Tomato Spotted Wilt
This problem spreads through handling, insects or soil rather than the weather, so there is no live forecast risk — focus on prevention below.
When it strikes
Remove affected material now
Take out the affected leaves, shoots or whole plants before the next wet spell, bag them as you cut, and wash your hands and tools before touching healthy plants.
Carried by insects
An insect moves it plant to plant, so controlling the carrier matters as much as treating the symptom. Check for the vector before assuming the plants infected each other directly.
It carries over to next season in soil, debris or seed — which is why rotation matters here, not just treatment.
Keep out of the compost
This survives a garden heap. Bag it for municipal green waste, which is composted industrially at temperatures a garden heap cannot reach, or burn it where that is permitted.
When and where to look
This problem has no weather threshold. Check it on every routine walk round the bed, especially after handling plants and after bringing new stock in.
The signs that lead here
Full problem lists for these crops
About
Tomato spotted wilt virus is spread by thrips and infects tomatoes, peppers, lettuce and hundreds of ornamentals worldwide, causing severe yield and quality loss with no cure.
Symptoms
Bronzing and inward cupping of young leaves, dark streaks on stems, ringspots and uneven colouring on fruit, and one-sided stunting of the plant.
Organic Treatment
Remove infected plants promptly, control thrips with blue sticky traps and predatory mites, and clear weed reservoirs around the garden.
Chemical Treatment
No cure; thrips insecticides reduce spread but resistance is common, so integrate with biological control.
Prevention
Use virus-tested transplants and resistant varieties, manage thrips and weeds, and use reflective mulch to deter the vector.