Fred posted on May 18, 2011 22:26
Results from one of the most comprehensive surveys ever conducted on the Columbian Datura Virus in brugmansia has just been published and released by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Lee Rathbun and Allan McCarthy of Native Habitat Farms in Florida, early pioneers in Brugmansia breeding and cultivation here in the U.S., fostered this study. After inadvertently acquiring infected brugmansia stock more than seven years ago, Native habitat Farms reached out to the USDA for help. Rather than risk spreading the virus further by cultivating and distributing their plants, they opted to destroy almost $250,000 in stock. Not giving up, Native Habitat Farms has been working with the USDA to develop virus free Brugmansia and will soon be offering virus free brugmansia plants for sale via their nursery.
Lee will be sharing more information Native Habitat Farms experience with CDV and the development of virus free stock exclusively with iBrugs in the very near future.
I encourage everyone to read the USDA report. You may be surprised to learn that CDV is much more prevalent here in the U.S. than earlier thought. When the researchers acquired plants for this study from established brug sources around the U.S., they found that over 80% were infected with CDV. They also noted that CDV-infected Brugmansia can remain symptomless for extended periods of time so many growers/gardeners may not even realize their plants are infected.
Click the link below to view the results of this study.
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