First Casualties of 2017- DLH and Rebel Yell

[MuddyToes]

sorry for your loss of all that time and hard work.

[Rockporter]

Sadly, there are a lot of different ways TMV looks on an infected plant.

http://www.forestryimages.org/images...12/1234113.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ms_tobacco.jpg

[Spartanburg123]

Originally Posted by Rockporter

Sadly, there are a lot of different ways TMV looks on an infected plant.

http://www.forestryimages.org/images...12/1234113.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ms_tobacco.jpg

Yep, and either way, it's ugly. I just read that Big Beef, Celebrity, Sunsugar, and Sungold are resistant to TMV

[Spartanburg123]

It's OK MuddyToes- now I know!

You know what- I remember two years ago, I planted two seedlings in two pots for my mother in law- and they suffered the same fate. Now I know that a smoker sat right there next to the pots, and that HAS to be what happened to them! TMV from unburned vapors in smoke!

[Spartanburg123]

Sorry TOLERANT....never resistant, but TOLERANT...

[MuddyToes]

Scary stuff. My next door neighbors sit on their back porch and smoke every afternoon. The are probably 15 to 20 yards from my tomatoes. Is that too close?

[AlittleSalt]

I had wondered about smoking around the plants. You all have shown me proof of what happens. Here is general scholastic search to tomato mosaic virus. http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=...MRCSgQgQMIIDAA

[clkeiper]

So sorry this is what it is. this is why I don't let people even touch my tomato plants in the greenhouse if I smell cigarette smoke on them. I pick them up and put them in a bag and hand them to the person. so sorry you had to deal with it. I honestly have never seen it I just know that tobacco smoke and the residue on hands can do this. Geraniums are also susceptible to it. anyone who smoked was not allowed to touch the geraniums ever in the greenhouse I had my first job in.. I had one customer who stopped weekly for some of the dwarf project tomatoes I was growing in the greenhouse. he loved them, but I told him he wasn't allowed to touch my plants because tobacco could infect the tomatoes with the virus. he was very good about it.

[imp]

Diagnosing from a picture can be tough at times, losing valuable plants is also heart breaking. I was curious, since I am a smoker and have handled a lot of tomato plants, plus there is a long history of smoking tobaccos in this country and those smoking farmers did not wash their hands, etc., so looked up with a quick dirty search.

http://extension.psu.edu/pests/plant...in-greenhouses

Tobacco products, particularly those containing air-cured tobacco, may carry TMV. Flue-cured tobacco, used in making cigarettes, is heated repeatedly during its processing, thereby inactivating most if not all TMV. When tobacco products are handled or kept in pockets, hands and clothing can become contaminated with TMV and be a source of virus. TMV is NOT spread in the smoke of burning tobacco.

Good article and also advises that tobacco not be allowed in the green house ( unsmoked, LOL). There are many ways TMV can be transmitted and it even can live on in dead plant tissues!

Sorry your plants got infected and that you are losing them. Don't forget to wash all your plant tools, etc..

[ginger2778]

I don't think he has TMV, I see speckled stippled leaf yellowing, and a big Web. I think the spider mites he has are doing the damage, and if webs are showing the infestation is pretty big, even if he only sees a few mites under the microscope. Spider mites and other mites mimicking an iron deficiency almost exactly but giving iron doesn't fix it.

But what do I know? After all, I don't work in a garden shop.

[Spartanburg123]

Originally Posted by ginger2778

I don't think he has TMV, I see speckled stippled leaf yellowing, and a big Web. I think the spider mites he has are doing the damage, and if webs are showing the infestation is pretty big, even if he only sees a few mites under the microscope. Spider mites and other mites mimicking an iron deficiency almost exactly but giving iron doesn't fix it.

But what do I know? After all, I don't work in a garden shop.

Wow, I really didn't deserve that. I never discounted mites completely, and mentioned that it could be a combination of things. I did see a few mites under the scope. If I've insulted you in some way, I'm really sorry- it was not intentional.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by Spartanburg123

Wow, I really didn't deserve that. I never discounted mites completely, and mentioned that it could be a combination of things. I did see a few mites under the scope. If I've insulted you in some way, I'm really sorry- it was not intentional.

I am sorry Darin. I was upset because we already discussed, you agreed, and it has only been less than a week so I felt you were in panic mode and not being patient. With your newest photos I definitely see the cobra shaped leaves, looks like herbicide damage after all.
I will try to be more patient, or just keep my mouth shut!

[Spartanburg123]

Thanks Imp. It is possible that I am the culprit. My son dips snuff, and I'm constantly picking up snuff cans and spit jars in his room. Perhaps I touched the plants after handling these things.

[Sun City Linda]

I didn't check my steer manure this year and had so many starts of some tomatoes I decided to test on some. I thought I was in the clear but a few weeks later, clear signs of leaf damage / distortion. I tossed what was left of the manure around some roses and I'll be dang if I didn't start seeing a bunch of stringy new growth! I thought it was just tomato plants that were so sensitive.

[Spartanburg123]

Additional pictures of the damage as it stands today. The plants still look fine on the first three tiers of leaves, but the newest growth is stunted, leathery, and well, not growing. I'm going to pull these this weekend, but I just wanted to share what I'm seeing.

Thanks to all for your help!

Darin