If Peter Piper picked only perfect peppers, how many peppers would Peter Piper pick? This year, not very many in Georgia farmers' fields.

Martie Boyd, a Berrien County farmer, said the disease is worse than he's ever seen in his bell peppers. "(The peppers) won't mature or will be spotted. It's just nothing you can put into a box."

Boyd figures 20 percent to 25 percent of his 18 acres of peppers are infected.

"We've seen damage caused by tomato spotted wilt virus all over the state," said Danny Gay, a plant pathologist with the University of Georgia Extension Service. "It's in peppers, tomatoes, tobacco and even already in peanuts."

Darbie Granberry, an extension horticulturist, said the virus is infecting the crop earlier than in most years. "We would usually expect to see it in late May and early June," he said. "But there was already a problem here in early and mid- May."

The killer disease has already wiped out about 30 percent of Georgia's bell pepper crop, 15 percent of tobacco and anywhere from 5 percent to 20 percent of the state's tomatoes.

Produce buyers select only top-quality fruits, said Berrien County Extension Agent Tony Roberts. "They're selective because they know consumers want only the best-looking vegetables," he said.

But perfect peppers may be in short supply this year. Georgia bell pepper farmers could lose as much as one-third of their normal $73 million crop. And as the supply drops, Gay said, veggie lovers will pay more for the produce they crave.

Commercial farmers aren't the only ones with TSWV problems. "In every home garden I've looked at," Gay said, "there's been at least some TSWV on the peppers and tomatoes."

The virus stunts and even kills plants and causes misshapen or spotted fruits. Unfortunately, farmers and home gardeners can't do anything about tomato spotted wilt once it's in their fields or garden.

Tiny insects called thrips carry the virus that causes the disease. The insects ride the wind into a field and land on plants where they feed.

Farmers may spray insecticides to kill the thrips, but the virus is already in the plants. Once their crop is infected, farmers can only watch as the plants shrivel from the effects of the virus.

Gay said Georgia farmers play the market window against the chance of infection. To get the best prices, they must plant as early as possible. But the earliest-planted fields are more vulnerable to tomato spotted wilt infection and damage.

"The thrips go to the first thing green they see to feed," Gay said. "If they choose an early crop of peppers or tomatoes, then the farmer can't stop them."

The early and heavy infection in vegetables and tobacco has peanut farmers worried, too. Gay said the virus-carrying thrips could keep moving into peanut fields, spreading the disease as they go.