Re: RMV in some roses from this year

by Admin 30th December 2009, 23:06

Karen... see the link at the top of the page that says 'Gallery', click on that. Then you will see a folder that says 'Rose Image Bank'. Click on that. In there you will see another folder that says 'What does RMV look like?" CLick that.. there's only a few images in it at the moment... I'll add more as I can. Feel free to add some of your own as well.

by Ozeboy 31st December 2009, 06:44

This week I noticed RMV water marks on a 4 year old Peace plant taken from my original that had previously thought to be healthy. I don't think there is anywhere to hide.
I have heard that all Peace plants have RMV except for the occasional one that seems twice as good as most. I know where there is one so had better get out there fast.

Fortunatly my Multiflora rootstock is virus free. The mother plants are kept seperate and never budded on. They are cut, taken to the propagation site , planted and budded 3 months later.

by Ozeboy 1st January 2010, 16:29

I was having a look at fertilisers on the net and came across a US fertiliser company that made reference to RMV.
They mentioned that 50% of roses in nurseries and rose propagation farms
had a virus of one type or the other, RMV being the most common.

by The Lazy Rosarian 1st January 2010, 16:56

This subject is annoying to me. Show me some other results other than the GREAT America. Can someone get some from Germany (maybe Bemo) or France, possibley Great Britain. Can ANYONE show me where or how this "VIRUS" started.

by Ripley 5th January 2010, 10:22

Rosemeadow, you hit the nail on the head by mentioning T*****. They were our main suppliers this year and were the 2 types of roses that had the RMV that I threw out came from. (Incidentally Im pretty sure a few other varieties had it too including Peace but it wasnt as obvious and gave them the benefit of the doubt) I didnt want to 'name names' at the time but if they realise that people are talking about it then maybe it will help them to decide to do something about the problem?

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by Ozeboy 5th January 2010, 13:42

An American based fertiliser company identified 50% of roses in USA have a virus. The most common was RMV. Not quite like that here but the problem is growing.

by Admin 5th January 2010, 13:51

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To be fair, I need to remind people of something I mentioned earlier... that is I have received RMV infected roses, old and new, from ALL the major growers in the country. Some are aware of it and are doing something about it. Some are aware of it and are doing nothing about it. Some, for some strange reason, refuse to acknowledge its existence. The virus is so widespread throughout roses in Australia that it would be unfair to single any one grower out and I can guarantee 100% that every single member here has at least one rose in their collection that is infected. This is not about naming and shaming... it's about raising awareness and sooner or later when people understand what to look for and refuse to buy these infected roses... only then will growers take it more seriously and take steps to erradicate it. It is a multi-pronged approach... The first step must come from the consumer. They must refuse to buy plants with visible symptoms or must return stock that is infected. It is not good enough to just destroy them because no-one is any the wiser as a result of this. This will flow onto the second step by necessity. The second step needs to come from the grower. They must take steps to test for and erradicate infected understocks (I mean how hard would it be to use seedlings... it would be extremely easy to use 'Dr Huey', if this is your weapon of choice, to breed a new, equally good understock and thus ensure virus free status from seedling raised stock), and then take steps to clean infected varieties. The third step must come from breeders. They must do everything in their power to breed roses that are healthier and able to grow on their own roots. This problem would never have been a problem in the first place if we didn't insist on growing roses that need grafting. No seedling of mine will EVER have RMV if it is never grafted or planted in the same bed as an already infected rose closely enough to allow root grafting to occur. Also it must be understood that when talking about RMV I am only referring to PNRSV or ApMV... these are considered the two major viruses causing a wide range of mosaic symptoms and as Bruce said... it is widely considered that nearly all roses will have at least one OTHER virus of another type.... one battle at a time I reckon though...

by neptune 23rd November 2010, 21:16

I lot of people use abbreviations for certains things like RMV......

could someone please tell me what it stands for and how do I look out for it.....photo's would be nice or a link to one

EDIT: Smile

Just found the post "Pattern On Leaves" and it has that RMV stands for Rose Mosaic Virus. It even has a photo... Smile

by Admin 23rd November 2010, 22:16

There is also a 'sticky' thread here: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] , that explains a lot of these abbreviations.

by neptune 23rd November 2010, 22:30

Thank you Simon

by Ozeboy 22nd January 2011, 14:13

I am reading an American book at the moment that states in 1970 70% of roses in USA have RMV ( Rose Mosaic Virus ) which comes in two types.
Every cultivator exhibits slightly different reaction to RMV. Several different patterns appear on the leaflets though not always. These patterns are veins turning red or yellow and white or yellow zigzag patterns. The above symptoms are usually caused by Prunus Necrotic ring spot Virus which appear early in the year on young leaflets and disappear as the season progresses.In contrast the Apple mosaic strain shows ugly yellow or white blotches on the leaflets that remain visible throughout the year.

