It's certainly contagious if used as grafting wood. How it might be transmitted otherwise I'm not sure. Some of my nectarine and pluot are virus infected. It does seem to infect the new trees after a few years. But I'm not sure what virus it is and the trees still produce excellent fruit. I've greatly reduced my budding and grafting.

If the virus is able to "reduce vigor but increase productivity," then the implication is that it must reduce the number of blossoms, and that would result in fewer, larger, fruit. But that is just a guess, on my part.

Latent viruses tend to reduce the overall vigor of a tree. I have found Rio Oso Gem to have low vigor which is explained by this.

It is a problem of multi-grafts, they can pass the virus from one variety to another. Viruses can also transmit through roots by root contact, but that method is much harder.

Scott

Contact the arboretum and ask.

I looked up peach mosaic virus. It's not something I'd want in my orchard. In fact I'm surprised it's allowed to be sold in that condition. It is quarantined in most of CA. In parts of CO you aren't allowed to even plant peach or nectarine cultivars that are symptomless carries. Ya that's right, there are lists of approved cultivars. You can't legally plants anything else.

Here is a link that might be useful: peach mosaic pictures

milehighgirl,
I was curious about your question and found some information.
One site said it was transmitted by a mite,but this one that is linked has an aphid as the culprit.
It also gives a cure:"The agent can be eliminated from infected peach trees, although with some difficulty, by growing plants in hot air at 37 ðC for 35-45 days, followed by propagation of the tips."That's 98.6 degrees F.Have fun.There are a few photos as to what the virus can do. Brady

Here is a link that might be useful: Peach Latent Mosaic Virus

Bradybb, That's excellent information. I would love to try Rio Oso Gem but not if it won't be terribly productive, and I sure don't want it to spread.

I have an egg incubator that I could set to that temperature. I wonder if the whole tree needs to be at 98.6 or just the tips. I've never even attempted to graft peaches before. I know that they should be done in summer or "hot calloused".

And why would the nurseries not have done this themselves?

I would not reccommend having this tree. This is not something that is at all a good thing. I grow lots of peaches here in Colorado and wonder why you want this variety. There are so many newer cultivars from Paul Friday's breeding program that I have that are far superior. Look up Paul Friday peaches.

Milehigh, I just ordered the Chinese peach from Arboreum. I re-checked the listing for latent mosaic virus. Only your peach seems to have it. There are too many no's on the this thread to buy it. what do you think? Mrs. G

I agree that it is not something I should buy. Scott's recommendations on this peach and a few other places make it seem like a worthy peach. I just wonder why no nursery has taken the time to get virus-free scion.

I have quite a few Paul Friday peaches and a nectarine and I was not overly impressed with my first crop. Granted it was a hot, dry year, but I plan on replacing two of them and my Saturn peento as well.

I spent a lot of time researching varieties and planning so I would have a continuous crop all summer, but I was not happy with any early peaches except Garnet Beauty this year.

I have been hesitant to buy peaches that are not cold-hardy but so far the ones that I have that are not have done well. The O'Henry and the Silver Logan are supposed to be for zone 6 but they have done well. I went ahead an purchased Baby Crawford, Gold Dust, and Old Mixon Free.

So I don't get tired of tastes and putting up jars of preserves, I really try and stick to July-October harvest times and multiple fruits. The only 'early trees' I have are two apples, then a mid-apple (soon) and late (Oct.). I do love peaches though. The 'Garnet Beauty' is very beautiful. I'll check into it. This past summer my peaches were very large. I do no water my orchard and the concentration of sugar in my peaches was huge. I am trying very hard (with great difficulty) to purchase only one new tree this year. Mrs. G

I also don't understand why they are still selling a version known to be infected. One of the reasons I buy trees from nurseries is to get clean stock.

There is also the fig mosaic and apple mosaic. The thing about these mosaic viruses is you usually see nothing so its not obvious that it is there, and it gets spread around more widely because of that. I somehow got one apple tree with apple mosaic, it is on a tree with three grafts. It could be one of them had it latently and the one showing the infection is more sensitive so I can now see it.

Scott