Curly Top Virus?

14 years ago

I tried to read through any relevant postings I could find but couldn't find anything that would give me a sure diagnostic. I have two sweet-100 plants in a large well-drained pot (about 18/20 inches). They are planted in 1-1-1 topsoil, perlite, peat moss with some added compost, egg shells, bone meal, and blood meal. Also gave them a small application of organic nitrogen only fertilizer when I planted them. They've been doing great, but I hadn't stake them yet, and the other day it got very windy. The wind somewhat battered them, but when I was getting them into cages, I noticed that some of the lower branches were quite twisted. One was more than 360 degrees. The leaves themselves weren't curled, however. I then looked at the new leaves and noticed they were chloritic, cupped, small, and the veins looked pronounced. I had two of the same variety last year which started with the same symptoms but ended up getting tiny stiff leaves on top and eventually stopped growing and stopped setting fruit. These plants are still setting a fruit as of today (two flowers came off and tiny tomatoes there). I also have one "patio tomato" that isn't twisted on the lower part but has the same effect on the new leaves. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Not sure how to post photos but have them if someone could tell me how. Thanks!

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Comments (10)

daylilyfanatic4
14 years ago
Pictures might help.... can't answer your question though
jean001
14 years ago
Any weed killer used anywhere in the yard or a neighbor's yard?

