I'm sorry you lost so many of your plants. That's a tough break.

This is a question I probably would have asked the ag extension folks when they made the diagnosis since they are the experts, but I'll give you a non-expert opinion. I have had curly top virus at least twice in my garden and each time it only hit a few plants and it did not recur in the same season after that initial appearance of the disease.

Normally, by the time the plants in your garden are sick enough that you realize they have curly top, the beet leafhoppers already have moved on and no longer are active in your garden spreading the disease. Based on that alone, I would say you could go back into the same area and plant whatever you want, including tomato plants and/or squash plants.

It takes a week or two after infection for the virus symptoms to develop to the point that a gardener realizes they have something going on that is more than just phsysiological leaf curl, and then it usually takes a little while longer to arrive at a correct diagnosis, particularly when it is your first experience with this disease. During the time frame that you are trying to figure out what in the world is going on, the beet leafhoppers have moved on elsewhere. That, at least, is how it is supposed to work, so that by the time you have your diagnosis, you no longer have the beet leafhoppers around.

I've never had curly top hit my garden twice in one year, so I do think you could replant tomatoes for fall in the same year in the same area, although I've never tried it. I always plant fall tomatoes as far as possible from the spring/summer crop so that any ongoing pest or disease (stink bugs, leaf-footed bugs, spider mites, or fungal diseases) won't find the new plants as quickly, but I have a lot of garden space so that I do have the luxury of having available space where tomato plants weren't already grown this year.

I hope you are able to find replacement plants. I have seen some still-healthy transplants last week and this week in big box stores. That is a good thing, because usually down here in southern OK the stores clear out their vegetable transplants in late June or very early July, frustrating gardeners who have just begun to look for tomato plants to put in the ground for a fall harvest.

If, by chance, you are in western OK in a very arid area, my answer would be a little bit different.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Dawn

I am in fact in Western Oklahoma in a very arid area, lol. I have been unable to find any plants around here but will be going to OKC on Thursday. I have yet to decide if I will go back with tomato plants or just prep the area for some different fall plantings. I just hope that I don't lose anymore. Thanks for the reply.

You're welcome.

Since you are in western OK, which is far more arid (and dare I say more desert-like) than most of the rest of the state, I believe there is a better chance your area could get hit a second time by the beet leafhoppers. In some parts of the USA where the beet leafhoppers are a more persistent problem, some growers will get hit twice in a year. The first time is in late spring/early summer when the beet leafhoppers are eating their way across and area. The second time occurs later, perhaps as the leafhoppers are migrating back to areas where they sometimes overwinter.

If I were in western OK, I'd be careful with the second planting, perhaps planting it under summerweight floating row cover that is suspended over hoops and tacked firmly down to the ground to keep any possible beet leafhoppers from hitting the plants later in the summer or even in autumn. I don't know if there is any way to find out if y'all see beet leafhoppers there after the initial round in May/June, but someone at the ag extension office might be able to tell you if that ever happens, or sometimes happens or (hopefully) never happens.

If you cannot find new plants now, and if you still have healthy plants you want to clone, you could start new plants from cuttings taken from existing, healthy plants.

Dawn

When cloning tomato plants where do we place the jar of water with the tomato cutting? In some direct light, all indirect light, dappled shade or more in the shadows like when starting woody cuttings?

Is there a particular temperature that works best? I"m trying to figure out why my cuttings are slow to root out. Even my willow is very slow. I have an easier time in the spring. Our house isn't central A/C. And it's small with minimal light infiltration (which makes it great for cuttings). So, I'm assuming it's a temperature problem. Dunno.