CURLY TOP

also called Western Yellow Blight, viral disease of some 150 cultivated and weed plants in more than 70 genera in the western half of North America, including varieties of bean, beet, carrot, eggplant, spinach, tomato, vine crops, carnation, delphinium, geranium, pansy, petunia, strawflower, zinnia, and flax. The virus is transmitted in North America, Europe, and Asia by the beet leafhopper (Circulifer tenullus) and in South America by Agalliana ensigera, which overwinter on weed hosts and in the spring migrate to sugar-beet fields. Diseased plants are usually stunted or dwarfed and have thickened, yellowed, and bunched or curled leaves that frequently die early. The disease may be avoided by planting a thick stand as early as possible or when suggested for the area to avoid spring migrations of the beet leafhopper. Susceptible weeds should be eradicated. Insecticides can be applied to winter breeding grounds of the leafhopper and to insects present or expected in fields.