Beyond that, pictures would *really* help us help you.
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Yeah, overwatering can cause problems. Usually it causes yellowing and wilting/curling, and it *might* be playing a part in the curling. It's been suddenly hot here too, and by the end of the week it will be back to normal, which could mean cooler nights again. Anyhow, for watering requirements, stick your finger in the soil up to the second knuckle; if it's damp there's no need to water. But I know what you mean about the sudden explosion of heat. It can be tempting to overwater. :-) My experience in my zone is that chilly days and nights (usually nights) can cause purpling. My understanding is that tomatoes cannot take up phosphorous when it gets too cold. They should gradually turn back to green but, if you get another cold snap and they get chilled again, they can pick up the purple coloring again. The fact that they get purple for a while should not hurt them. You might want to spray fertilize (the foliage) with a seaweed or fish emulsion or another gentle fertilizer that contains P and other micronutrients, and that should help. That way, the plant can get what it needs through the leaves, instead of being completely dependent on the roots in cold soil. But, really, the purple will go away when the temps get consistently warmer, especially soil temps. I think Tomato Tone may be a slow release fertilizer? It appears to be a very popular fertilizer and I have used it myself with no complaints and good results. But, since the purple indicates that the roots haven't gotten up to speed yet with taking in nutrients, do the foliage spray with a gentle fertilizer to green up the plants a bit quicker. A lot of aphids can stress the plants a bit; a few usually aren't a significant problem. You can spray them off with a hose or use Neem oil. Be careful with Neem oil in the hot weather -- some people have reported leaf damage from Neem when the temps are high. Your plants look otherwise healthy to me. Keep up the good work.
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Three things are needed for a disease to take hold. 1) A susceptible plant (of course), 2) The vector, in this case an insect, 3) The presence of the disease in the vicinity. If you are missing one, it won't happen. Spraying for the insect that carries CTV does very little except make you feel better; all it takes is one nibble by one infected leafhopper, and you can't get every single one no matter how much you spray. Do what you can, but don't bring out the big guns just in the hopes of beating the virus. Especially don't bring them out because you see things which might be the right insect, with no idea whether the virus is anywhere in your area. What seems to be most effective is getting rid of weeds around and surrounding the garden, during all times of year. Weeds act as a habitat for the leafhopper, and many can also carry the virus itself. When you have that reservoir of virus, and a nice comfy spot for leafhoppers to live and breed all through the year, the chances for infection go way up. Take out as many weeds as you can, all around the yard and as far beyond as possible. Assume that you'll have to replace a few plants, if you know for sure that it's a problem where you are. Keep the plants as healthy as you can otherwise. Then cross your fingers for luck. :) --Alison
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All the purpling is normal with young seedling and all the curling leaves are normal too for the most part. Google 'tomato leaf roll'. For future reference, it would be almost 99% impossible for a young plant growing in a cup in potting mix and that has likely spent 90% of it's life indoors to get Curly Top Virus, or any other disease for that matter so relax, ok? :) Dave
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jean001a, thank you for the response. Posted this also in other garden forum on California Gardening. Sorry for the poor quality photo. This was from a tomato I already tore out days ago! Ugggg! I took some plant leaves to Armstrong and they told me to pull it immediately. The bottom of the leaves looked purple, with some leaves having only half the leaf purple. The leaves also seemed to be growing down. This plant was in front of my garage in a wine barrel, but I have a much larger garden in the rear, behind some structures (a garage and a library.) That part of the garden is in raised beds on a drip watering system covered in red plastic mulch. I amended the soil this year with some planting mix and add some organic fertilizers for tomatoes, and some extra potassium and potash, as the soil testing kit said those were extremely low. I had high nitrogen so didn't add any. Like I said, I pulled out this and two other plants in wine barrels because they told me at Armstrong Garden Center that this virus would spread if I didn't. I did look it up and everything online seem to agree. Plus, I was so worried about my 11 tomato plants in the raised bed in back. Now the tomato plants in back are starting to get leaves with purple veins. And the weird part is is that I have not seen any leaf hoppers in my yard, the supposed vector. I have sprayed with Neem Oil and Spinosad -Captain Jacks on all the plants and after the folks at Armstrong said I had the curly top virus, I sprayed with pyrethrin. Any help is much appreciated!!!
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derbyka
Original Author
14 years ago
Okay, thanks for the input. I figured it would probably be impossible without pics, so I'm trying to get them working now. I haven't sprayed an weed killer etc. I saw from other posts that I read that that can have similar effects. However, there is a golf course less than half a mile from here and it was very windy (gust of about 20/25 mph I would guess) for about 2 days. I was pretty stupid and actually pruned off some of the most twisted lower branches as they had a few fungus spots on them. So, the lower branches in the pictures are not nearly as twisted and are not a great representation.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures
derbyka
Original Author
14 years ago
A couple more things: first, a lot of young plants I see at big box stores around here seem to have similar symptoms. Also, I did see an insect (not a whitefly but not sure what it was) with it's mouth-parts in the main stem this morning. Also, I applied a dose of "superthrive" and a few tablespoons of Epsom salts about a week ago.
derbyka
Original Author
14 years ago
Sorry for the extra posts, figuring out how to work pictures so that they are in the post.
[IMG]http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af328/derbyka/tomato.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af328/derbyka/problem.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af328/derbyka/tomato_curly.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af328/derbyka/whole_tomato.jpg[/IMG]
derbyka
Original Author
14 years ago
Here is a photo of the similar symptoms in the third plant, the patio tomato. I know the last thing that anyone wants to spend time on is diagnosing problems for newbies, but any help would be great!

Here is a link that might be useful:
derbyka
Original Author
14 years ago
Still trying to get the pictures to work, hopefully this will link to the album.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures
taz6122
14 years ago
Use the 3rd code from PB or the HTML code to put the pictures in your message so we can view them here instead of going off site.
jean001
14 years ago
My opinion: The degree of twisting" isn't important.

But I am somewhat concerned about the pale yellow-green at the bases of the leaflets. Perhaps due to Roundup? Or some other product containing the same active ingredient, glyphosate?
derbyka
Original Author
14 years ago
I haven't sprayed anything in my small/patio yard myself except for a mild fungicide. However, my roommate told me today that she thought that she heard maintenance workers spraying something somewhere in the courtyard behind us about 5 days ago. Is that pale color a typical symptom of herbicide damage? Should I leave them in for now or pull them out?

Curly Top Virus?

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Curly Top Virus?

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