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Lon or others:
Any thoughts on how I can maintain the plants
without new virus infections for as long as possible? The USDA describes
'Fairfax' as particularly sensitive to viral infection. Pots in a
screenhouse would not be my 1st choice. I've got a garage full of dormant,
potted material already. And I don't have a sceenhouse handy.
On the other hand--maybe I shouldn't worry about
it: I don't suppose that the plants will become infected at such a
fast rate that I couldn't get many good years of fruit out of them. I
imagine that the original pox-ridden accession Corvallis began with
would have passed through the hands of dozens or even hundreds of farmers
before ever making it to Oregon, braving exposure to all manner of different
viruses I don't have here on their journey. If I am only infected
occasionally by a local virus it may not make a huge difference
in productivity or quality--just a very gradual decline over the decades---with
the various infectious species causing little harm individually,
but having a cumulative negative effect. I can't imagine that I have
all or even many of the possible contaminants living here already.
Alternatively, maybe there are a couple
of widespread viruses that routinely infect strawberries everywhere and
rapidly put an end to their useful life-- Dunno.
Lon, could the Peruvian plants not have been
exposed to the most damaging viruses? I imagine that there is a
degree of isolation that may have prevented exposure--or perhaps the 12000 foot
altitude of the Peruvian highlands would not have as many leaf-hopper
and aphid vectors, preventing exposure to many things.
Steve Herje
Lone Rock, WI USDA zone 3-4
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