Dahlia Viruses

Dahlia viruses are not a new thing, they’ve been around for ages. However, it seems that the concern surrounding them has increased exponentially in the past few years. Just like most topics, this has people on opposite ends of a spectrum with most in the middle.

Dahlia’s are susceptible to several viruses that are spread mostly by biting/sucking insects from one plant to another but can also be spread by infected snips or cuts in the plant. They are not spread to most other plants and certainly not humans or animals. They do not live in the soil either which is great news. The problem with the plant having this virus is that it weakens the plant and can potentially kill it.

Some of the most common dahlia viruses are:

• Cucumber mosaic virus

• Tobacco streak virus

• Dahlia mosaic virus

• Tomato spotted wilt virus

Our Stance and Policy

Because you can test one day, receive a negative result, and then your plant can become infected the next day, Long Lane Farm follows the following guidance and policy. We rarely test our plants for virus because of the above first sentence and the exorbitant cost to do so. We inspect our plants nearly everyday. If we see a plant that looks suspicious, we tag it, fertilize it with an organic fish emulsion and give it about 2 days. If after 2 days, the plant has improved we know it was likely a nutritional deficiency and she lives to see another day. If after 2 days, the plant looks the same, we assume it could be virus-related and that plant is dug up and destroyed (trashed or burned, never composted).

If we were to test and receive a positive result, that is what we would need to do anyway. With that said, I did opt to test 2 out of 2,000 plants during our 2023 inspection by the PA Dept. of Ag. Both had one leaf out of many that looked somewhat suspicious with concentric rings. They both returned negative for the viruses to the left.

We are committed to selling healthy tubers and do what we can to mitigate pests as naturally as possible in order to mitigate virus and/or spread.

With that said, for the above mentioned reasons, we cannot be held responsible for future viruses in your plants. There is absolutely no way to know exactly when that plant contracted the virus. The most likely answer is that the tuber came out of dormancy, grew into a plant, and was bitten by a vector carrying insect. Not that the virus was carried in the tuber, although that is a possibility. There is just no way to be 100% sure. You can only do your best!

We hope this makes sense to you and are happy to answer any questions: emily@longlanefarmflowers.com