CMV or herbicide....HELP

[TerpGal]

I have had to replace all solanums this year due the the leaf ferning and tight fiddlehead looking deal that started with the toms and eventually spread to every pepper. I replaced the toms first then the peppers. Well now my yellow brandywine and german johnson are beginning to show the signs again. Strangely if it WERE CMV, my Charentais melons which are planted in the same bed are showing absolutely no signs of infection. I think my neighbor used week and feed at the beginning of May but can't be sure about that. I didn't use any manure this year, just Leafgro that is produced by Maryland Environmental Services and is tested for aminopyralid. If it is CMV, how can I prevent all the plants from getting it again. If they do, I am done for this year haven't seen any aphids and have been spraying with Sevin.

[Save$]

I posted on a related topic 4 days ago with no replies todate. Go to the one from PatricArtist, that one got 8 replies on about the same topic. Hope it helps!

[PatrickArtist]

I feel your pain. What I thought was herbicide damage did turn out to be a virus (a few plants began showing the mosaic pattern), and I was too late in pulling infected plants (thinking they would grow out of it), and all 48 plants are now showing symptoms. My mini-bell peppers are now similarly afflicted (but my jalepenos - a hybrid - are fine), but my cucumbers and squash seem ok. I fear it might be TMV as I did smoke a cigar for the impending birth of my daughter, and I can't remember if I washed my hands before I did my usual poking and prodding of all my plants. I'm hoping that it is CMV because I have my first crosses in half formed fruit that I was really looking forward to growing out next year. Anyone know how to tell the two virus' apart?

Wishing you the best that your plants grow out of the damage. Good luck

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by PatrickArtist

I feel your pain. What I thought was herbicide damage did turn out to be a virus (a few plants began showing the mosaic pattern), and I was too late in pulling infected plants (thinking they would grow out of it), and all 48 plants are now showing symptoms. My mini-bell peppers are now similarly afflicted (but my jalepenos - a hybrid - are fine), but my cucumbers and squash seem ok. I fear it might be TMV as I did smoke a cigar for the impending birth of my daughter, and I can't remember if I washed my hands before I did my usual poking and prodding of all my plants. I'm hoping that it is CMV because I have my first crosses in half formed fruit that I was really looking forward to growing out next year. Anyone know how to tell the two virus' apart?

Wishing you the best that your plants grow out of the damage. Good luck

Smoking a cigar is not going to cause TMV unless it was a turkish cigar. For about 20 years now all tobacco grown in the US has been TMV tolerant and seldom are there outbreaks of TMV in outside fields and gardens. TMV has been spread via mechanical means inside the greenhouses of large commercial firms, but that too is very rare these days as well.

It's almost impossible to tell the two viruses apart since with CMV alone there are several different strains of it that can show slightly different symptoms and CMV has up to 800 alternative hosts.

If you're convinved it's a virus infection and the two perps are CMV and TMV then the odds are heavily in favor of CMV.

[Lee]

Folks,

If you go to the top of each message board you will see stickey's at
the top of the list. There is one that has quite a few details about
this subject.

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=9077

Of course, if you have further questions, don't hesitate to ask. There's always more to learn!

Lee

[PatrickArtist]

Thanks Carolyn, it was probably Honduran, Nicaraguan, or Dominican, but it is reassuring that it is more likley CMV than not. I have limited space and anything persisting in the soil would break my heart.