Don’t put on the virus blinders,
your collection is depending on you
Janet Lamborn and Matthew Chambers
Y
ou look at your orchid collection with longing and the air, regarding virus infection in your collection. Again, vipride, knowing that the beauty before you can only be ral pathogens are sneaky. They come in, make a nice home in
attributed to your tender loving care. You have spent the plant cell, hang out and take over the host’s metabolism,
hundreds maybe even thousands of dollars on this col- in this case, the slowly growing orchid groups. In other hosts
lection. You trim, water, feed and repot, but do you test?
where reduction in plant growth and flower production is easMention the word virus and the smell of fear overpowers the ily spotted during a growing season, growers can implement
fragrance of a beautiful orchid collection. And viruses should virus eradication or certification programs. In the slower
be feared. Dare I say, most of the well known; valuable orchid growing orchid groups, where success is measured not by the
collections have been infiltrated by a virus or two. Once they quantity of the blooms but by the quality of the blooms, viral
have made their way into a collection, the value and vigor infections are not easily measured.
can and will decrease equaling loss in investment, money and
Each orchid clone is unique and reacts differently to viral
time.
infections. Some look normal
Viral pathogens are sneaky, livand some exhibit distortion and
ing in a collection for a very long
necrosis. It’s the normal looking
time, years eve