Wow, your Lowe's, HD and Walmart have way more interesting hostas than ours do! But I'll have to look tomorrow and see what's on sale here...tho I don't think anything is, yet.

Sandy

Sandy, it's the same where I live. The big box stores herevhave maybe Francee, wide Brim, and Frances williams..I have never been remotely tempted!!!!

Yes, and u. albomarginata.

It's not the least bit tempting.

bk

I found h. Blue Hawaiii early in the season, but now it's the same fare there. An occasional h. Dream Queen and the other day in day out stuff. zzzzzzz

dave

Smith, you might as well get used to it, there will be NO BREAK in the fever. You are a goner. I'm glad you found the forum. At least we can help remove some of your guilt for being so happy going down the hosta rabbit hole. You are among friends.

A word of advice. Be sure not to buy any hosta that look WEIRD from the first. They could have the HVX (Hosta Virus X) and that is not curable and it spreads via contact with plant matter (body fluids?). There is information to read on the subject, I'm not an expert at all.

Here is a link to the video HD put out about their hosta collection for this season.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ5gS9egt0w

I have one plant that is suspect for HVX. I have it isolated and I bought it from a lady in town when she had her hosta sale. I am hoping her gardener knows what to look for when it comes to HVX. She has a very large collection and a lot of mature plants. She also sold a ton of hostas this season.

Hostas which have HVX not necessarily show it when you buy them. That's why a hosta can look beautiful in your garden this year, but next year have HVX. I think I got HVX into my garden when I bought a 'Sum and Substance' at low price at Walmart, turned out to be something like 'Yellow Swoosh', which a year later had HVX. Though none of the hostas I bought at HD or Lowes over the last 10 years ever showed HVX. Good luck! Bernd

You must have a strange Lowes as ours never puts hostas on sale,no matter what the condition,or time of year. Phil

I was surprised she sold them to me for more than 1/2 off, she said she could make me a deal if they looked bad or were dying off. All the hostas they had were still in really good shape. She sold the Rainforest for $4.50 each and the Yellow Rivers for $1.00 each and the Dream Queen for $2.00 each. I may have to call every week to see if they are ready to get rid of them even cheaper. I also need to call HD in Carmel to see if they still have them and if they are on clearance. I have an in-law that lives down there that I am sure would stop by for me. I would love to have some of what they carried this season, especially on the cheap!

I agree that it is important to watch out for HVX, but I am envious of your deal!

I went over to Buffalo, NY this May. Home Depot had a nice assortment of hostas. They were larger sized than we get in Canada and cheaper. As we were about to drive off, I said "stop the car!" to my husband. I meant to buy Dream Queen and try to smuggle it over the border. When I went back, I realized that it was mislabeled because it had a light margin. No deal.

I have not seen that kind of variety that you have at the Home Depot or Wal-Mart in Buffalo. Haven't been to Lowes. Here in Ontario my Wal-Mart had GE, Regal Splendor, George Smith, Cherry Berry and Dream Queen to name a few. They reduced GE to $3.50---and I am a lover of GE---so I just had to buy that! The only other hosta left on sale (for $3.50) was a few Cherry Berry, but I am not interested in adding another difficult hosta to grow. I already have Brim Cup which did well for two years and this year looks ugly.

Good luck to you with your hostas! And good luck with finding more bargains!

Called my wife's sister in Carmel and she is going to stop by the HD with the list I gave her, 3 of each if they are on clearance, that would be 21 more plants! With that I will have to be done for this season! Mine might not make it in the ground this year!, but next year it's on!

I just got back from our Home Depot...not a hosta in sight there. Some crispy astilbe, though

I've always had good luck with Walmart hostas... And they are 50% off here now. They only have a couple, though. HD doesn't have anything... Lowes does but you couldn't give them to me at this point. They look awful!! THe only time you can find something cool in Lowe's around here is when they first open the greenhouse for the year and they have Proven Winners hostas. That is how I got my Wheee!

Congrats on your haul, but I know I wouldn't take anything home from a big box store even if it were free. A hosta from good ol' HD introduced me to the wonderful world of HVX. After pulling the plant out and disinfecting everything, then planting a heuchera in its place, I will only order hostas online from reputable dealers who explicitly state their HVX-free status. Dealers you could all roll off your tongues.

HD = "Highly Dead or Diseased" around here.

Ha, HD and mislabeling, can be really misleading and creating a headache! Several years back I bought 3 'Paul's Glory' at HD at a very good price. I was always wondering why they looked like 'Gold Standard'. Yesterday I saw big pots of 'Paul's Glory' at my favorite nursery, they looked much greener, like pictures I had seen elsewhere. So I decided that those 'Paul's Glory' actually are GS, and I will donate them one at a time, and get one of those big pots of PG soon. Bernd

Yes, Home Depot, Lowes and WalMart are the best places to go if you want some HVX. Remember, the symptoms may not show up for a year or 2.

