I was reading a research paper on the treatment of bacterial leaf scorch disease in pecan scion wood by submerging the cuttings in water heated to 46 degrees C or 115 degrees F for 30 minutes. It brought to mind a similar use of heated water for figs to rehydrate fig cuttings for propagation. Because the virus can be spread by mites and cuttings do you think that the heated water would help prevent the spread of FMV?

Interesting. Could you please share the paper citation? Name, year, publication, etc.
Thanks!

It could......guess it all depends at what temperature the virus is killed VS what temperature the fig plant dies or in the case of cuttings what temperature they lose viability.   Florida has been fighting citrus greening disease which is a virus transmitted by an infected plant sucking insect.   The researchers have found if you tent the tree with plastic you can heat it to a point where the virus is killed but the tree though damaged,  survives.  They are also wrapping poly pipe around the trunks and pumping how water through the pipes for some period of time and killing the virus that way and it causes less damage to the tree.  Problem is the insect is still out there so the tree can be reinfected.  It does show it is possible to use heat to destroy a virus inside a plant,  but not sure how much research has been done with the figs.  Citrus is big business and the greening kills the trees.....figs are not nearly as big of a business and FMV really isn't that big of a problem so it may not attract the research dollars.

Swizzle,
from an earlier discussion on FMV, http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=2171908 , this document was linked,

37C isn't even that warm ~100F. And on the citrus greening I'd think there would be virus in the roots so don't see how heating the top would kill that. But since it can be killed by just heating the trunk, maybe the virus circulates and is killed as it passes by.

Thanks for sharing very nice information. There is no way to remove FMV from cuttings. The best way is let the trees get a little larger then water the trees the with the following solution:  Mix 1 TB of 3% hydrogen peroxide with 1 gallon of water. You introduce a lot of oxygen to the root systems of your trees and because of the abundant oxygen at their roots, they will have larger and healthy root systems. When your trees have healthy root systems, they will not have any disease and they will bear more better fruits for your hard work. This solution can only help remove about 85% FMV from fig trees, but your trees will look very healthy and by then you should not see any FMV on them. Thanks for sharing.

Best,
Tam

another thought i think was mentioned in other post goes in the other direction. living in zone 6 and growing my figs in ground (testing for cold hardiness) i have lost some all together. but on the other hand this past winter all were top killed, even the cold hardy chicago. now with this said some trees in their first year here have displayed symptoms of fmv in our hot humid midwest summers. on the other hand trees that survived our deep freeze winters even if top killed no longer showed any signs of fmv. all of my trees now dont show any signs of fmv. i know they are not fmv free as the virus still lives in the roots even if top killed, so my thoughts are that the cold temps here may kill off the virus in the limb (of those not top killed) and slows the virus in the roots. kinda stunts its growth.

just an observation 

Another way to remove FMV from figs is to mix one gallon of the blue solar water with 1 TB 3% hydrogen peroxide. Use this solution whenever you water your trees. This solution will remove about 95% of FMV. Thanks for sharing.

Best,
Tam

I learned this solution from my Spiritual Guardians. Use this solution to water your fig trees if you are called for. Thanks.

Best,
Tam

I've mentioned this before but I started a Panachee from UC Davis (they all come with FMV) in ground, and it survived for a while with one leaf.  Finally, I potted it.  I didn't think about the pot getting hot in the 115 degree desert sun.  After cries for help here, Jon instructed me to flood the pot with water 3 times.  Move it in the shade, and douse it with Miracle grow.  That tree was FMV cured.  I fried it's roots unintentionally.  It couldn't survive being hit with overspray from wrought iron spray, and died, but heat treatments will irradicate FMV.  In this climate, FMV doesn't do much except make the leaves look a little splotchy, but the fruit is fine (IF the birds don't get the fruit).

I wonder how much peroxide you would have to put on trees in ground.  The majority of mine are in ground and their roots go deep.

Suzi

Here is a link to the research paper I found and another information sheet on heat treatment of pecan scion.
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/en/our_offices/research_stations/pecan/features

http://dx.doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-92-7-1124

Very nice and helpful information...... Thanks guys



Ong

Indonesia


Will grow any fig tree that can grow in my country....