debor039

If you are interested in starting a new vineyard, or just have started, please join our beginner's workshop. Introduction to mid-Atlantic wine grape production  Virginia Tech’s AHS Jr. AREC Winchester, VA (Frederick County) Team-taught program designed for those either exploring grape production or recently engaged in wine grape production. On-site registration will occur from 8:00 to 8:30 am. Program 8:30 am: Introduction and market opportunities: Tony Wolf, Virginia Tech 9:00 am: Vineyard business planning considerations and Vineyard Calculator – predicted cash flows : Tremain Hatch, Virginia Tech 10:15 am: Lender’s perspective on vineyard enterprises : Marilyn Adams, Farm Credit of the Virginias 10:45 am: Vineyard site evaluation and environmental challenges : Mark Sutphin, VCE 11:30 am: Mapping soil variation and geomorphology to improve vineyard design and performance : Alex Blackburn, Blackbur...

I had a meeting and did not able to post it in timely manner, but there was a wet event on Monday-Tuesday this week.  It was 14+ hours of wetness and average was around 60F.  It was a risk event for downy mildew, and very low risk for Botrytis. Other than a slight chance of rain tomorrow, it looks like we will have a nice cool week!  For the late season spray recommendations, please refer to previous posts. http://grapepathology.blogspot.com/2014/08/note-on-sour-rot.html http://grapepathology.blogspot.com/2014/08/last-stretch-spray-consideration.html

A line of rain went through Winchester area resulted in 10 h of wetness with an average of 69F.  It was downy and low Botrytis risk event.  Please refer to the comments on previous posts on late season disease management. FYI: Our Chardonnay berries are hitting 20-21 Brix and pH is getting near 3.0.  We will see what the forecasted thunderstorms towards the end of this week will do for it...

As the harvest approaches (plus recent rain events in some part of VA), I am receiving several emails on sour rot.  It is often confused, but not all late season rots are sour rot.  Sour rot is basically a disease caused by bacteria that form acetic acid, such as Acetobactor and Gluconobactor .  It is often associated with wounds (birds, insects, hail, too much rain, early season powdery mildew, certain very fair-skin varieties, etc), high Brix level (13-15 or higher), warm temperature range (high 60F to mid 70F). Since these bacteria cannot penetrate berry skin tissues by themselves, what we typically recommend is wound management (e.g., bird netting, grape berry moth management, etc.), and many people mention that it works.  However, with a potential role of Spotted Wing Drosophila (or lesser extent, African fig fly), which may able to penetrate skin, there is a possibility that we may see more sour rot in the future.  Luckily, Dr. Wayne Wilcox's group at Cor...

Due to the rain event over the weekend, many people are concerned about protection for next week or two before the harvest.  At this point, the tools are rather limited due to PHI as well as wine making consideration. For downy mildew (especially for foliage, your berries are protected at this point), you can use Phosphonate (= phosphorous acid) product or captan.  (Both have 0-day PHI) For late season rots, especially Botrytis, you can use captan, Elevate (both have 0-day PHI), Switch (7-day PHI), Rovral (7-day PHI), Scala (7-day PHI), Vanguard (7-day PHI), or maybe Endura, Pristine or Luna products (these three have 14-day PHI). For ripe rot and bitter rot, a QoI (Abound, Pristine, Sovran, Flint, etc = 14-day PHI) and captan seem to be the key product.  Our lab is investigating the efficacy of a phosphonate too. As usual, please consider the situation at your vineyard as well as weather forecast.  If you do not see any issues at your place, picking in 7-day, and do...

I was away for several weeks for a series of meetings, and of course things happen when you are not around... 7/28: 9 hours of wetness, around 66F (low Botrytis and downy risk event) 8/6:   12 hours of wetness, around 64F (low Botrytis and downy risk event) 8/7: 13 hours of wetness, around 57F (probably not much of risk event) 8/11: 19 hours of wetness, around 60F  (low Botrytis and downy risk event) 8/13: 13 hours of wetness, around 60F  (low Botrytis and downy risk event) 8/20: 14 hours of wetness, around 65F  (medium Botrytis and downy risk event) 8/23: 6 hours of wetness, around 65F (low Botrytis and downy risk event) 8/24: 10 hours of wetness, around 62F  (low Botrytis and downy risk event) I will have a few more updates coming up...

As we expected, Winchester area had a wet weekend.  We had to major rain events, which resulted in 11 hours and 10 hours of wetness, both are in upper 60F to lower 70F range.  These are downy mildew and Botrytis risk events.  Once again, humid nights we are experience can be a precursor event for downy mildew risk events because these nights favors spore production of downy mildew pathogen.