Whiteflies cause feeding injury issues in vegetables and transmit two new viruses: cucurbit leaf crumple virus and cucurbit yellow stunting disorder virus. Vegetables like squash, zucchini, cucumber, cantaloupe and snap beans are highly susceptible to these viruses. Commercial cultivars that have resistance or tolerance to these pathogens are not available.
According to the UGA crop loss estimates, these viruses caused between 30 and 50 percent of squash and cucumber crop loss and nearly 80 percent of snap bean crop loss in fall 2017.
