Caladiums w/ virus?

From: "Julius Boos" ju-bo at email.msn.com> on 2000.07.13 at 23:29:45(5086) Dear Denis, See my other postings from this AM with my opinions on this virus thing. One other point---since most or all of the commercial Caladium vars. in cultivation are produced from tubers that were created YEARS ago by crossing different species and varieties, if we were to produce seed from these present day ones the chances of obtaining anything worthwhile are slim to none, most of them just have too many parents!! I thought that a strain of Aroid could be 'cleansed' of this virus by 'doing' it in tissue culture, which eliminated the virus? Read it somewhere. Cheers, Julius +More >Dear Tsuh Yang Chen: Most of the commercial Caladium bulbs are produced in and around Sebring , Florida & They are all infected with Dasheen Mossaic Virus. They are all propagated from infected stock plants. This virus severely retards the vigor of the infected plants and there is no way for these plants to fully express their full potential. If the Grower used clean stock...of which none exists at this time, they would still have a problem because of all the innoculum from the wild or cultivated plants in their neighborhood which would quickly be spread by sucking insect such as leaf hoppers, aphids and white fly. There is no cure, So the chances of getting clean Caladium bulbs from commercial sources is nill. The one exception might be the Caladium rubicundra which is not a commercial variety and is produced in a Tisssue Culture lab. If you wish you could reconstitute the commercial varieties by producing them through seed since the virus is not transmitted from mother plant to embryo. The vigor would be tremendous. For more info you might check out work done in the mid 1970's by Plant Pathologist (virologist) Dr. Zettler at the University of Florida. PS. Dasheen Mossaic Virus can affect other Aroids so alway sterilize your cutting tools between plants. Piabinha@aol.com wrote: > > my previous plant, a small one in a 5" pot, croaked easily and then never > came back, although i expected it to have a tuber... just this weekend, i > bought a large plant (in a 12" pot) for only $9.95 from a vendor at jerry > barad's picnic. i'm keeping my fingers crossed... > > incidentally, why do cultivated Caladium tubers shrink from year to year? > how do they increase in size in the wild then? > > tsuh yang chen, nyc, USA

From: Paul Tyerman tyerman at dynamite.com.au> on 2000.07.14 at 03:02:31(5099) Howdy All, I remember reading somewhere that virus cannot penetrate within the first 12 (or some such) layers of cells around the meristematic growth point, therefore if tissue sulture is achieved on the meristematic growth it should be virus free..... Can't remember where I read it. Paul Tyerman +More (Canberra, Australia) > >Dear Denis, > >See my other postings from this AM with my opinions on this virus thing. > >One other point---since most or all of the commercial Caladium vars. in >cultivation are produced from tubers that were created YEARS ago by crossing >different species and varieties, if we were to produce seed from these >present day ones the chances of obtaining anything worthwhile are slim to >none, most of them just have too many parents!! >I thought that a strain of Aroid could be 'cleansed' of this virus by >'doing' it in tissue culture, which eliminated the virus? Read it >somewhere. > >Cheers, > >Julius >

From: "Julius Boos" ju-bo at email.msn.com> on 2000.07.14 at 22:49:51(5107) Dear Paul, I too have read that tissue culture can eliminate the virus from a plant, it can not or does not transmit itself through this method, which is a great thing. I believe it was in some publication on Taro cultivation, as this virus is a pest in Taro (Colocasia). Cheers, Julius +More >Howdy All, I remember reading somewhere that virus cannot penetrate within the first 12 (or some such) layers of cells around the meristematic growth point, therefore if tissue sulture is achieved on the meristematic growth it should be virus free..... Can't remember where I read it. Paul Tyerman (Canberra, Australia) > >Dear Denis, > >See my other postings from this AM with my opinions on this virus thing. > >One other point---since most or all of the commercial Caladium vars. in >cultivation are produced from tubers that were created YEARS ago by crossing >different species and varieties, if we were to produce seed from these >present day ones the chances of obtaining anything worthwhile are slim to >none, most of them just have too many parents!! >I thought that a strain of Aroid could be 'cleansed' of this virus by >'doing' it in tissue culture, which eliminated the virus? Read it >somewhere. > >Cheers, > >Julius >

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