This highlights the difficulty of identifying these RMV viruses and until a simple field test is available very little progress will be made to identify and eradicate it. The danger is nurseries and people within the industry doing nothing to eradicate it. The large nurseries have a massive problem to clean up their plant material. Unfortunatly some people within the industry choose to ignore it or lack the knowledge to know it really exists.
There is some light at the end of the tunnel for in 1999 USA authorities state RMV infection has dropped from 70% to 50% infected across commercial nurseries.

by Guest 22nd January 2011, 14:27

You know Ozieboy, I dread buying in new plants to use in my breeding programme because what may be infected here, at the moment I dont have any of the nasties , thank god, but one day i suppose it will happen. I have two lots of pruning gear , one for work and the other for use on my own plants, the risk of contamination is to high for me that is, the growers would 'nt come near you if there was something lurking about, so take all precautions.

by Admin 22nd January 2011, 14:41

Warren,

The growers are the main culprits. The indiscriminate budding onto Dr Huey that is almost universally infected now is THE only reason RMV is as prevalent as it is. Now there are varieties that are considered chronically infected. I would bet $100 that you do in fact have RMV lurking somewhere in your roses. If you have David Austin's here... you can bet your ass you have RMV. I have shrovelled so many David Austin roses (out of PBR) because once they go out of PBR then the cheaper body bag producers of roses get hold of it and graft it onto anything. Hence my desire to breed own root roses. In fact, when I make something that is good I really want to stipulate in the production licence that it is NEVER to be grafted. If you don't graft them you won't get the virus. Period. Your weather is warm enough there to disguise most the symptoms... but I bet it is there somewhere.

by Guest 22nd January 2011, 15:04

I did'nt realize Dr huey was the main culprit, the only DA I have growing in my roses is Charles Austin, and I have never seem anything sus yet, all my DA pollen I get from clients plants , I dont bring any stem or leaf matter home. All my rootstock is Indica Magor, no Dr Huey

by Ozeboy 22nd January 2011, 18:31

Warren, you are very lucky to have no RMV. I am doing everything to grow clean plants and have what I consider a good prevention plan in place.
At least I recognise the problem and see numerous grafters that need to go to school again or give up budding.
Simon sent me a plant of Multiflora grown from seed which is making good progress and is a good way to have virus free understocks. However I
do have a lot of self seeded plants that have canes 1/2 to 3/8 inches thick growing amoungst Multiflora that was propagated from cuttings. I won't trust these self seeded ones to be virus free either as the roots may have
naturally grafted under the ground. I am collecting all the seeds this year and will plant them in another part of the property in virgin ground.

Currently all my Mother Multiflora plants that cuttings are taken from are pretty well 100% virus free. They are 100 yards away from the work area and understocks are only used once.

One of our members posted propagation methods used by a large commercial grower of roses and outlined the following method.
The understocks grown from seed are bought in and planted. These are budded with possibly some RMV infected buds. The understock tops are cut off and used for the next lot of understocks. Each top would make about 10 to 15 new understocks all possibly infected from the last budding with infected buds. Imagine how rapid the virus would spread when this is repeated many times.

I am still bringing in buds to increase my list of roses grown but am very fussy where they come from.

As mentioned previously the industry will not make a lot of progress eradicating RMV until a simple field test method is available.

by Guest 23rd January 2011, 07:26

Howdy Ozeboy
Makes you wonder about some peoples practises, cutting corners, economizing , trying to make a buck but what happens they shoot themselves in the foot at the same time. With RMV around you would think people would try to stop contamination by adjusting their technique, but the sad thing is they dont, (eg) I can remember when studying Ag science , when going into the broiler sheds, you had gumboots on and walked through a bath of Formaldehyde it was so strong it made your eyes water.

by Admin 23rd January 2011, 14:28

When I started my Hort. degree I visited a protea farm and a rose farm near Wagga and in both cases we walked through bleach dips too.

by Ozeboy 24th January 2011, 20:56

Warren and Simon, that's the difference between the informed and the
cowboys.

by AutumnDamask 9th June 2011, 22:11

For the non-breeder of roses is it of major importance if a couple of your roses have RMV? It's not contagious?
I just don't think I can face shovel-pruning when I can't afford to replace them (yet). :p

by Admin 10th June 2011, 09:29

I guess there are a few viewpoints you can take.

It has not been shown to be transmitted by any other means apart from grafting so it is not likely to spread. Root grafting can occur naturally when roots grow too closely and begin to intertwine. Virus transmission can occur then too.

I am of the opinion, now, that it is better to have an infected variety than to let the variety die out completely. It means the rose can be cured in time if treatment facilities such as those pioneered by Malcolm Manners are set up. Then these infected roses can be discarded without the fear of losing varieties that may be chronically infected. I have a small themal chamber here that I am due to test this spring for the first time. I made a chamber and placed a light, a drip system, and a heating element in it and attached a thermostat to regulate the temperature. I have a cutting of Altissimo growing that is infected with RMV and will be putting that in for about 2/3 of a month and will then bud it onto some seedling understocks I have. If it works I will do more. The chamber cost me about $200 to build once the thermostat, heating element and lighting is figured into it.

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