Symptom Identification and Control Methods for Tulip Mosaic Virus

[Alias] Tulip soft rot.

[Distribution] Tulip mosaic virus, like tulip breaking virus, is widely distributed. Sometimes the virus causes a mixed infection together with tulip breaking virus, resulting in severe mosaic.

[Symptoms] Yellow stripes or fine speckled spots appear on tulip leaves, while dark spots form on the petals; in severe cases the leaves rot.

[Pathogen] The pathogen causing tulip mosaic virus is cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), with spherical particles.

[Disease development] Tulip mosaic virus can be transmitted through the sap of diseased plants. Aphids are also vector insects of tulip mosaic virus.

[Control methods] Remove diseased plants and burn them; use healthy bulbs and virus-free perennial roots as propagation material; use pesticides such as carbaryl and malathion to control virus-transmitting aphids; CMV has many source plants, which should be removed promptly.