PLEIONES -2008 (New Forum section)

[David Nicholson]

Luc, you really must stop this, my chin is very sore from all that drooling.

[art600]

I have never grown Pleiones, but if I saw a flower like Luc's second photo I would be worried about virus.

Do Pleiones get a virus, and does it show up in the flower or leaves?

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Sorry David... the season is just starting...

Hi Art,
I'm sure Paul C. will be able to tell lots more about possible virus problems with Pleiones    I must admit I've never heard it being mentioned.
I agree that the colouring of the petals is quite peculiar in this clone, it could have been painted (make no mistake, it hasn't  ) - I have seen on it on other specimen of this particular hybrid.

Paul ??

[Paul Cumbleton]

The question about viruses and pleiones has a rather confusing answer! Ian Butterfield had an oppertunity a few years ago to get some plants tested. They tested a wide variety of samples - some plants which looked perfectly normal, some where the leaves had streaks that looked possibly due to virus and some where the flowers had the same "colour breaks" that are showing in Luc's second picture. The results did not come back as expected. Some plants that looked perfectly healthy were found to have virus, some of those that looked infected were in fact clear of any virus and a few others that looked ill did indeed have some virus. (I'm afraid I can't remeber now exactly which viruses they detected). So the visual symptoms did not reliably tie in with the presence or absence of viruses.

I personally am not convinced that the colour breaks on petals are due to virus. The precise colour of Pleione flowers seems to vary from year to year - has anyone else noticed this? Some years they may be darker than usual, some years paler and some years they may develop these colour breaks on the petals - but the same plant may look perfectly normal again the next year. It is known that temperature plays a part in determining just what colour pleione flowers appear to be, and I believe that most of the colour breaking is due to temperature fluctuations during the development of the buds.

Even if they do have some virus, the question needs to be asked, does it matter? If the plant is growing vigorously and flowering well, and the only effect on the plant is to change the colour a bit, I personaly am happy to live with that. Just think of other plants such as Tulips where the streaks in some highly prized varietites are due to virus - in those cases we welcome the infection because it gives us colour forms we otherwise would not have. In other words, it all depends whether the virus is actually harming the plant or not. And, as the results of the tests show that it simply is not possible to know just by looking whether a Pleione has a virus or not, I am not prepared to throw out Pleiones when it isn't possible to know which ones to throw!

It would be interesting therefore for us all to mark any plants with colour breaks and report back next year how many of them retain this colour break next season - and in seasons after that. My guess is that it will vary a lot, and that this variation is probably due to the effect of temperature on the development of the pigments.

Paul

[art600]

Paul

Thanks for a very comprehansive answer.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Thanks for the relief Paul ! 

[Paul T]

Paul,

From the broken colour petal virus point of view..... what it comes down to is whether it is transmissible to others in the collection.  If the virus produced the colour break but there was no means to transfer it to other plants then the virus is irrelevent from anything other than "Oooh, what an interesting colour", but if the neighbouring plants in your collection start exhibiting all the same symptoms and start colour breaking then perhaps you may not be as happy to live with it.

[Paul Cumbleton]

Paul,
That's a good point; gladly I haven't observed this to happen as yet

Paul

[johanneshoeller]

The first Pleione forrestii

[Paul Cumbleton]

Just a note to anyone who hadn't realised yet, that Maggi has moved the pictures of my new hybrids to their own section. I will be adding more as the season progresses, as well as adding ones that flowered in previous years but have not yet been seen by anyone. Thanks to all who have expresed opinions - it's always interesting to know people like as tastes vary so much

Paul

Paul Cumbleton's pleione hybrids are here: http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=1440.0

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Lovely Hans ! 
No sign of Forrestii here yet.

Here's :

Pl. formosana 'Polar sun'
and
Pl. rakata 'Rockdove'

[Luc Gilgemyn]

You're dead right Rob - it IS quiet - many more people growing Pleione than post here I suppose

But don't let this keep you from posting yours ! 

[David Nicholson]

Two beauties there Luc

[derekb]

 
 Just as I think good we can talk about things other than a green stalk with a little white blob on top the first Pleione I post is white.
 Pleione Eiger(cream)

[Maggi Young]

Just as I think good we can talk about things other than a green stalk with a little white blob on top the first Pleione I post is white.
 Pleione Eiger(cream)

 Yes, but  it is very pretty and easy to tell the difference between this and the Pleione formosana 'Polar sun' that Luc posted the other day!