Elongation growth stopped--virus?

TZ-OH6 · June 24, 2011

Strangest thing I've ever seen. I had two green grape plants side by side that simply stopped getting taller soon after they were planted. The internode length got (stayed) incrementally shorter towards the top, but the plants thickened as it would with aging. The new top growth was very thin and small. It looked like mini sprigs sticking out of the top of a thicker mature "trunk".

These two plants were in the middle of a line of 20 plants spaced 10"-12" apart, so I don't think the soil was the problem (the adjacent plants--unrelated f2 cross growout-- are growing strongly), I pulled up both plants and what I could see of the roots looked healthy with new roots coming out of the trench planted stems. I did have some other seedlings show signs of CMV during hardening off (shoestring top growth), but it didn't look like these green grapes.

Virus? other?

June 24, 2011	#1
TZ-OH6 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Mid-Ohio Posts: 851	Elongation growth stopped--virus? Strangest thing I've ever seen. I had two green grape plants side by side that simply stopped getting taller soon after they were planted. The internode length got (stayed) incrementally shorter towards the top, but the plants thickened as it would with aging. The new top growth was very thin and small. It looked like mini sprigs sticking out of the top of a thicker mature "trunk". These two plants were in the middle of a line of 20 plants spaced 10"-12" apart, so I don't think the soil was the problem (the adjacent plants--unrelated f2 cross growout-- are growing strongly), I pulled up both plants and what I could see of the roots looked healthy with new roots coming out of the trench planted stems. I did have some other seedlings show signs of CMV during hardening off (shoestring top growth), but it didn't look like these green grapes. Virus? other?