Tomato Spotted Wilt - Bad Things Happen to Good Tomatoes Tomato spotted wilt virus disease is appearing in many home garden plantings. The causal virus attacks and causes disease in a wide range of 166 plant species, but tomatoes seem to be a favorite host.
Spotted wilt infected plants exhibit a range of symptoms on foliage and fruit.
However, the primary damage occurs on fruit which become discolored and develop irregular yellow blotches. Blotched areas range in size from about one-fourth to occasionally one inch, or larger, in diameter and tend to be circular in appearance. Affected fruit are worthless, since they fail to ripen properly and are unfit for fresh consumption or processing. Early symptoms of the disease show up on tomato leaves, which generally have many small, dark colored spots on the youngest foliage. Tomato spotted wilt diseased fruit are found on plants which were infected earlier in the season by the virus, as a result of thrips feeding.