Is it a virus?

[Mafate]

Hello all,

What is the origin of these points on my Paphiopedilum lowii in your opinion? Could a virus be the cause or is it more probably insect bites? Only one leaf shows these symptoms.

Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[Happypaphy7]

Send that leaf to a lab where they can conduct a test to see if and what might be present.
That's the only way to know for sure.

 

[Mafate]

Thank you or your answer Happypaphy7, I will have to find such a lab as I don't know any. Regards.

 

[Happypaphy7]

You can contact an agriculture/horticulure department of any large (or not so large) university and inquire if they will do this for you.
Most will deal with crops but there will be some that will also deal with ornamentals like orchids. Ask around and I hope you find one.
If you do, please give us an update on the results as I'm curious!

 

[Ndove]

I use Agdia test strips, they will ship the tests to your home

 

[Happypaphy7]

As I understand, Agdia home test kits only test for the presence of two, namely, CymMV and ORSV.
I am aware that the same virus can manifest themselves in different ways on different plants or no symptoms at all.
With that said, the symptoms here on this lowii do not look like typical of either virus mentioned.
I would test the leaf sample for a variety of orchid viruses done at a lab.

 

[big923cattleya]

Well I checked images on line regarding virus manifestations when you first posted this question. I with held comment because I wanted to be sure one way or the other.
But now that you are still thinking about this, and more comments have been made, I did find a description of a virus infecting a Paph. leaf on the Saint Augustine Orchid Society’s web page. It spoke of discolorations or markings appearing to run longitudinally lengthwise within the vein structure of a Paph. leaf. But like I said, no image, so I could not say with 100% certainty.

But that does cause me some concern.
You can always isolate the plant “until the jury comes back with a verdict”.
Those 2 viruses are the most commonly found ones in paphiopedilums.

 

[Guldal]

Did you a aquire the plant with these markings - or have they slowly appeared/been growing on the leave...and are they spreading?
If your answers to the latter are in the negative, might it be the case, that what we see are the. remnants of an earlier infestation with some kind of pest, long treated, and with no present reason for concern?


concern.

 

[Ray]

The leaf shows signs of having been folded, which can disrupt the vascular system. I might also be convinced those yellow spots are sites where sucking insects had attached the leaf.

 

[southernbelle]

Well I checked images on line regarding virus manifestations when you first posted this question. I with held comment because I wanted to be sure one way or the other.
But now that you are still thinking about this, and more comments have been made, I did find a description of a virus infecting a Paph. leaf on the Saint Augustine Orchid Society’s web page. It spoke of discolorations or markings appearing to run longitudinally lengthwise within the vein structure of a Paph. leaf. But like I said, no image, so I could not say with 100% certainty.

But that does cause me some concern.
You can always isolate the plant “until the jury comes back with a verdict”.
Those 2 viruses are the most commonly found ones in paphiopedilums.

I understand the former member’s comment that this is not a common manifestation of the two common viruses that affect orchids and I like the idea of contacting a University extension service about testing, as I had not thought of that.
However, I have had plants manifest viruses in VERY unusual ways. Fortunately one of the very knowledgeable European gentlemen on this forum suggested my strange leaf markings might be virus and I should test. Well, as happy as I was to know what it was—(it was positive), it educated me and led me to check my whole collection of about 80 catts, 5 phals, 15 Paphs and 10 phrags and 30% were virused! Extremely depressing on one hand, except when you have no choice, you simply accept it as a learning experience and go with it. The sad part is that I thought I was disinfecting tools, hands, etc. against virus. I had a lot to learn. My growing space is too small to be able to isolate anything, so I have to function to the degree possible, as virus free. So, all of a sudden I had lots of extra bench space and at that point the plants that were positive we not original divisions so although valuable, not heartbreaking. I will see what photos I have that represent virused plants and post in a follow-up post. A few photos

 

[Ndove]

I understand the former member’s comment that this is not a common manifestation of the two common viruses that affect orchids and I like the idea of contacting a University extension service about testing, as I had not thought of that.
However, I have had plants manifest viruses in VERY unusual ways. Fortunately one of the very knowledgeable European gentlemen on this forum suggested my strange leaf markings might be virus and I should test. Well, as happy as I was to know what it was—(it was positive), it educated me and led me to check my whole collection of about 80 catts, 5 phals, 15 Paphs and 10 phrags and 30% were virused! Extremely depressing on one hand, except when you have no choice, you simply accept it as a learning experience and go with it. The sad part is that I thought I was disinfecting tools, hands, etc. against virus. I had a lot to learn. My growing space is too small to be able to isolate anything, so I have to function to the degree possible, as virus free. So, all of a sudden I had lots of extra bench space and at that point the plants that were positive we not original divisions so although valuable, not heartbreaking. I will see what photos I have that represent virused plants and post in a follow-up post.

