[Honeycomb]

I have some passion vines in my garden that I am pretty sure have a mosaic virus. There are some other plants in my garden that I also suspect of having the virus. Over the last couple of years I have seriously wondered if I should get rid of them and have sought advice from people about what I should do. The plants are all flourishing and the bees love them when in bloom. I'm concerned about bees spreading the virus and causing harm elsewhere in my garden, and also wondering if bees can get the virus themselves. Does anyone know anything about this? I have read that plants with viruses should be torn out. But I have also read and been told that it is not a big deal to have plants with a virus if they are doing well. I am so torn about this. The vines are looking so good right now and are just loaded with blooms. I really don't know what I should do. If I allow this to continue will it become a problem I will later regret?

 

[smith]

Pollen transmission of a few plant viruses does in fact occur, although it is not the most common method of transmission. If the virus in question is pollen transmissible, bees could facilitate transmission. In all likelihood, however, the transmission would only occur to other passion vines during the fertilization process. I know of no example of bees being infected by a plant virus. While some plant viruses can devastate a crop, others cause minimal damage and can be tolerated. If the plants seem hardy and productive you may want to keep them. Replanting may or may not avoid the symptoms. Your other symptomatic plants may be due to one wide host range virus, or several with more narrow host ranges. Being in California, you have a very wide range of viruses/vector combinations available year round, and there's not a whole lot you can do, especially if you want to avoid insecticides. Probably not what you wanted to hear, but that's the curse of a warmer climate.