Plants become stiff and soon die.
The virus and the beet leafhopper have very wide host ranges. Once acquired by the leafhopper, beet curly top virus is carried for the rest of the leafhopper's life, and thus long distance spread is common. Infected plants are usually widely scattered in a field. Leafhoppers overwinter in the foothills west of the Central Valley, migrating down into the Valley in late spring. There is no genetic resistance in tomatoes to beet curly top virus.