Is this Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus

[gssgarden]

Is this it? Say it ain't so

Most importantly, do I need to pull it? Please say Spray it first.


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[shelleybean]

It does look to me like TSWV on those two or three leaves there. I'm sorry to say spraying won't do any good. This is about the time of year I start to notice it, usually right after a Tomatovillian in NC finds it on their plants.

[Lee]

Yep. Pull it, and dispose of completely. No usable fruit will form and it will only
serve as a vector to other plants....



Lee

[gssgarden]

Dang It is my only KBX too
I trimmed the heck out of it but I'll probably pull it this week sometime.

[Lee]

Dang! Lost my first, and hopefully only, plant to TSWV!

To make matters worse, it was my only plant of a dwarf experiment! Sean's Big yellow....

First time growing in this area and there ain't any plants/trees for 100+ yards.
Best I can guess, is the stupid thrips blew in on the wind.

I pulled it and dumped it in the trash faster than you can say @#&!@....

Greg, I'd pull your's up quick too. I've got a KBX going that you can try out
at TP 6!

Lee

[nctomatoman]

Lee - just to share my experience last year, and not guaranteeing this info, but I had TSW last year - one dwarf plant in each row. I left them to see if I could get ripe fruit from them (they were misshapen and smaller than they should have been, but I did get some seed - I did not eat them). The plants stayed there and struggled all summer. The TSW did not spread, even though the plants were in close proximity - just one plant per row, all of the rest remained fine. So, I suspect that the infected thrips chewed on just flowers from those infected plants, then went away and no infected thrips returned to the other plants. And, my findings were that it did not spread.

Another thing I noted - when starting seeds from fruit from plants infected with TSW, the resulting plants have been fine - Orange Heirloom in 2002 got the TSW, I saved seeds - I grew it for a few years after that from saved seed and it did not get the wilt - the plants were healthy all season.

So, one data point (one season, one yard) - but data nonetheless.

And Greg - yes, that does look like TSW - and there is nothing that can be done to prevent it from severely impacting the plant.

[gssgarden]

At 5:13 pm, My lone KBX was pulled and thrown in the woods. I have to say, I trimmed everything that looked infected two days ago after I got some feedback from you guys. In TWO days, It looked like the ENTIRE plant was turning black. Every leaf was infected. Horrible, horrible thing this virus. Whatever fruit was on it looked bad, and the flowers were just all drying up.

I pray this goes no furthur, because it would trash my garden, quickly.

Thanks,

Greg

[shelleybean]

TSWV used to be something we had to worry about after an unusually mild winter, but now I think it's something we'll have to deal with each year here in Va. and NC. This year I started back up plants and keep them on the other side of my yard, hoping they won't be infected. So far I haven't needed them but at least they're here if I do. I am also using the blue sticky traps for thrips again this year. I'm not sure whether they really help but they're cheap enough that I feel it's worth a try. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for all of us!

[gardenmama]

So far I've had just 2 plants with the beginning signs of TSWV. Earl's Faux (RL) and Phil's Fantastic. As much as it pained me to do so, I quickly pulled both and replaced EF(RL) with EF(PL) and Phil's with Lincoln-Adams. Here's hoping that no more plants are affected. Fortunately I have another Phil's at a satellite foster garden.

[Lee]

One other thing I was thinking about is creating a huge barrier to the early
spring thrips.
Basically, it would be a miniature greenhouse like structrure over the entire
garden covered with floating row cover.
This would actually serve two purposes:
1. Barrier to any thrips blowing in on the wind.
2. A little extra greenhouse like environment for a couple of weeks earlier planting.

Since it would only be needed for the first 4~6 weeks when the plants are still
small, it wouldn't have to be very large or elaborate. Just sturdy enough to endure the
spring winds/rains that can be vicious at times.

What do yall think of this idea?

I'm mainly thinking about this because I fear Michele is right in that it is something
we will have to deal with annually....

Lee

[mdvpc]

I took this photo today. Never seen this in my plants-is this tswv? Or something else?

[lakeshorenc]

I have had to replace 12 of my 48 plants but I hope I have it under control. We have mosquitos so bad in mid summer my husband sometimes sprays Cutter, bug free back yard spray around our patio ( it's the stuff you put on the hose). After I pulled the 11 plants, I thought I'd spray some around the tomato patch. I really think it has helped. The last one I pulled was three weeks ago and I've not seen any more signs of TSWV. My only problem now is they are 7 foot tall and have out grown my CRW cages. I think next year I'm going to spray before I plant and see if it really helps. Theresa

[shelleybean]

Hi, Michael. It's really hard to tell from this picture. It looks like there might be more spots toward the back of the leaf. The spots on my plants start out darker, almost black, and then seem to fade to a grey/silver sort of color over time. Can you see dark spots on your plants that look like Greg's picture? I know there are some other really good pictures of TSWV in other threads here, too, if you want to compare.

Lee, I think if you can invest the time and money in that set up, it would be worth it. There's just so little else we can do to protect the plants, a barrier seems like it would be a good solution if you didn't have too big a space to cover.

[Lee]

Michael,

I'm going to say you have something else, as that is not similar to the
TSWV I've seen.
You can take a look at the sticky in this forum area for pictures of it that I've
had in the past. I've never encountered the total yellowing of the foliage... except
in fusairum infested plants.... but let's hope that isn't it either!

Lee

[mdvpc]

Thanks for your input. I think its possible it is salt damage-our water here is very salty.