Seems it'd be more useful if it were all in one place.

Well then why did you start another thread?

*sighs*

'Groans, scratches head....smiles.