Tomato Bunchy Top Viroid attacks Belgian Garden

4 Jul

Tomato plants growing in a garden in Belgium have been struck by a strange, little-known disease called Tomato Bunchy Top Viroid (or Virus).

A potted tomato plant affected by the strange disease.

After growing to a height of about 600 mm or 2 ft, the tomato plants, which are growing in Chris Pavis’s Tervuren garden, develop growing tips with lots of tiny leaves all bunched up together.

While the disease has not affected all his tomatoes, he was determined to find out what the problem was and what was causing it, and contacted me for help.

Chris explained that the summer weather in Belgium this year has been “rather cool” and “extremely wet”. He also said that he had previously experienced a problem where the growing point of certain plants in his garden had simply withered, and had assumed it was due to something in his homemade compost. For this reason, this year he has only used good quality compost purchased from a local garden centre.

“Most of the tomato plants I am growing are the Green Zebra variety, but several other plants of different varieties are also affected. What am I doing wrong, and how can I remedy the problem?”

The Verdict

Even though very little known about Tomato Bunchy Top Viroid (TBTV), I was able to identify the disease.

It is caused by a viroid, which is smaller than a virus, and is relatively uncommon; in fact there is very little information available on the disease.

We do know that TBTV occurs in India, and we believe it is spread by a viroid that is similar to another known as Citrus Exocortis Viroid.

Rather than homemade compost being a cause, the disease is probably spread by aphids or whitefly.

How to Treat Plants with TBTV

I advised Chris to use “soft pesticides” like Neem oil, and to apply this to the healthy tomato plants on a regular weekly basis. Affected plants should be removed and destroyed to prevent the disease spreading further.

Aphids are transient so you won’t often see them. In addition, you should keep the area clean of weeds, which is where many of these pests rest, although unfortunately aphids will often arrive on wind streams.

No doubt Chris will now be extra vigilant in terms of unwanted pests in his garden!