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Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus

Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus

Tomato spotted wilt virus

Viralalso: TSWV, Spotted wilt

A damaging plant virus spread by tiny thrips that infects tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, and hundreds of other plants. It stunts and deforms the plant and marks the leaves and fruit with rings and bronzed, dead patches. There is no cure, so control means managing the thrips that carry it and removing infected plants fast.

🔎 How to spot it

Look for stunted, one-sided, or distorted growth with leaves showing bronzing, dark brown to black spots, and dead patches, often as distinct concentric ring spots. Growing tips may blacken and die back. On fruit, especially tomato and pepper, watch for pale or yellow rings and blotches that make it mottled and unmarketable. Symptoms vary widely and can mimic other problems.

🥀 Damage it causes

Infected plants are stunted, deformed, and unproductive, and the virus stays in the plant for life. Fruit is often ringed, mottled, and unusable, and plants infected young may set little or no crop. Because the virus has a huge host range, infected plants and weeds become reservoirs that thrips spread to healthy plants.

🔬 What causes it

Tomato spotted wilt is caused by a virus carried by thrips, especially the western flower thrips. Only the larvae can pick the virus up, by feeding on an infected plant, and the adults then carry and inject it for the rest of their lives as they feed. The virus overwinters in many weeds and ornamentals, and infected transplants can bring it into the garden.

🛡️ Prevent it

Start with virus-free, thrips-free transplants and grow resistant tomato and pepper varieties, marked with genes such as Sw-5, where available. Control thrips and keep down the weeds in and around the garden that host both the virus and the insect. Reflective mulches deter thrips, and floating row cover can protect young plants. Remove infected plants promptly.

🧯 If it is already here

There is no cure for an infected plant, so pull and destroy suspected plants quickly, even at the seedling stage, so thrips cannot spread the virus from them, and do not compost them. Manage thrips on the remaining plants and clear nearby weed reservoirs. Resistant varieties and clean transplants prevent far more than any spray can fix.

💡 Good to know

Tomato spotted wilt is easy to confuse with other troubles because its symptoms are so variable, but the bronzing and concentric ring spots, plus the presence of thrips, point to it. Since the virus rides on thrips and overwinters in weeds, the most effective steps are resistant varieties, clean transplants, and steady thrips and weed control rather than treating sick plants.

🌱 Plants it affects

312 plants in the library can be affected by this problem

Adirondack Blue PotatoAdzuki BeanAfrican MarigoldAgapanthusAgeratumAji Amarillo PepperAlice du Pont Mandevilla🥔All Blue PotatoAmethyst Falls WisteriaAmish Paste TomatoAnaheim PepperAnemoneAngelique TulipAngeloniaAnnabelle Smooth HydrangeaAnnual VincaApeldoorn TulipApril Tryst CamelliaArizona Sun Blanket FlowerArugulaAugust Beauty GardeniaAutumn Joy SedumBachelor's ButtonBanana PepperBarbara Karst BougainvilleaBeauregard Sweet PotatoBecky Shasta DaisyBee Balm🍅Beefmaster TomatoBenarys Giant ZinniaBengal Tiger CannaBetter Boy Tomato🥬Bibb Lettuce🍅Big Beef TomatoBig Boy TomatoBlack BeanBlack Beauty EggplantBlack Cherry TomatoBlack Krim Tomato🥬Black Seeded Simpson LettuceBlack-Eyed PeaBlack-eyed Susan VineBlood OrangeBloomsdale SpinachBlue Bird DelphiniumBlue Bird Rose of SharonBlue FescueBlue Lake Green Bean🍅Box Car Willie TomatoBrandywine TomatoBroad Windsor Fava BeanBrunneraBurning BushButtercrunch LettuceButterfly Blue Pincushion FlowerButterfly Marguerite DaisyButterfly WeedCafe au Lait DahliaCaladiumCalendulaCalibrachoaCalifornia Giant ZinniaCalifornia PoppyCampanulaCannellini BeanCardinal FlowerCarolina GeraniumCarolina JessamineCarolina Reaper PepperCayenne PepperCelebrity TomatoCherokee Purple TomatoChicoryClimbing HydrangeaClimbing Prairie RoseCocktail Vodka BegoniaColeusCollard GreensCoral Drift Groundcover RoseCosmosCranberry BeanCreeping PhloxCubanelle PepperCupani Sweet PeaDandelionDavid Garden PhloxDelft Blue HyacinthDenim n Lace Russian SageDusty MillerDutch Master DaffodilEarly Girl TomatoEastern Red ColumbineEndiveEndless Summer HydrangeaEnglish LavenderEnglish Shelling PeaEvening PrimroseFairy Tale EggplantFanal AstilbeFeather Reed Grass

For educational and informational purposes only. Disease management advice is general guidance drawn from university cooperative extension sources; always identify a problem positively and read and follow the label on any product before use, especially around food crops, children, and pets.