Is tomato leaf curl viral disease curable?
Written by
Tina Carter
Reviewed by
Prof. Charles Hartman, Ph.D.The Tomato leaf curl virus is a death knell for infected plants, and for plants that are infected, nothing will save them. I've seen entire greenhouse operations fail due to the time taken to respond. If you detect early symptoms including curled, yellowing leaves, it is crucial to remove infected plants within 48 hours; otherwise, the crop can be lost. The rate of virus spread via whiteflies increases to exponential levels if the plants are not removed.
Symptom Identification
- Yellow leaf margins with upward curl
- Stunted growth compared to healthy plants
- Purple leaf veins in advanced stages
Prevention Protocol
- Install 50-mesh insect nets over seedlings
- Release Encarsia formosa parasitic wasps weekly
- Soak seeds in 10% trisodium phosphate solution
In less than 30 minutes of feeding, whiteflies can also transmit the virus. In 2023, a study indicated that insecticidal soap applications at 5-day intervals reduced transmission by 80%. I combine this with yellow sticky traps to facilitate a visual cue, deploy every 10 feet apart, and determine the frequency of the sprays based on total trap counts.
Removing infected plants must be done delicately. Whatever you do, burn or bag symptomatic plants, do not compost them. A customer of ours put infected vines in their mulch, which resulted in the virus infecting 40 percent of their crop! Always sterilize tools with 70 percent alcohol between cuts so you avoid mechanical transmission.
Read the full article: Tomato Leaves Curling: Causes and Solutions
