leaf curl of tomato
Tomato Plant


Leaf curl of tomato is a very serious disease that get transmitted through white fly. However in some cases curling of leaves doesn’t means that the plant is affected by tomato leaf curl virus. 

Curling of leaves in tomato can also occur because of hot weather and consistent low moisture content in the atmosphere. 

Curling of leaves in tomato due to hot and dry weather is called physiological leaf roll where curling of leaves is an adaptation in response to the environmental conditions to save water loss through leaves.

Symptoms of tomato leaf curl disease is a little different from physiological leaf roll and its control is generally not very effective if proper care and steps are not taken at the early stages of infection. Just like chilli leaf curl disease, curling of leaves in tomato plants spreads very fast from one plant to another plant.

Whether you are a farmer that is growing tomato in a acre of land or you are an active gardener growing tomato in several pots if this disease spreads in your field or pot and you don’t control it in the early stages then it can cause serious damage to your plants.

Plant scientists have considered it as one of the most destructive disease of tomato. That’s why it is necessary for you to read this article completely to save your plant from leaf curl of tomato. 




What causes tomato leaf curl?

Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) causes leaf curl of tomato. It is a DNA virus that belongs to the genus Begomovirus and is from family Geminiviridae. This virus is mostly found in tropical and sub-tropical regions.In recent years this disease has spread very fast and caused huge economic losses. 

Research is still going on to find the exact cure for this disease. This leaf curl virus is transmitted from one plant to another plant by white fly. This small virus spreading creature belongs to Alyrododidae family and is commonly known as the silverleaf whitefly or the sweet potato whitefly.







Symptoms of Tomato leaf curl

Identifying disease in the early stages of infection helps to prevent the spread of disease. Hence, it is very necessary for you to keep visiting your farm or garden daily. This will surely help you to identify any abnormal changes in your plants.I love to visit my garden during early morning or in evenings. 

I keep visiting my garden daily to observe my plants, this helps me to connect with nature as well as to detect any abnormal changes in my plants. Recently I noticed mealy bugs and aphids pest attack in my garden but due to daily visits I was able to control them in time and save my plants. 






Keep visiting your garden daily and look out for these symptoms in your tomato plants to know whether they are infected or not from yellow leaf curl virus.
  • Stunted appearance of the plants due to reduced size of internodes in new growth of the plant after being infected from leaf curl virus.
  • Leaf margins curl upwards giving cup like structure to leaves.
  • Yellowing between leaf veins, leaf size gets reduced and wrinkled.
  • Flowering can occur even if the plant is affected from the disease but there will be no fruit formation.




Control of leaf curl virus of tomato

As the exact cure of this disease is not yet known that’s why it becomes very important to kill the vector of this deadly plant disease to stop the spread of this disease. 

I consider that prevention is always better in case of virus disease in plants i.e. why adopt these strategy to prevent and control the spread of this disease in your agriculture field or garden.

  • Whether it a farm or a garden, keeping yellow sticky traps helps to control whitefly that can spread disease. In a agriculture farm keep 12 sticky traps per hectare. For a garden keep two to three sticky traps near tomato plant.
  • Keep spraying neem oil periodically on foliar parts of the plant once after a week in late evenings to control the vector of this disease i.e. whitefly.


  • If you are a farmer then you can raise barrier cereal crops around the field to prevent the vector from entering your farm land.
  • If you practice inorganic methods of control then you can spray Imidachloprid 0.05% or Dimethoate 0.05% in the interval of every 15, 25, 45 days after transplantation to control the spread of whitefly that carry this hazardous disease.
  • In case your plant gets infected then it is considered best to prune out infected parts of the plant and burn them at a distant place or you can bury them.
If you are growing tomato in your field or in the garden then take of these points to prevent and save your plants from leaf curl of tomato. If you have any queries regarding gardening or agriculture then you can leave your comment below. I will try to respond within a day.

Aditya Abhishek has completed Bachelor Of Science in Agriculture from SDSUV, Uttarakhand. He focuses on learning and delivering knowledge on Agriculture and Home Gardening. He created Agriculture Review as a common platform for all nature enthusiast to learn better practices of agriculture, gardening & shop quality products & services.

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