Tomato leaf curl virus
Tomato leaf curl is a virus that does unspeakable things to a tomato plant.
The insect-borne virus that has killed tomato plants across Central America, Florida and Georgia has been detected in California for the first time.
Tomatoes are California’s eighth largest crop. The state supplies the vast majority of the USA’s processed tomatoes – 95 percent.
The first diseased plants were found in March in a greenhouse near the border with Mexico.
The virus causes tomato plants to become stunted and grow abnormally upright. Flowers usually fall off before the fruit sets and leaves are small and crumpled with an upward curl, turning yellow.
Has this been reported in Ohio? My healthy tomato seedlings (various hybrid varieties) have all become stunted with curled leaves. I have never seen this before and have grown tomatoes for many years.
Which direction do the leaves curl? With this virus, the leaves curl upwards There are lots of reasons tomato leaves can curl, but in most cases the curl downwards. Try this link:
http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf171119.tip.html
It looks like I might have two of my plants affected in Michigan. I heve planted 15-20 plants in the same area for 15+ years and have never seen this before. The other plants are almost 18″ tall, vigorous and have many flowers. Usually, I have the best results in my circle of friends.
Have had the same symptoms here in East Tennessee. Better boy, early girl and the tomato tree. I have been mystified as to the cause, and now I know what it is. I am going to pull the plants and burn them, but I wonder if this will persist.
I have what looks like leaf curl in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I live in a rural area and have a large garden with 30+ tomato plants. I have never seen this. Can it be beaten w/o killing the plants? I have tried a combination of Pyola and SoapShield with no luck!?!
Folks, if you have these symptoms in tomatoes from as widespread an area as you all come from in the US…contact a USDA official SOON, and/or Dr Judy Brown at Univ Arizona (jbrown@Ag.arizona.edu) or Dr Jane Polston at U Florida (jep@ufl.edu) – because you are part of a serious and growing problem. Tomato leaf curl disease – most probably caused in your areas by Tomato yellow leaf curl begomovirus (TYLCV) from Israel (long story…) is now present in both east and west coasts and is coming up via Mexico. Check out http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/AG224 and http://ag.arizona.edu/pls/faculty/brown.html for some extra info.
i also have tomato leaf curl…i purchased bonnie plants..i contacted them and they told me to try mulch…i’ll see what that does…i have two tomato plants in pots on my deck and they both are curling..never saw this before
I live in Dayton, OH and I have this happening to my tomato plant too. Just one of them a cherokee tomato. The other one I don’t have a tag but it does not have this problem with the leaves.
[...] emergence means that there is an ever-increasing number of them in genome databases – and in people’s fields, which lab virologists tend to forget all too easily. The viruses are fascinating for a number of [...]
living in the phoenix valley of arizona – my three tomatoe plants have succumbed as well. bummer.
Just noticed my tomato garden has these upward curling leaves. As I think back on the poor crop of tomatoes we had last year, I seem to remember the same problem. I haven’t been able to find a cure.
My tomato plants were from Bonnie, also.
Before anyone flips out with this, it may just be tomato leaf roll which looks bad, but isn’t check it out:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_causes_leaf_curl_on_tomato_plants
I think I may have something also my tomato looks like a fern the way the leaves are unfolding themselves somthing like a fiddle head. Please tell me that this is not a virus. Ive never seen this in my gardening ever ive gardened for about 10 years. Can anyone give me some info im in arizona.
Matthew: Dr Judy Brown, Univ Arizona in Tucson – jbrown@ag.arizona.edu – is a world expert on the problem, IF it is a geminivirus.
Hello,
I live in Tampa, Florida>
Looks like one of my tomatoes has this geminivirus. I’d like to upload a picture of infected plant, but I don’t know how.Leaves of my plant are getting small and curl upward and interveinal and marginal yellowish. I have about a dozen tomatoes and now looks like second one is getting same disease (in fact, the plant is not a next to infected one). Can anybody help me, is there any cure for my infected plant?
Thank you in advance
We live on the coast in NorthCarolina. I raise many types of tomatoes, in above ground plots. Babysitting neighbors plants (in my boxes) and they have the upward curled leaves.
Never seen this before. Good Bonnie plants.
What do I do now?
Will the wilt spread to all the other plants?
YIKES
sbass
Wow. We live in Chesapeake VA. I have 4 plants – it looks like all but one are affected. Also, I think it is affecting my pepper and green bean plants – but not my squash or cucumbers.
What do we do? Pull them out? Let them grow and see if we can get some fruit off them? Is the fruit safe to eat??
Hi,
I found my way here trying to Google a cause and wondering if I’m the only one affected. 4 plants all afflicted and I’m seeing the beginnings of it on my cukes. This has never happened to me before and my friends in the area (Lehigh Valley area in PA)are all having the same problem. I’m at a loss to a cure. I’m trying Daconil, a fungicide, and applying it twice weekly. I hope if someone finds a cure they will find their way back here to post it.
Follow-up:
My cukes have recovered and 1 of my tomato plants seems to be making a comeback. Will try to make my way back here at end of season or before, if a notable change takes place earlier.
I was having leaf roll on my potatoes and tomatoes, but at this point the plants are mostly recovered and fruiting well (blossoms aren’t falling off). After doing a bunch of internet research (and panicking that I’d have to pull 1/4 to 1/3 of my tomato crop), I concluded that our wet weather was causing environmental stress.
I’ve written about it twice on my blog, and can’t believe how many hits I’ve gotten from those posts–so this problem must be very widespread. If it is simply environmental stress, make sure the plants are well-weeded, have good air circulation, and not too much or too little water. Consult your extension agent for a diagnosis if things don’t improve.
Unless you are sure of the problem, I would avoid pulling all your plants.
Where have these plants been purchased? I bought mine at Home Depot in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
I’ve lost two of my 8 tomato plants to leaf curl…..and I’m not the only gardener/farmer in Camp Verde, Arizona who has lost tomato plants this season. It seems to be a very wide spread problem right here in my hometown. Even our resident “professional” gardener lost plants to leaf curl. We have something here called “leaf hoppers” that are the culprit in spreading the leaf curl VIRUS. I understand that one bite from the infected leaf hopper kills the whole vine. Bad, bad bug! I talked with one gentleman at the market (Farmer’s Market) who told me he sprayed his tomato plants with “Surround”, an organic pesticide, and that his plants RECOVERED!!!! I am wondering if spraying the plants with an organic solution of Nettles Tea, Liquid Dish Soap and Garlic would be beneficial to controlling the leaf hoppers, white flies, aphid or whatever other BAD bugs are out there would work. Nettles Tea would work as a fertilizer for the plant while also being an effective insecticide. Has anyone tried organic cures? Just one more thing….I used a mixture of extra fine dry Mustard and dishsoap diluted in water and sprayed my squash plants for squash beetles and it killed the beetles….I got a little too liberal with the “insecticide” (darned bugs made me angry and I was gonna get ‘em) and I almost killed to squash plants too, but they are recovering without the bugs! It’s hard doing an organic garden, however, I’m finding the “home cures” are much cheaper than spending $24.95 for “Surround” concentrate.