rant

[K Barrett]

Sorry, but I just gotta talk. I probably won't even post this, sometimes in writing a solution becomes clear or I get my thoughts in order (yeah, right, remember my thoughts resemble Wendy's tags, except she has a better chance of straightening hers out.)

You know how you get mentors in this hobby. People whose opinion you really value becasue they are right more often than not in your experience? Or they've been growing orchids for a million years?

Well I'm stuck between two of them with opposing opinions.

Mentor #1 says a plant I have has virus, Mentor #2 says no way.

My brain says the only way to be sure is to have the plant tested. My brain also says if the vague streaking in the leaves that Mentor #1 says is virus really *is* virus then I'd better have every plant with that streaking tested. Only one way to be sure.

My brain also says there are so many oddball spots and streaks in the leaves of all my orchids (which I have been pertaining to poor culture, thrips, cytotoxic effects from Orthene, and just plain old fungus/batcterial spotting) that if I check one, I may as well check them all....

Ack! We'd be talking about thousands of dollars. The Cattleyas alone would cost me $800. The whole collection about $2500. If not more.

So of course the other side of my brain is now second guessing the scientist in me. Maybe I'll only test the ones that bloomed weird last time. Yeah, that's the ticket. And the one's that get weird spots no matter what. That'd be about $100, maybe $125. That's do-able.

But the other brain is screaming at me! No! Thats' just spot checking! You'd never really be *sure*. You'll never rest until you KNOW!

So I don't know what to do.

I'll probably just check the 20-30 plants that are weirder than the others and see if I can decide from there.

Maybe keep really good records of what the symptoms are so I may be able to go back and diagnose from that. Spots OK, streaks bad. Like that.

[sigh]

I hate this.

K Barrett (now you know why I usually comment on how clean other people's leaves are,

*G*.)(Now you also know why I usually tell people not to fertilize a dry pot, not to use insecticide on a dry pot, and not to overhead water or mist plicate leaves.)

[Diana Kulaga]

I *get* the writing it out to put thoughts in order. If I'm really, really angry (doesn't happen all that often, but when it does it ain't pretty), I try to put it all in a letter to the transgressor. By the time I'm finished I don't have to send it. Of course, today we have that infernal *send* button, so ya gotta be careful.

Anyway:

Hypothetical question: What if you have every plant tested and 50% of them test positive? What would you do?

Another question: What's wrong with testing just the one plant at issue?

Still another question: What makes you think your plants are the only one with yucky leaves? <G>

And the $64,000 question: How many large collections do you suppose are truly 100% virus free?

Diana

[Diana Kulaga]

Oh, and one more thing: Have you consulted the Orchid Gods??

Diana

[K Barrett]

I thought of that. Old orchid growers say that any orchid grown for the cut flower trade is guaranteed to be virused... as long as the virus didn;t affect the flower the plant was allowed to grow. Which shoud make people wonder... But to directly answer your question... if a plant I didn't truely love showed up as virused I'd toss it. If it was my Owen Holmes.. I'd have to think about it.... but I'd probably eventually toss it. (slicing throat)

Gasp! But what of the ones living just next to the plant in question|?? Viruses travel by damage to the leaf...either by sucking insect (thrip) or just plain old bumping, dropping damage....... how would one know or be sure??? (See?? I've been in health care too long. LOL!!! You'd think I was talking about HIV)

Lord love you!! I hate to think I'm the only one with crappy leaves!! But I've seen all your pics and I know better!

Not a goddamn one! There lies the rub. Should *I* keep virused orchids? Would it damage my image with the tribe? The world ain't a small place anymore.....

K

[Gene Schurg]

KB,

I find that there are some cranky old orchid growers who seem to get pleasure out of telling people that their plant is gonna die or has virus. I know one such person who is an AOS judge and been around since William Cattley grew his stuff. Hey Bill, you should throw those things out. I think they are virused. Look at the leaves! Good thing Bill didn't listen!

If you are worried about the plant just mark it with a tag (I use big red tags for watch plants). Use extra care when repotting and cutting this plant and wait it out. See if the flowers are affected. The streak in a leaf could be a cultural thing. If the plant goes into decline or the flowers look infected they get rid of it.

Somewhere I recently read a comment that every orchid greenhouse that has been used for any length of time has viruses around.

Good Growing, Gene

[Steve]

I just read you post and the replies that have come in up to now. I'll offer my opinion of what you should do because I know what I would do if I was in your situation. (Actually, I am in you situation but on a smaller scale.) If you don't mind too much spending the $100 or so, then go on and test the the plants you wonder about the most. After those results come in, you can decide if you are done or not. What if you tested 20 plants but only 3 or 4 of those most suspicious plants turned out to be virused? I would toss the bad ones and relax. Few of the untested plants are likely to be virused. On the other hand, if 12 or 15 of those worst looking ones have a virus, I would continue testing another batch to see how they turn out. Keep track of those already tested. If I could find green tags, that would be a good color tag to use in the ones that tested clear of virus. Maybe the red tags for any virused plants that you don't dump right away for whatever reason. That's what I think you should do and I should quit putting it off and do the same thing. I hate the thought of finding out that I should throw away some of my favorite plants that I have been growing for decades, in some cases. Ignorance is bliss, I guess, but knowledge is power.

Steve

K Barrett wrote: