Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. Ah, what greater pleasure can a gardener have than to scout the garden on a coolish morning with a cup of coffee in hand and admire the budding okra pods, the plump cucumbers, and the bean pods dangling from their trellis. All of that happiness evaporates when you get to the tomatoes and see distorted, purplish colored leaves. Tomato spotted wilt virus is just like the common cold – there is no cure, but the plant doesn’t recover from it. And just like the common cold on an airplane, the confined space promotes transmission to other tomato plants. A small, slender insect, the thrips, is the vector for this devastating disease. Thrips acquire the virus feeding on the myriad winter weeds that serve as an over-wintering source of the disease, then they move into gardens in search of new food sources.