• Worldwide distribution. In Oceania, Australia, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. Only known from sweetpotato and ornamental and wild Ipomoea species. Abbreviation is SPLCV. It is a begomovirus.
• Damage: young plants show upward leaf curling, yellowing and vein swelling; later, symptoms disappear, but yields are reduced. If present with e.g., Sweetpotato feathery mottle virus or Sweetpotato chlorotic stunt virus, yield loss is much greater.
• Detection: grafting to Ipomoea setosa, or using ELISA and/or PCR.
• Spread: (i) whiteflies; (ii) cutting used for planting; (iii) sprouts from storage roots. Survival in vines, storage roots, and wild Ipomoea.
• Natural enemies: preserve predators (ladybird beetles, lacewings, hoverflies), and parasitoids.
• Cultural control: use planting material from healthy 'seed' scheme (i.e., mother plants regrown from meristems after heat treatments and tested negatively for SPLCV; weed (especially wild Ipomoea species); plant new crops at least 15 m from old crops; rogue diseased plants; and collect and burn or bury debris at harvest.
• Chemical control: not recommended, uneconomic; if necessary, avoid broad-spectrum insecticides, use insecticidal soaps, white or horticultural oils.

Sweetpotato leaf curl

Sweetpotato leaf curl is caused by a virus of the same name. The virus belongs to the begomovirus group, which are transmitted by whiteflies. The abbreviation is SPLCV. The begomoviruses that infect plants in the sweetpotato (Convolvulaceae) family are sometimes called 'sweepoviruses'. Different strains are known.