Bizarre Leaves

[Farmette]

These are leaves from my Cherokee Purple plant and I am stumped. Looked at the various helps on this thread and am wondering if it is Cucumber Mosaic Virus. The last picture is of one of the branches with the stunted leaves.
Appreciate any and all help.
Thanks!

[stonysoilseeds]

it looks like some type of virus as biruses cause crinkling and stunting but your right they look bizaar

[stonysoilseeds]

viruses also cause a wutches broom sumpypm wkoch looks like the last photo of the cp and they are usually transmitted by insect s

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Farmette

These are leaves from my Cherokee Purple plant and I am stumped. Looked at the various helps on this thread and am wondering if it is Cucumber Mosaic Virus. The last picture is of one of the branches with the stunted leaves.
Appreciate any and all help.
Thanks!

Could be CMV, especially the last photo, but what of the other tomato plants in your garden.

CMV has several strains that can cause a different look to the leaves and since it also has something like hundreds of alternative hosts, many of them weeds, it would seem to me that more than one variety would be affected.

[Farmette]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Could be CMV, especially the last photo, but what of the other tomato plants in your garden.

CMV has several strains that can cause a different look to the leaves and since it also has something like hundreds of alternative hosts, many of them weeds, it would seem to me that more than one variety would be affected.

So far this is the only plant affected. It and several of the others had small holes in the lower leaves earlier in the season. This occurred right after transpanting in ground...I assumed it was something like flea beetles. Earlier in the year, I had a thrips problem, but I have sprayed periodically with a home brew of pepper spray. I am wondering if it is too late for this tomato plant...do I need to pull it right now or should I wait, spray and see what happens. And if I spray, what should it be?
Thanks!
Chris

[Wi-sunflower]

2,4D damage can also look kind of like that last pic with the skinny distorted leaves.

I'm seeing a few of my plants with some new leaves looking like that.

The tomatoes this year are in a field that was in field corn last year. Ray uses mostly generic Round-up on the corn but has added just a bit of 2,4D the last few years as that is what is recommended. As you know, Farmette, we've had some extreme weather here this year and I wonder if that may have caused a bit of a "carryover" for me.

Or maybe it's just the weather.

We have never had to water our tomato plants so much just to keep them alive. 3 weeks with hardly a spit of rain and plenty of heat. We finally got about 0.7" Sat and a spit on Mon very early. But the high wind since then has taken most of it back already.

Carol

[Farmette]

Originally Posted by Wi-sunflower

2,4D damage can also look kind of like that last pic with the skinny distorted leaves.

I'm seeing a few of my plants with some new leaves looking like that.

The tomatoes this year are in a field that was in field corn last year. Ray uses mostly generic Round-up on the corn but has added just a bit of 2,4D the last few years as that is what is recommended. As you know, Farmette, we've had some extreme weather here this year and I wonder if that may have caused a bit of a "carryover" for me.

Or maybe it's just the weather.

We have never had to water our tomato plants so much just to keep them alive. 3 weeks with hardly a spit of rain and plenty of heat. We finally got about 0.7" Sat and a spit on Mon very early. But the high wind since then has taken most of it back already.

Carol

I thought it might be something carried by the wind from a neighbor's yard too, but none of the others are affected. I, too, am hoping for some rain.

[carolyn137]

OK, it's just that one plant which means it isn't herbicide drift unless that plant is somehow the only one in a place where it's exposed, and then why does the plant look like it does, which to me does resemble CMV more than other options.

Did you raise that plant from seed yourself or did you buy it, and if you bought it did you buy any other plants from the same place?

CMV is mainly spread by aphids and it's well known that in a greenhouse situation it can be spread by those aphids in a persistent manner.

Outside it's usually spread from alternative host plants, I just looked and there are about 800 alternative hosts known, so I won't list them, ahem,to tomatoes. But as I said above, I can't see just ONE plant being affected.

I guess if it were me I'd look for aphids, they may be there, they may not, but as a precaution, if you don't see any other plants looking like that I'd pull that one and dispose of it rather ASAP.

[Farmette]

I did raise this plant from seed. It is not located in my primary garden, but part of my yard in a flower bed where I have grown several tomatoes as well as 3 roses. Perhaps it is an aphid problem coming from the roses. I have never had that happen before. So, I now I have pulled the plant. I guess I need to find something to spray on the remainder of them.

[Farmette]

If a tomato has CMV and several branches are affected, would new growth be affected too?

[ca1ore]

I grew all of my tomatoes, and cuckes, etc., from seed this year, and have CMV for the first time. More aphids this year than I can ever remember (and no ladybugs). Since all plants appear to have it to varying degrees I will just ride it out and see what happens. disease seems quite variable. I have, for example, a couple of plants that show fern-leaf sympoms on the very top new leaves, but shoots growing up lower down appear normal.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Farmette

If a tomato has CMV and several branches are affected, would new growth be affected too?

Since it's a systemic infection, as most tomato viruses that I know are, probably new growth would be infected as well.

Since there are several species of aphids that can transmit it and I don't remember which species also affect roses, I have no idea if the roses are the problem.

And as to spraying for aphids, at this point I don't know if it would help or not since you say your primary tomato garden has no plants that look like they might have CMV, if I'm reading right.

There would be no reason that if the aphids on the roses are one of the species that transmits CMV that they couldn't fly over to the primary garden and infect those.

So why not try it and see. No harm in trying.

But I'm glad you pulled that one plant b'c if you left it there it could just serve as a reservoir for more aphid transmission I would imagine.

[Farmette]

Thankyou all for your replies. Other gardeners have told me that they, too, have seen an increase in the aphid population this year.

Carolyn, my primary garden is about 15 minutes away at my daughters house. Not alot of sunny space here in my yard so I had to "commandeer" hers. She's fine with it because she loves the fresh veggies, especially the tomatoes and basil.
I have 40 different varieties growing out there with another 15 back here. Even after I've given away plants, I always have a few left and can't resist planting them too. This year I've had to resort to trying grow bags for 5 and so far I am a fan of them.