Mosaic Virus in Gourds: Growing a Healthy Gourd Crop

Mosaic virus is also known as tobacco mosaic virus. When you get mosaic virus in gourds or any other plant for that matter, it makes the leaves spotty with different shades of green and yellows - hence the term mosaic. Mosaic virus is a communicable plant disease that can spread from one plant to another, it is most commonly found in tobacco, and if you smoke cigarettes in and around your garden, you can actually spread mosaic virus to your gourds if the tobacco contains any mosaic virus in it.

Detecting mosaic virus is difficult. With a gourd vine, you can test it by breaking off a lateral, (far enough out that you are not effecting your crop), then hold the two pieces back together for 15 seconds or so, then slowly pull apart the two pieces. If you see a stringy line like slime connecting the two, kind of like pulling your chewing gum, then you may have mosaic virus in your gourds. This is not a definitive test, but I believe if you do not get the stringy slime, then you are 95% out of the woods, in other words it is not likely what you are seeing is mosaic.

Most often when you begin seeing this color blotching on the leaves, it is due to something else, nutrient deficiencies, insect damage, damage caused by Sevin looks very much like mosaic, and even during the end of the season gourd vines begin to look like Mosaic virus as they begin to turn their energy and nutrients into the hardening of the gourds.

The best defense against mosaic virus is growing healthy plants and a healthy garden.

If at all possible, control insect pest problems with natural control techniques as opposed to using insecticides and poisons.

Use natural or green fertilizers instead of chemical fertilizers. not only are they better balanced, they cannot burn your plants and many contain micro nutrients and enzymes which plants need that are not in chemical fertilizers. Our favorite source of fertilizer for gourds is fish Emulsion, and if you can find a fish emulsion/kelp mix, this is even better. More on this in another article.