Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi,

My pot plants have all apparently been infected with a virus. They have pale mottled patches on most of their leaves. I put a couple of plants out and within a few days they too had it.

I've heard that leafhoppers can cause similar symptoms, but can't find any details on treatment for them.

If it is a virus, does anyone have an organic approach to disinfetcing my tools and pots? I've resigned myself to throwing the plants away and starting from scratch.

The leaf hoppers may have spread the virus by not cleaning their teeth between infected and healthy plants. All sap suckers do this. Organic cleaners - I think Citrox is the one to go for, it is based on an orange peel extract which is a powerful cleaner. It isn't entirely non-toxic (obviously!) and is particularly dangerous to aquatic life so don't splosh it around willy nilly.