I think it very much depends on the area and the suppliers they go through... So not ALL big box store plants are bad and doomed to have HVX. It hasn't happened to me (knock on wood) and everyone I know has gotten their hosta at big box stores too as we just don't have a lot of greenhouses in the Branson area. And almost all are fine for years to come. Our Walmart seems to be very good and has a good supplier. And Lowes, at the first of the year has Proven Winners and other gardeners and private growers separate from their usual suppliers... So that is the time to go here. If you wait longer than 2 weeks, they'll be gone. And beyond that.... Well, it really depends on who is supplying. I think their suppliers are good as the expert guy I know says theirs do not have HVX but he wouldn't rule out crown rot or nemodes and something else. Mostly from overwatering and overcrowding and not enough sun light.

@Brandys garden-That's the way I see it. Even if a nursery says they test their plants, can they really afford to test everything they are selling? When you are living on one paycheck for a family of 4, you buy what you can when you have Hosta Fever. I am more concerned with the ones I bought earlier in the year from the lady in town, because if one has it they all do and all that she sold to everyone else those 3 days. Her husband and gardener were chopping away with the same shovel, plant after plant and I think I have spotted it on at least 2 plants I bought off of her.

I was thinking about starting another post to get some up to date info about HVX. Almost everything I am finding is from 2006~2008, except for this:

•National Agricultural Pest Information System (NAPIS). Purdue University. "Survey Status of Hosta Virus X - Hosta Virus X (2010 to present)." Published: 07/16/2013. http://pest.ceris.purdue.edu/map.php?code=FVHVXAA&year=3year. Accessed: 07/17/2013

I am just saying all this negativity about big box store plants... I get it. But not all are problem plants. Some are good and healthy... Like my U. Albomarginata. Maybe I've just gotten lucky. But just because something is from a big box store doesn't make it automatically bad and it shouldn't be automatically assumed that it's going to have a problem. I think, just like big box stores and suppliers, it really depends on where the plants come from and the amount of care they get. Even greenhouses can have big problems depending on who supplies them or even gardeners that sell their own can have problems. Maybe statistically not as often but knocking big box stores isn't always fair. Some of them actually have good plants with nothing wrong with them.

Some background on how hostas get to your local nursery or bbs might help to understand why I won't ever buy a hosta from a big box store. It's not about the store - it's all about where they get their hostas from.

I was surprised to hear about seeing Proven Winners at Lowe's. That is a proprietary tag that indicates the plant came from Walters in Michigan - perhaps the most comprehensive plant wholesaler in the country.

Unfortunately, to run really low prices on hostas, the big box retailers often purchase large numbers of bare-root hostas from Europe. American hosta wholesalers are aware that many of us are running scared from HVX so they have set very high bars for safety. Europe - not so much.

Last I heard, the big suppliers in Europe agreed to watch for HVX - but the standard for acceptable was something like no more than 5% of the plants actually showing infection.

So you'd think your odds are 1 in 20. But no - there's more!

To prepare the plants from shipping, they are mechanically dug - with no sterilization of the equipment from plant to plant. Studies have shown that you can spread HVX from one hosta to another simply by using the same trowel or spade without disinfecting it... sap to sap contamination.

And then they powerwash the plants... hundreds on a slab, with the power wash perfectly capable of spreading the disease throughout the whole batch.

But wait - there's more! They reuse the water!

So a few years back I'd have said "well... I'll look at the plant and if it isn't infected, I'm getting a bargain..."

Except that many folks report having a plant in their garden for five years before it shows signs. That's five years that they've worked around that plant in their garden... and not taken any special precautions with sanitizing their shovel between each dig... And I believe they have also looked at plants that remain asymptomatic and yet are carrying the virus.

So the problem isn't that I might get a bad plant and have to remove it later. The problem is that if I buy many plants from a European-sourced greenhouse, I am almost certain to get an infected plant and risk infecting my garden and all my hostas.

So I won't buy from irresponsible retailers - and that means all the big box stores. Their purchasers don't care and most of their staff are uneducated. Their profit margin is so small that they are not going to take a proactive approach to selling HVX hostas.

I used to love the garden trades on the forums - it was a great way to give and get interesting plants with no more expense than postage. But I've been growing hostas in my gardens for 35 years with no - so far, knock on wood - HVX... and only a few nematode issues from a wholesaler who decided she needed to make a profit on her fields even though she knew they were infected.

No trades... no big box hostas... and no HVX.

Buy cheap European mass wholesaler hostas and its not a question of whether you will get HVX into your garden... it's only a matter of when it will happen and how long it will take you to find out.

We have a couple of certified HVX experts on the forum... so I'd be glad to have my amateur assessment corrected... c_topher... am I overstating the case here?

@idiothe-Thank you for the background on the way hostas are produced for mass market. I had read in an article about the 5% rule, especially in Holland. With your permission, I would like to copy your last reply into a new post that is titled "HVX:What do you know?" so that others looking for info about it can more easily find it. I e-mailed someone at the National Agricultural Pest Information System (NAPIS) and have received a response that if I can get their permission would like to post also.

