Mosaic of tobacco (TMV and CMV)
Leaves show light and dark green patches, pucker and twist, and the plants grow slowly.
Crops it strikes
What you see
When to act
Check the seedbed and the field every week, and pull mottled or distorted plants at once. Watch for winged aphids on young plants in the first month, the time CMV does the most harm.
Before you spray
No spray cures them. TMV spreads on hands and tools, so wash hands with soap and do not smoke while working, and CMV comes with aphids. Pull out sick plants early.
The insect that spreads it
No spray cures a sick plant. What slows the spread is keeping the green peach aphid down, early, before it carries the disease to healthy plants.
How to prevent it
- Plant a variety resistant to TMV where one is sold, and raise seedlings in clean, sterilized seedbeds.
- Wash hands with soap before topping, suckering or transplanting, and keep cigarettes and chewing tobacco out of the field.
- Pull sick plants early, and work in healthy rows before sick ones.
- Keep tobacco away from cucurbit fields and weedy borders, where aphids pick up CMV.
- Plow under old stalks and roots after harvest, and rotate with grains.
Natural enemies and biological help
- Ladybirds, hoverfly larvae and small parasitic wasps hold aphids down. Avoid broad sprays that kill them.
Not sure it is this one?
Many diseases look alike. Send a photo to Anee, the smart farm technician in anee.io. She reads it with your crop, its age and the weather, and tells you what it most likely is and what to do first. In Tagalog or English.