I disagree... herbicide damage rarely causes spots on the leaves, and the yellowing tends to be a general overall thing (especially on the growing tips), not mottled. It's always easier to figure out with a picture, but a virus is possible. TMV is, indeed, almost nonexistent outside of labs in the US. Cucumber Mosaic Virus, on the other hand, is out there, and may be more common than you think (many Heavenly Bamboo plants carry it; the resulting red color is considered desirable). There is also Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus, which is rampant in many parts of the country. Both CMV and TSWV are vectored by insects; they are the major viruses we usually run into in tomato plants. They can strike individual plants, leaving neighbors alone. If you're dealing with an herbicide, the effects will show up on neighboring plants which are close to each other and sharing the bed, or different species of plants that share the same soil/exposure, like squash or peppers (but not necessarily every kind of vegetable). The plants might pull out of a light exposure once the source of herbicide is removed; the best sign is when they start to grow again. Badly herbicide-damaged or virus-infected plants will stop growing or slow to a crawl, and will never start again. Am I stuck with never using this soil for tomatoes again? No. Any virus you are likely to encounter in tomatoes doesn't persist in the soil. If your soil is contaminated with herbicide (and I can't imagine how you would manage that with Mel's Mix, unless the compost part was badly contaminated) then you will have to get rid of it, but not if the herbicide drifted over from elsewhere. How badly will my harvest suffer? Virus-infected plants will not bear, or will bear misshapen and often bad-tasting fruit. Since you're not likely to get any good fruit out of these plants once the virus is well established, you'll have fewer plants to harvest from. If herbicide-damaged plants recover, they will be set back by at least a few weeks, but the fruit you get after that should be fine. Is moving the plants to a different part of my back yard sufficient, or do I need to destroy them? If it's a virus, you need to pull them. CMV and TSWV are transmitted by insects which can fly, and infected plants can serve as a reservoir for insects to infect your currently healthy plants. (Besides, they won't fruit well, so why keep them?) If it's herbicide damage... well, if the soil isn't the problem, and there's no new drift from elsewhere, then there's no real point to moving them. Either they'll pull out or they won't. How likely is it that all my tomato plants are infected? I have around a dozen plants and hate to think that I need to destroy them all. I've gotten a few virus-infected plants over the years; once I confirm that it's a virus rather than some quirk of weather or genetics, I pull the (usually single) plant and look for the same symptoms on other plants. Out of three years I've had a virus problem, I've had to pull four plants total, and I grow over 15 plants a year. So keep your eyes peeled, and if you're lucky, it might turn out to be just a couple. They're all growing well. Now this is what confuses me. Is it just the normal-looking plants that are growing well? If so, cross your fingers and leave them be. If the shoestring-leaf ferny plants are also growing "well", as in vigorous and putting out lots of new growth, digdirt may be onto something with his herbicide theory. Here's a few pics to help out: Cucumber Mosaic Virus Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus --Alison

Hello, I am new to this forum and have been a hobbyist for about 5 years. Window growing with lights and humidifiers (big window ^.^) and now in the process of building a green house. Obviously no expert. Began with traditional phals...now I mostly have catts and have very good success with them. With the green house coming, I decided to virus test my collection of about 80 plants and 15 were virused; ironically, ten were the "failure to thrive" group I've been hanging onto and had little reason to continue after that. But I LOVED those plants just the same. The other five have CymMV and are doing fine quarantined. Nick, if your collection is fairly valuable and/or sentimental...WHY RISK bringing in these plants? My recommendation would be to take them ONLY IF you have a separate place to nurture them before you give them away to your family and friends. Denise

I have ordered a few of his roses to try, although I will grow them in pots for a while. I almost ordered Tipu's Flame, but I wasn't sure about the fact that it had so many hybrid tea parents, and how that might affect disease resistance for me. I do not usually spray, and when I do it is something like Organicide. I hope we'll hear from people who are trying it in a hot and humid climate, as I love red roses. I am, however, going to try Coffee Country, Faith Whittlesey, and Krishna's Peach. I am very hopeful about Krishna's Peach, as Safrano is one of the parents. Safrano is superb down here. Sandy

I also am missing photos from photobucket as well. I had been searching for weeks for photos I knew I uploaded but now are not in any of the folders. It also seems like Photobucket has made some changes/adding new features and I was wondering if this has something to do with the missing photos. I can post but can't find the photos and don't have the time right now to upload them all again. I don't have AVG but did at one time but found it was giving me false/positive warnings. Julia