Thanks for a great article!

I had TSWV affect one of my Black Cherry plants last year. It also got one of my Sweet Linda plants (also a cherry) and one of my Purple Bumble Bees (a cherry type) It is a very nasty virus. Last year it took out 10 of my 80 plants in a hit and miss kind of way. The plants affected were not next to each other and were spread out all over the garden area. It also affected a few of my pepper plants. It seems like it is getting worse each year.

Oh my, so it has now spread all the way to Oregon? I thought it was more prevalent in greenhouses if it appeared in more northern states. Bummer, Patti, but glad it didn't wipe out your whole field.

Nice article, Farmerdill! Thanks! And thanks for the recommendations on the TSWV-resistant varieties.

Shoe

It's been my understanding that TSWV is always present in the soil. What changes year to year are the conditions under which it will emerge. Some years are more favorable for it (very wet spring) while other years aren't. I only grow about a dozen plants & do so on a 3 year rotation. One of the varieties I always grow is Bonnie Brae's Husky Cherry. This cv can be bought at any box store. 2 years ago, when the virus was at it's height, BB Husky Cherry withstood the onslaught, while all my standard tomatoes succumbed. I will always grow at least one of these for that reason alone, plus the fact that the production is very good, & the taste is delicious.

I thought that TSWV was spread by thrips and not a soil born disease? Many weeds are host plants for the thrips. My problem is that I don't want to grow the resistant varieties, I like growing lots of different heirlooms. And my understanding about resistant varieties is that it doesn't mean that they can't get the virus, it just means they are less likely. In my garden last year they didn't seem to care which plant they attacked. I also thought that warm, dry conditions in the spring can lead to earlier and more severe problems with TSW than cool, wet springs. Crop rotation is a good idea as a general practice to detour many diseases.

Concur, TSWV is an insect vectored disease. Crop rotation, soil solarization are good practices for soil borne diseases but nigh unto useless for TSWV. Weed elimination is useful but it has so many host don't count on it. The thrip( several species) are not strong flyers but they can move long distances. The adult thrip has to acquire the virus at the larval stages which probably accounts for the intermittant nature of the disease in some areas. Here it is pretty persistant. http://vegetablemdonline.ppath...

Ravencroft, it sounds like you are referring more to "late blight" than TSWV with your reference to soil borne and "very wet spring", etc.

And Patti, you're right, "resistance" doesn't mean a plant will be immune to something but rather means it will put up with it longer. If I remember correctly the USDA states if a plant produces an acceptable crop before succumbing to a disease it is considered resistant. Go figger, eh?

Farmerdill, glad you offered some varieties that survive or grow to production. I hope they figure out one day just what makes them survive longer, or impervious to the thrips. Any ideas?

Shoe (freezing but with tiny tomato seedlings coming on strong!)

yes shoe, resistance simply means they put up a fight rather than surrendering at the first threat. Some put up more fight than others. None are bulletproof. The other problem is that this virus mutates so fast that resistance only holds for several years. Many of the early TSWV varieties have already lost the fight. Here is the best scientific article that I have found that is readably by an antique physicist. http://www.apsnet.org/edcenter...

"resistance simply means they put up a fight rather than surrendering at the first threat. "

That has got to be the best definition of resistance I've ever read! Perfect and to the point!

Those TSWV thrips sure must have the perfect vaccine in them to be able to continue on and adjust so quickly. Us humans should be so lucky, eh?

Thanks for the link, I'll read it after I devour a big part of the chicken that is sizzling in the oven, calling my name!

Hope you're surviving this unusual winter down your way.

shoe

Horseshoe.... That a could very well be. Never heard of it called late blight, but rather just the blight. So this TSWV is definitely insect borne then. Geesch! Just when you thought it was safe to come out of the woods, LOL! Up pops something else. I can't say that I've experienced it yet, but it's good to have a heads up for the future. Thanks.

RavenCroft said: So this TSWV is definitely insect borne then. Geesch! Just when you thought it was safe to come out of the woods, LOL! Up pops something else.

Hah! Yeh, it's always something, eh? But at least these Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus boogers don't attack us humans...I had enough spots (freckles!) when I was a kid and now that I'm much older I feel like I'm wilting quite a bit of the time! I don't need to come down with TSWV.

As for blights, there's a whole boatload of various blights. And when something called "late blight" appears early in the year it sure makes for some confusion, eh? No fair!

Shoe (who can't believe NC is once again have ice/sleet pouring down on us tonight. A most unusual winter....)