Recognizing virus symptoms in vegetable crops
2004
- UW-Madison Dept. of Plant Pathology
Project Media
Virus problems are not new to vegetable production. When you read through the literature, you will find references to many economically important virus incited diseases. Often these viruses are yield and quality limiting and in some instances they threaten the sustained production of certain vegetables in areas where losses to specific viruses pose yearly threats to the local growers. In the Midwest, we observe some virus-infected plants every year in fields of peas, snap beans, potatoes, cucurbits, peppers, and tomatoes. The virus incited problems we face are usually aphidborne and in most cases, the spread we observe is quite localized. Up to a few short years ago, losses were generally relegated to a few plants on the field margins where infective aphids moved in from field margins where they fed briefly on weed hosts of the virus, moved to production fields where they probed a few plants and then either continued to feed and multiply or simply moved on in search of more appealing plants.