Quote:
Originally Posted by Bananaman88
Gabe,
What about the possibility of aphids or their eggs being accidentally brought back with the plant material? If someone lives in a warm area, like me in TX, for instance, and I brought a banana plant back from Hawaii, I would think that the aphids could potentially survive and breed here and spread the virus as well. I'm not saying that Greg brought back any aphids or eggs on his plant, but in theory, this could happen and we should all think about this sort of thing before bringing something back that could potentially be infected.
Just my two cents worth. Maybe I'm just in my envioronmental mindset as I have just come back into the office from flagging Texas Meadow Rue (Thalictrum texanum). We are trying to keep it from being mowed so that it can set seed. Apparently it is close to becoming endangered.
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This is a good point, however, with proper sanitation practices it should not be a problem. Its really quite easy to just look over the plant and make sure there are no aphids. If you want to be secure, cut off all the leaves and petioles down to a bare pseudostem, spray down the plant with some soapy water and wash it off good. Whenever transporting plants to new areas, I also always cut off the roots and wash off the soil before transplanting.
Some diseases don't have to be an issue with proper responsibility on the part of whoever is moving the plants. The reason bunchy top has spread so much and is so hard to control is because generally people do not care enough to consider it, and just move the plants without regard to sanitation and inspection. And then when there are infected plants, people are generally slow to take care of the problem (if they get to it at all) and just let them sit when they should really be taken out and destroyed immediately.