Pleione 2018

[Steve Garvie]

I was thinking the same thing Anders.
I grow a wide range of “forms” of x barbarae -many are similar to Graham’s plants. I have separated these from my main collection as I am convinced that they are virus-infected. These plants grow very well producing large pseudobulbs and usually multiple growths. The leaves do not exhibit obvious mosaics and the flowers are not deformed. That said there are obvious colour breaks in the flowers. The colour breaks are of two obvious forms -in one the colour breaks are mirrored between sibling pseudobulbs descended from the same vegetative parent. Perhaps this is constitutional reflecting the identical genetic inheritance. However, there are other colour breaks which vary between genetically identical pseudobulbs -even when the pseudobulbs share the same pot and growing conditions. I believe that this is a consequence of virus.

We always assume that viral infection of a plant will cause constitutional weakness and/or malformation (including colour breaks without physical deformity) but this is not necessarily so. I fear that virus is much more prevalent in pleiones than we dare to believe. I also think that either x barbarae is very susceptible to virus or, infection is already prevalent in wild populations and may contribute to the variable appearance of this “taxon”.

[ashley]

Has anyone tried the Agdia test kit for orchid viruses?

An intereresting question Anders.  Do they offer kits for viruses affecting pleiones?  On the website I could find only cymbidium mosaic & odontoglossum ringspot tests but maybe missed something. 
Running ELISAs in the garden shed would be the next challenge


A couple of coronaria hybrids:
Kyoto
P. pleionoides x coronaria

[sjusovare]

Color breaks are not always viral, what is characteristic of virus is uneven blotches. (watermark type).
Again flashkit for orchid does not detect PFBV but only CyMV and ORSV. One test which may detect PFBV is the potyvirus group but not comfirmed for now. I will try it this year

Some plants resist more than others, they still remain a resoervoir and innoculum source for the other plants in collection (think about flamed tulips, which carry potyvirus without loosing vitality, but plant them among regular tulips, and the result will not eb pretty in the following years)
I don't think x barbarae is highly virosed in the wild, however in collection, the prevalence is high, especially since many are old clones which are in collection since decades, often mixed up with many others. (and let's not forget that many suppliers have contaminated their stocks by importing virosed plants from a dutch source)

[Anders]

Thanks for the comments. The radical thing to do would be to get rid of all of them to avoid contamination other genera. But I couldn't do that so I I think I will move them to a distant corner of the garden far away from other orchids.

Anders

[sjusovare]

I have no clue whether PFBV can actually contaminate other genera, it seems rater specific to pleiones, however pleiones can be contaminated by other virus (one of mine caught cucumber mozaic, it was in the same greenhouse as the cucumbers, started to show typical mozaic pattern afterwards and tested positive for it).

So far, we have no cure for virus, so the only solution really is to destroy infected plants, but it might not prevent spreading alltogether, since plants can remain asymptomatic (but still contagious) during years before it actually starts to show after the plant has been stressed.

We all noticed in recent years an alarming increase of viral signs in collection, even on newly aquired plants from reputable growers, which suggest that the problem is far to be solved (espeically since some people, grower and seller alike, just decide to "believe" -wishfull thinking- that virus signs are not viral but the result of cultivation conditions and keep on selling/swapping/offering obviously contaminated plants, the latest I saw were at EOCCE show last march, but I also saw pictures of the Dresden show which were far to be "clean"  )

[svlarsen]

I bought this a few years ago on ebay as Pln. grandiflora “red-spotted lip”. It is clearly a Winter-flowering hybrid (is it Wharfdale?).

Does anyone have an image of “Pln. grandiflora red-spotted lip”?

In 2015 I also bought on eBay several 3FS and 2FS bulbs of what the seller /from Germany/ called " pleione grandiflora "red-spotted lip". Here are the photos of what came out from what I bought. One flower has white petals and raspberry spots on the lip. At least this one looks like what I expected to see. But the other two have pale lilac petals and brownish spots on the lip. Can anybody identify them? Three years ago I was so naive to rely upon what the seller stated and kept all the bulbs in one pot. Now I have around 100 bulbs and bulbills. It's a challenge to pot each one in a personal pot, but I will do it if necessary.

[Graham Catlow]

Pleione x taliensis - a different clone from the one previously shown.

[vigor]

Pleione x taliensis - a different clone from the one previously shown.

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Graham, your plants looks more like x barbarae

[Graham Catlow]

Graham, your plants looks more like x barbarae

Hi Vigor, I had expected someone to say it looks virused but hadn't expected this. What makes you think it is x barbarae and not x taliensis please.

[vigor]

Hi Vigor, I had expected someone to say it looks virused but hadn't expected this. What makes you think it is x barbarae and not x taliensis please.

your  Reply #62 shows x taliensis,  you can go to Paul Cumbleton's website ( http://www.pleione.info) to see the difference. x barbarae is from natural hybridizaion and very variable. Many photos of different clones of  x barbarae are shown at Paul Cumbleton's website.

[svlarsen]

Graham,Vigor
thank you! I have already moved them to different pots.

[Graham Catlow]

your  Reply #62 shows x taliensis,  you can go to Paul Cumbleton's website ( http://www.pleione.info) to see the difference. x barbarae is from natural hybridizaion and very variable. Many photos of different clones of  x barbarae are shown at Paul Cumbleton's website.

Thanks Vigor, I see what you mean. It seems that x taliensis is less variable than x barbarae.

[Michael J Barrett]

My very first time growing this species .
Fingers crossed for some really nice flowers sometime soon.

[Anders]

It seems that the Pleione viruses have spread to many of my Bletilla - I have attached a few photos of suspected infections. Or my Bletillas may have had virus all along, and I just noticed it this year when I had a closer look at the leaves. It seems to be mainly the purchased clones, whereas most of my seedlings seem to be clean. I think that I will now deport all the Bletillas with suspected infection to the far end of the garden where they can keep company with the virused pleiones. The next years, I will collect seeds from them, sow very thinly on the agar to avoid cross-contamination of the protocorms and seedlings, and then hope to obtain non-viruses seedlings. Generally, I think we should try to avoid repeated division of Bletilla in the garden as they seem to pick up viruses quite easily. And they are among the easiest orchids to grow from seeds on sterile agar.

Anders

[sjusovare]

Just out of curiousity, were those bletilla clones from Phytesia? I have potyvirus issues with almost all the plants I purshased from them in the last 5 years...