Virus Test Kit
 

One of my oldest Catts has come down with a nasty-looking color break on its lovely large blossoms, so I spent some time looking at photos of virus symptoms and I see damaged foliage that reminds me of some of my other plants. Is there an inexpensive, reliable virus test kit for orchids now?

Agdia Immunostrips are supposed to be pretty good - 5 tests for $37.50

And if they test positive, there's nothing you can do about it. Other than throw them away.

Yeah, and it was one of my prize plants! None of my others has shown any symptom so far, so I'm wondering about the possibility that it could have been infected by a wild strain of plant virus from rain dripping off leaves or something.

Water dripping from one plant to another is a primary vector for pathogens, for sure.

Another possibility is that the plant has been infected all along, and something recently stressed it to the point that the virus took advantage of the weakness and exposed itself.

Or you moved the virus around from one plant to another, we are the primary vectors for viruses. :(

Agdia tests are good and straightforward. The CyMV/ORSV will cover 80% of infections, the next can't be easily tested (OFV, it's in the lab only).

The Agdia virus test kits cost $50 for a packet of five including shipping. They are supposed to be stored under refrigeration but FedEx left mine out of doors at my neighbor's house on an 80 degree day. The test takes about a half hour to run and can detect the two most common orchid viruses.

My prize orchid tested positive for Odontoglossum Ringspot Virus. Lc Bonanza Queen ‘Panamint’ AM/AOS x Lc Ovation ‘True Heritage’ was obtained in 2003 from Carter & Holmes in a 3” pot; it had become an enormous specimen overflowing a 12" pot with four flowering spikes when it had to be destroyed. All blossoms were obviously affected with prominent edematous pale areas parallel to petal margins. Leaves were also mottled and necrotic in places.

Anybody have a suggestion as to which types of orchids in my collection might be most vulnerable to this virus? Should I use up my remaining kits on normal-looking plants or just wait for signs of trouble?

What is the price on vials of 25? A year ago it was $125.

At $10 per test then Critter Creek is more economical.
2007 Price List

Progress of a Sort
 

The infection I mentioned earlier has progressed dramatically in a few weeks. When I looked more closely at past photos of this plant, I noticed some subtle stippling on the blossoms which may have been a clue to a problem that was present for years without my recognizing it. See photos! Of course the plant has been isolated from the rest of my collection and I have relentlessly discarded any apparatus that might have been contaminated. I tested one other orchid of similar vintage (Lc. Nancie Thomas x Lc. Persepolis 'Splendor' AM/AOS) that had some ugly leaves on it and that one tested NEGATIVE. I did some reading and found that ORSV is also known as Tobacco Mosaic Virus - Orchid variety (TMV-O) and is ubiquitous in nature, also extremely hardy. For example, fertile spores have been found in cigarettes where you would think nothing could live. For those unclear as to the difference, a virus is NOT a living organism like a bacterium. The spores are basically encapsulated heredity (RNA) and it is the resilience of the capsule that makes them so hard to eradicate. Drugs that kill bacteria don't work on viruses because they have no metabolism of their own that we can poison (they use host cell metabolism to reproduce). We have a very sad example of what a virus can do in West Africa today (Ebola), influenza has killed countless millions, and HIV remains a difficult problem.

What a shame! Did you have to toss the plant, or are you keeping it anyways, even with the virus? How many of your plants are infected?

In the first picture the plant looks completely normal. Does the mottling and bruising come later?