Yes, definitely, sorry.

Yes, agreed. Sorry to see that.

Don B.

Too bad. Sorry to see that.

Sorry to see that. I had to trash my 7+ year old striptease this summer too. Now I cringe when I see striptease but maybe someday I'll get another from a more reliable source.

Thanks all for the confirmation, I will be removing this one and the August moon. Striptease was one of the first hosta's I bought, at a non hosta nursery before I knew of HXV. It is not so much the loss of the plant that sucks, although loosing a mature plant is never fun but the loss of the spot this plant was in. I already have a spot in another bed that is off limits to hosta, and now it looks like there will be two more. In a yard where I have hit the limits to creating hosta beds in my yard it kinda sucks. Thanks everyone

Frogged, I know exactly what you mean. My yard is city size and you only have so much space to plant the large hostas. I have recently raised up some shrubs to be able to claim the ground underneath them for Hosta. Sorry for the loss of Striptease (I lost one of them this year too) but especially the loss of prime garden real Estate for Hosta. How about a Heuchera or too?

Frogged, I grow in pots, so it's not that big a problem for me. I just chunk the pot and all in the trash.

That said, Bernd has been happy with removing all the soil from the area where the infected plant was located. The virus would be in the roots that remained. If you can dig a big enough hole to make sure you remove the roots. Just toss the soil in the trash with the plants and replace with new soil.

I, too, live on a city lot. I think that's what I would do if faced with a prime shade spot with an hvx infected hosta.

I have not read the research about how long the virus can live without it's host, but that would be important to know before making that decision. I dated a dentist back in the '80's when AIDS was so feared. The AIDS virus will die in about 15 minutes outside the host on a countertop without using any kind of remedy.

bk

Repeated research has shown that HVX is very stable and long lived outside of the host. It can remain infective for up to 3 weeks on unwashed tools and surfaces from sap contamination and can survive in the soil for over 2 years from even the tiniest bit of root particles. HVX can also remain infective in dead leaves and dead roots so that's why it is so important to remove as much of the plant, roots, and surrounding soil as possible before replanting a hosta there.

HVX is a very long lived plant virus outside of the host plant which is part of why it has spread so quickly and easily in the past 15 years since it showed up in mass production.

Sorry to see it on your plants :(

Chris