What Is It? | Facts in Depth | For the Professional Diagnostician
Tomato Diseases | Cucumber Mosaic
Cucumber Mosaic
Descriptions of Plant Viruses Website provides extensive information about viruses, viroids, and more including descriptions, taxonomic notes, and sequence analyses.
Identification
Leaves:
- Light and dark green mosaic patterns on the foliage.
- Yellow spotting or streaking on the leaves and veins.
- A reduction of leaf blade area along the main vein (filiformity) of the leaf; symptomatic leaves are described as “rat-tail-” or “shoestring-” like.
- Oak leaf pattern and necrotic spots surrounded by a yellow halo (pepper)
- Necrosis of stems (pepper)
Foliar symptoms of CMV on tomato plants (left) and pepper plants (middle and right).
Fruit:
- Internal browning of fruit.
- Poor yield and poor quality fruits with delayed fruit ripening.
- Reduced fruit size and wall thickness (peppers)
CMV symptoms on pepper and jalapeño pepper.
Favorable Environmental Conditions
- Conditions that support aphid movement and feeding promote spread of the disease.
- Temperatures between 70-85ºF; anything warmer or colder than this range slows down the reproduction of the aphids.
- Stressful conditions for the plants also cause stress on the vectors.
Often Confused With
- Tobacco mosaic virus or Tomato mosaic virus
- Herbicide damage
Scouting Notes
- Scout the high tunnels and diseased plants and remove and destroy the infected plants.
- Monitor aphid populations early in the season and apply insecticides if needed.