Question
Hi Jennifer,

I bought a hanging english ivy plant a month ago after carefully inspecting it for pests. Four days ago I noticed that the plant looked "wrong", so I re-inspected it and found aphids. I promptly gave it a hearty spray in the shower, sprayed the plant thoroughly with a solution of water and antibacterial dish soap, and isolated the plant in another room, away from my other plants.  I have 18 plants in total, and I noticed yesturday that most of them have developed rings on their leaves. 2 oxalis plants have white rings with dust-sized black spots that have thinned and are cracking, 1 pothos has brown rings with yellow borders, 1 pothos with a thin yellow line with tiny brown rings and clear sticky "water spots", 1 ficus with a rust coloured blotch and white coloured "water spots", and a few wandering jews that have developed dark, dried our spots. I also have an unidentified plant (long stems with 1 foot long sword shaped green/purple leave, tiny hairs on leaves and stems)that is also developing dried out dark spots. Is there anything that can be done to save these plants?

Answer
Good morning Teresa,

Unfortunately, there is no cure for plant viruses.  Ringspots are a classic symptom of viruses, so it is possible that this is what you have.  If they were my plants, I would want to confirm that this is the true problem before I dispose of the plants.  You should contact your local county extension office.  You can find their phone number and address by doing a web search for "county extension office" and what ever county and state you live in.  

The county extension educators are trained to identify viruses and they most likely can send your plant(s) to the Plant Diagnostic Lab in your state to test for them.  There may or may not be a fee associated with this service. Some labs charge for the cost of the test kits, but it is often better to confirm the problem before sacraficing all of your plants.  They will ask you to send some of the symptomatic leaves for testing.

If this does turn out to be a virus, knowing the exact type can be valuable because it will tell you how it is spread.  Some viruses have insect vectors while others are spread mechanically.  This will help you manage how you handle your plants in the future.

Most plants do not die from plant viruses, but they may look unsightly or not flower normally.  If you did not mind the symptoms, there is no reason for you to discard the plants.  However, you will want to be aware of the virus situation so that you don't infect new plants as you bring them in.  In the early days of horticulture, virus infected plants were sometimes selected for because they had such unusual symptoms.  Now, we try to select for natural mutations in the plants that have a similar appearance without the viruses.

Please let me know if you need anything else.  Good luck!