Results of ORSV and CymMV testing

[DavidCampen]

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

I understand where you're coming from as a customer. I also understand what the vendor is saying.
David, I think you're being a bit too hard on the vendor.

I don't think that I am being too hard on the vendor at all.

It is very true that there are many many different viruses affecting orchids. (At least 30). As you point out and as many orchid lovers know, two of the most harmful ones are also the most common. They didn't mention all viruses are harmless.

The only two viruses under discussion are harmful ones. To point out that there are many that are not harmful is irrelevant at best. I called it misdirection. OK, so I will ease up there and assume it was simply a rambling, irrelevant paragraph and not an attempt at misdirection.

At nurseries growing hundreds to thousand orchids, it is just very impractical to test every single plant they have for the presence of viruese. It is simply not done!

And it is absolutely not necessary to test every plant. If a grower can't figure out how to eliminate ORSV and CymMV from his stock then he needs to hire someone trained in plant pathology and statistical sampling.

There are also false positive or false negative test results, and possible contamination at home test set up is very likely.

False negatives are irrelevant to discussing "home" testing with respect to returning a plant to a vendor since if the plant tests negative it will not be returned.

possible contamination at home test set up is very likely.

I don't think that possible contamination is "very" likely. If I am performing the test it is extremely unlikely. But in the event that someone returns a plant that the vendor then tests and determines to be negative, the vendor can have a policy of not refunding shipping costs.

Also, viruses are much more common than many think. Any growers will have somewhere from 5-30% of their orchid stock virused with the two deadly ones or both in many cases. It's just reality.

I know this and many growers want to ignore this but I will not have any virused plants in my collection.

In your case though, Adriana, since all plants from the same vendor came out positive, it's probably true reading.
If you paid a lot of money for the plants, why don't you send samples of those plants to a lab like critter creek lab and have them test your samples?
Then not only you know for sure about your plants's disease status, but also can use their results to get your money back or replacement plants.

If she does this and Critter Creek confirms the results then she should post the name of the vendor.

Now I'm thinking of sending samples of all my orchids to a lab. I just can't live with doubt or suspicion everytime I see even the tiniest spots or streaks on leaves and flowers. just freaks me out! lol

All the best with your orchids!

Critter Creek is not very expensive.