Giles, your the second one to mention this to me. I was discussing viral problems with James Rose, and that is exactly what he was concerned about. Next time I am at Cal Orchids, I'll ask if he has come up with a treatment for the benches. Personally, I don't have this problem as I grow on hardware cloth and for some reason, it is rare for roots to leave my pots. It may be because I use round pots that don't have holes at the lower exterior edges, so when the roots hit the bottom, they generally wind round and round inside the pot without finding the holes. If I do see a root leaving the pot, I pull and replace the root ball, which repositions the root inside the pot. Any attachment to a surface that is questionable requires that the root be cut, but I think that the virus may be transferable during the attachment time, don't know for sure, but my greenhouse is dry enough that I can't ever remember a root attaching to the wood supporting the hardware cloth. One of the benefits of living in dry Arizona I suppose.
One of the interesting things noted by Mr. Rose was that the incidence of virused offspring using green pod culture with a virused pod parent was very low. This was interesting, because green pod culture appears to be the norm, and I am depending on seedlings to be generally free of virus, which would not be the case if green pod culture had a high incidence of transferring virus to the seedlings. On a side note, I use a mix of 2 parts small perlite to 1 part Canadian peat. I recently corrected the PH to a mid 6 by the addition of oyster shell. After about 6 months in this mix, I have a flurry of roots leaving the tops of pots, and a few other indications by a number of plants of some objection to this mix. Am now going mostly back to the highly acidic mix, with a little gypsum added to counteract the fluorine in the perlite, that seemed to be the preference of most. Cynthia, Prescott, AZ ------------------------------ From: "giles" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The recent discussion about virus infection raises an issue I have long wondered about. If I find some infected plants in my greenhouse I can move those plants out of the greenhouse, but isn't there some danger of the bench surfaces retaining some latent virus that could then infect new plants? Orchid roots have a habit of growing through the bottom of pots and adhering to bench surface, and then being torn open when the pot is moved. If that plant was infected, could the infection spread from that bit of root on the bench to a new plant sitting on that same spot? And how does one sterilize the surface of a bench, especially one made of wood? Any comments or suggestions would be much appreciated. Giles Smith Santa Monica, Ca. _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
