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Amaryllis/Hippeastrum

Tobacco Mosaic Virus- advice needed!

4 years ago

I just returned home from a two and a half week vacation. While I was away, my mother graciously did a LOT of yard work and repotted many of my bulbs. Unfortunately, since returning home, I see clear evidence that several bulbs have clear signs of TMV- I guess the heat of summer brought out the symptoms. Last year I threw out several pots of bulbs that had TMV and I moved others away from my main growing area out of suspicion they may be infected. Here's the problem... my mom placed all the virused bulbs and healthy bulbs together. She also repotted bulbs and very likely spread the virus. Would you throw away the obvious virused plants and take a "wait and see" approach to the remainder of the plants?

I had a half wine barrel that was brimming with false freesia (Anomatheca laxa)... they're all gone. My thyme was taken out of the wine barrel that also contains rosemary and oregano. Several other pots of bulbs are missing. My cymbium orchids are sunburned because my mom moved them from their shady homes. My lemon grass is a dried up, sunburned mess (it's very hardy... it should come back with regular watering). A pot with a very rare purple bessera elegans is gone. As are some other rare bulbs. She repotted plants together that have totally different cultural requirements in terms of both sun and soil. She repotted many of my amaryllis in some very expensive seedling mix I had purchased right before I left... it was meant for another project. It will be WAY too soggy for amaryllis! *sigh* I can't be mad about all the damage that was done because I know that all her hard work was meant as a loving and kind gesture! On the upside, my yard DOES look much tidier!

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Comments (3)

jstropic (10a)
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
OOuch!!! Well, the most iimportant thing is that you have a very loving mother to do all that hard work for you :)

That being said the first thing I would do is move anything suffering from too much sun into a shaded area. The second thing would be to get rid of any bulbs that are strongly showing signs of TMV out. I would then spray an insecticide/miticide to prevent insects from spreading disease among the remaining plants. This should buy you some time to formulate a plan to "fix" your garden without killing yourself in the summer heat. Hooefully you'll find your missing bulbs along the way:)
berkeleysgr8 thanked jstropic (10a)
berkeleysgr8
Original Author
4 years ago
Thanks for the advice. I hadn't thought about using insecticide/miticide. That is a good suggestion to prevent further spread of TMV and to get the plants to their healthiest regardless of whether they've been exposed to TMV. I need to buy fresh insecticide anyway. I found evidence of mealy bugs on a papilio that is growing indoors and a they were on one of my phalaenopsis orchid flower spikes.

My boyfriend and I found about 50 bulbs last night. Pots had apparently been dumped along our fence line and in the area we use for composting. However, I don't know what the bulbs are, which means I'm not sure what medium to pot them in, how deep to plant them or how much sunlight they need. I *think* the bulk of the bulbs are freesia and Dutch iris. The pots at the fence line had been colchicum, hyacinth and colored calla lilies... but the bulbs retrieved in that area look like none of those things.

I keep reminding myself to be grateful for all the hard work my mom did. I'm also trying to stay focused on the fact that the plants can be replaced. The emotional mix of frustration and gratitude/love is a strange place to be. Ironically, I imagine it's a mix of emotions my mother encountered while raising her children. LOL
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No - not from Driftwood - but used to have family there (years ago) and visit often. I'm in Los Angeles County -- near the ocean. The plants are in containers because due to small lot size, there is no room to plant lots of tomatoes. As to my problematic plant, I will take action tomorrow. Either move it, or destroy it. The problem is, due to that small lot size, I can't move it far enough away. Apparently the virus is spread by aphids - and I don't want the others to get it (if that is what it is). I guess I'm hoping it is something else (e.g. herbicide) - but I don't think that only one plant could have been affected. And, literally no one in the area does gardening (and sprays) as most homes here don't even have gardens. I guess I should be thankful we don't have whitetail problems here, LOL.
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Carolyn: what is cmv? I've heard you mention it but not sure what it is. Do you think leaves look like CMV? **** Tammy, CMV is Cucumber Mosaic Virus and as I said above the symptoms are very similar to TMV and CMV infects tomatoes and has many more host plants. No, your plants don't have CMV either. I've linked below to a good diagnosis site for tomatoes and you might want to take a look. Two important points. First, pictures are static while disease is progressive so not always can one use pictures to make a definitive diagnosis, but I'd say most of the time you can. Second, all such sites list almost all possible pathogens and while the common Foliage pathogens are found everywhere the systemic diseases such as TMV, CMV, Fusariun, Verticillium, etc., are not always found in all areas of the country. So you have to know what's even possible in your own area before considering a pathogen as a possibility. Carolyn Here is a link that might be useful: Tx A and M tomato diagnosis
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Assuming you are in the US then TMV is essentially non-existent here and has been for over 25 years. CMV would be far more likely but even then only if the seeds were contaminated to begin with. "the new leaves are small and are on long stems. They fell stiff and are curled up." Is usually a clear sign of root damage. Either the plants are root bound in their container and need to be transplanted to larger containers or are being over-watered and root rot is developing. You will also want to look for small flies/gnats around or on the plants. Fungus gnats infest overly wet soil and their larvae in the soil feed on the young new roots. Dave
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jstropic (10a)
4 years ago
Funny how those memories float back into our lives lol! Sounds like you're in for an interesting year with mystery bulbs flowering in your future.

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