It makes me feel a little sick to my stomach thinking that all the Hostas I purchased may have to be pitched.

I try to behave as if any and all my hostas have HVX. The pruners get wiped with alcohol after every plant when the scapes removed, the shovel gets cleaned on the rare occasions I dig up a hosta, etc. Now many of them go in spin out bags. So far I've had two Golden Edgers and a PUD with HVX, but you never know. The PUD is a tenacious little beast. I doused it with weedkiller two years ago, put a 16 X 16 paver over the spot after removing the crispy remains, and this year it's coming up around the edges. Hate to kill it when it tries so hard, but it still has ink bleed.

After reading about how the plants are prepared in Holland, I'll be more cautious than ever.

I've learned my lesson. I'm only buying from retailers that know and care about HVX (Chris at Hallson Gardens, Judy Lang and her husband at Green Mountain, to name but two) I see HVX-infected plants all over my local WalMarts, Home Depots and Lowes, and lots of local nurseries. Disgusting.

Don B.

Not even American growers are exempt. Remember Greenleaf's struggles with HVX the last two years? Unless they import their hostas and don't line them out, they are importing it--and if they line them out in their fields to grow on, then the HVX is in their fields. Not wanting to take a chance; I won't knowingly buy a Greenleaf hosta.

Sandy

Delete; double post

This post was edited by mosswitch on Thu, Jul 18, 13 at 15:56

There is extensive info and discussion regarding HVX at Hallson Gardens HVX forum. Chris is an expert on the subject. Not much has changed except that it is spreading and that there is no cure. There are test strips you can purchase. There is a link at the Hosta Library. But keep in mind that an infected hosta may not show signs for a few years.

The American Hosta Society has a brochure with the most current info to catch you up, or to print and hand to nursery managers who don't know about HVX and how it i transmitted, etc.

I link you posted eventually goes back to Dr. Lockhart's research and the AHS summary.

I will not purchase any hostas unless I know where the hosta came from and that the seller takes all the precautions. The big box stores don't take those precautions, as well as a number of individual sellers and small nurseries. It is not a new problem, just one that gets ignored in favor of cheap hostas.

-Babka

Here is a link that might be useful: 2010 Summary by Pathology Dept. U.Minnesota, Dr. Lockhart.

I won't knowingly buy Greenleaf, either. I first heard about Greenleaf's issues from you, Sandy. The 'August Moon' I just threw away was a Greenleaf, and these infected 'Sum and Substance' at my local nursery were Greenleaf as well.

I read an old post where Chris from Hallson Gardens told how he damn near lost his entire business thanks to HVX. It's no wonder Chris has such vast expertise on the subject.

Don B.

Most of the ones I bought from Wal-Mart are from Sawyers Nursery in MI. The ones from Lowes came from Berry Family of Nurseries. Is there anyway to know if a nursery is reputable or they are as close to HVX free as possible, without calling? Which I may do to see what they say about their HVX control program.
This is from Sawyers web site:
"Insect & Disease Control
Preventative programs for Rusts, Mildews, Botrytis & Phythium, Mites, and Aphids. Additional control measures are implemented as needed. "

Yup... we've got to be careful with some domestic-grown and most European-grown.

Part of the issue is how the plants are grown. It's clear that HVX can be harbored in plant detritus in the soil. If a field is contaminated, it shouldn't be planted in hostas again. Unfortunately, the big corporate Dutch farms just plant out another crop. It doesn't take long for 10% of that crop to pick up the virus, though few of them might show it before a nother year of pestilence is bagged up and shipped to the US.

The best supplier will get virus-free stock, then grow it in containers or in non-infected soil. If the grower is on a shoestring, there's no cheaper way than to buy inexpensive field-grown liners from Europe and pop them into gallon pots and grow them up to selling size. Unfortunately - those bargains aren't bargains.

I know some people really want to hang onto the cheap purchasing options at our big box stores... I wanted to... I'm cheap. And I know some people think the anti-HVX people (like me) are trying to steer people to more expensive hostas.

Sorry folks - no conspiracy here... just the plain and straight facts about a disease that is being spread by irresponsible growers and retailers that threatens the most popular perennial in America.

I just can't seem to stop!

Sawyer's nursery is right down the street from me. Though I haven't seen diseased plants from them, I have seen many of their plants in local nurseries with incorrect labels.

Meijer's buys from them. The hostas I purchased from Meijers a long time ago were mislabled.

I have seen a lot of hostas with HVX here in Western Michigan, despite the fact that Walter's Gardens is a mere 20 minutes away.

My husband stopped at a nursery just south of here and the owner said that his supplier had requested that he destroy his entire stock of hostas that were purchased this season. My DH didn't get the details but I plan on stopping by and trying to find out who his supplier was.

Gesila