Thank you for saying this as I just recently went thru this too.. which is why on this thread, I suggested to get the plant virus tested even with just the Agdia tests, it only does test for the 2 most common viruses.BUT, . If the plant does have a virus more than likely it is one of those two.. which is why I don’t understand the hesitation to test?

Anyway, 2 of my plants just tested positive for virus. One Cattleya for ORSV and one Miltassia for Cymbidium ring spot virus. Both shown WILDLY different signs of virus.u just never know. Oh and these plants came from very famous well known vendors…

 

[southernbelle]

Thank you for saying this as I just recently went thru this too.. which is why on this thread, I suggested to get the plant virus tested even with just the Agdia tests, it only does test for the 2 most common viruses.BUT, . If the plant does have a virus more than likely it is one of those two.. which is why I don’t understand the hesitation to test?

Anyway, 2 of my plants just tested positive for virus. One Cattleya for ORSV and one Miltassia for Cymbidium ring spot virus. Both shown WILDLY different signs of virus.u just never know. Oh and these plants came from very famous well known vendors…

Unfortunately if you’ve not just received them you can’t assume they came to you virused. Always test immediately upon receipt. Reputable vendors will stand behind their plants and replace or refund if tested immediately. If they don’t, then don’t do business with them in the future.

 

[rauhaariger]

Nobody knows what these tests test and whether a plant actually carries a virus. It's like Corona, nobody knows to this day what was tested and not all of those who tested positive were infected with the virus. I think it's more about money than viruses.

 

[Ray]

Nobody knows what these tests test and whether a plant actually carries a virus. It's like Corona, nobody knows to this day what was tested and not all of those who tested positive were infected with the virus. I think it's more about money than viruses.

That appears to be an uninformed comment to me. The virus testing is looking for specific antigens known to be present in the viruses of concern. Of course there will be false positives and negatives, especially when the virus population is small.

Getting back to viral symptoms for a moment, we cannot forget that, in addition to the variable way symptoms may be expressed, we must not forget that the weakening of the plant by a virus can leave it more susceptible to secondary infections, as well, which may confound the “visual diagnosis”.

 

[Happypaphy7]

I understand the former member’s comment that this is not a common manifestation of the two common viruses that affect orchids and I like the idea of contacting a University extension service about testing, as I had not thought of that.
However, I have had plants manifest viruses in VERY unusual ways. Fortunately one of the very knowledgeable European gentlemen on this forum suggested my strange leaf markings might be virus and I should test. Well, as happy as I was to know what it was—(it was positive), it educated me and led me to check my whole collection of about 80 catts, 5 phals, 15 Paphs and 10 phrags and 30% were virused! Extremely depressing on one hand, except when you have no choice, you simply accept it as a learning experience and go with it. The sad part is that I thought I was disinfecting tools, hands, etc. against virus. I had a lot to learn. My growing space is too small to be able to isolate anything, so I have to function to the degree possible, as virus free. So, all of a sudden I had lots of extra bench space and at that point the plants that were positive we not original divisions so although valuable, not heartbreaking. I will see what photos I have that represent virused plants and post in a follow-up post. A few photos

Thank you for sharing the photos.
If I saw these in my collection, I would thought that the first two were just minor issues but the rest would surely make me wonder about virus infections.

 

[Mafate]

Hello everyone,

Well first of all, I am really sorry for being so late in my answer, but I was really busy these last days.

And thank you very much for your interest in my problem, your interesting answers and your useful pictures southernbelle!

When I received my plant, the leaf didn’t show any symptom, except that it had been folded during transport. Markings came later.

I must specify that it is the second plant coming from the same producer for which I have a doubt as for the presence of a virus. The other plant is a Miltonia moreliana which also has marks on its leaves, like discolored streaks, which again only appeared once at my house. These are the only two plants in my collection that show symptoms, all the others, which I have had for years, seem healthy, at least in appearance.

So, I think that I will begin by testing my plant with the Agdia test strips. If the test is positive, then I will know. If not, I will have to try to find a laboratory. I contacted Agdia because I cannot find the country "France" in the list of countries on the registration page to create an account. I hope they ship to my country.

Regards and thank you again for your help.