Tomato Spotted Wilt
The newest leaves go bronze or brassy on top, then pick up small dead flecks and cup downward, and the growing tip can die back. Ripe fruit shows pale blotches with rings inside rings, and that ringed fruit is the sign that separates it from blight or leaf spot.
Disease checklist
Four things to look for. If most of them match what you are holding, you are in the right place.
What gets rid of it
Gentlest option first. For most backyard cases the first one is enough, so try these in order and stop as soon as it works. If you do spray something, the product label tells you how — please read the notice further down.
1Remove the plant
There is no cure and no spray. Bag the plant and get it out of the garden.
Try this first2Plant resistant varieties
Tomato varieties carrying the Sw-5 resistance gene are the strongest tool available, though resistance-breaking strains do exist.
spotted wilt resistant tomato seed3Inspect transplants
Check bought-in transplants before they go in the ground, since infected plants often arrive from a greenhouse.
4Clear the weeds
Weedy field edges host both the virus and the thrips that carry it.
5Manage thrips early
Thrips control only helps before infection, not after. Reflective mulch at planting is the practical home option.
silver reflective mulch garden6Keep it away from ornamentals
Do not raise flowers and tomato transplants in the same enclosed space, because thrips carry it between them.
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Which plants get tomato spotted wilt
Every plant we cover that gets tomato spotted wilt, grouped by type — tap any one to open its page. A note beside a plant came from that plant’s own entry, because the same disease can be a minor nuisance on one plant and a serious problem on another. Plenty of plants we do not cover get it too.
Plant families hit hardest
Related plants often share the same problems, so if one plant in a family has it, check the others. The largest group here is Solanaceae, with 4 of the 7 affected plants.
- Solanaceae4 plants
When to treat
Pull it as soon as you see ringed fruit or a bronzed growing tip, because thrips will move it down the row.
Timing only — the label is the law
This page tells you when to watch for tomato spotted wilt and when treating is worth considering. It is not a recommendation to apply any particular product. Read and follow the product label before you spray — under federal law the label is the legal instruction, and using a pesticide against it is illegal.
- Check the pre-harvest interval. Every product that’s cleared for an edible crop sets a minimum number of days between spraying and picking. Find it on the label before you spray anything you intend to eat.
- Check the re-entry interval before you or anyone else works in the treated area again, and use the protective equipment the label names.
- Confirm the product is registered for your crop in your state. This page groups many different crops together, and a product legal on one of them is not legal on all of them — state registrations differ too. Your state pesticide agency or local extension office can confirm both.
- Rates and mixing instructions come from the label, never from us. We don’t publish them because they differ by product and formulation.
Other problems on the same plants
If a plant gets tomato spotted wilt, these are the problems it most often gets as well, so they are worth checking for while you are out there. They tend to appear together; one does not cause another.