Virginia Grape Disease Updates

The warm May pushed our vines forward rather quickly.  Many people in northern VA are about to see blooms (our 3-year old young Chardonnay vines are trace bloom), and I am sure rest of regions are going through bloom by now.  This means that many of us are in the critical time for cluster infections by downy mildew, powdery mildew, and black rot.  Bloom time is also critical period to prevent Botrytis, ripe rot and Bitter rot, because pathogens of these diseases can infect flower parts and come back later. We do have materials with kick-back activities against downy (Ridomil products, Phosphonates, etc.) and black rot (myclobutanil, etc.), but infection on flowers and young fruits can happen very fast.  Unless we have a very dry season, this is the time where you have to be proactive.  (Note: recent warm and humid night time conditions are favoring spore production of downy mildew pathogen)  Thus, what I recommend often is use of protectant materials to protect tissues for 4-6 weeks

I posted general "rule of thumb" about application (or re-application) earlier this season .  Dr. Annemiek Schilder at Michigan State University recently published a very nice write up about it. She answers many of questions we have in our mind, when the fungicide residues to be washed off from the rain, efficacy of spreader-stickers, and systemic fungicides.  Please check it out.

Today is the one of the days when you find many things in the vineyard!  Mealybugs (white one in the middle of the picture) are also observed, mainly at the base of the shoot (or a spur in this case).  You also see a scale insect on this picture.  Please note that both mealybugs and scale insects can transmit several virus pathogens, including the ones cause grapevine leafroll disease .   Unfortunately, once the vine is infected, only remedy is removal of the infected vine.  (However, please note that the presence of leaf roll virus does not always results in immediate loss of crop.)  If you have both mealybugs and virus infected vines, and have a plan of expansion, it is probably a good idea to protect new vines using insecticides.  However, you have to make sure you have both the virus and mealybugs to justify your action since insecticides for mealybugs are relatively expensive, and as with other chemicals, application of unnecessary insecticide is not recommended.  If it is

On the previous post, I mentioned that "At this time of the season, what we typically recommend is either mancozeb or captan mixed with sulfur to protect young shoots and leaves.  The reason why I typically do not recommend a use of newer materials such as Revus or Phosphite for downy or Luna or Rally for powdery is because we want to keep it for the critical time for cluster infection, which is from bloom to 4-5 weeks after bloom." However, it looks like at out site, the downy mildew pathogen is taking advantage of the weather conditions.  Although our last application of mancozeb and sulfur was only 6 days ago, I noticed that some of older leaves show symptoms of downy mildew (i.e., the infection might have happened prior to the previous application).  At this point, many of leaves look like the first picture, and disease incidence is probably less than 0.5%, thus, it is difficult to find them; however, we came across with a few leaves with clear symptoms as in the s

Winchester area received a series of rain over the weekend, and it looks like we may see more coming in the next few days.  There were three days of low and moderate Phomopsis infection risk events over the weekend.  Also, humid and warm nights can promote development of downy mildew spores.  At this time of the season, what we typically recommend is either mancozeb or captan mixed with sulfur to protect young shoots and leaves.  The reason why I typically do not recommend a use of newer materials such as Revus or Phosphite for downy or Luna or Rally for powdery is because we want to keep it for the critical time for cluster infection, which is from bloom to 4-5 weeks after bloom.  If this warm temperature continues, the bloom may comes soon, though!!

Two days of intermittent rain brought a low infection risk event for Phomopsis.  Also, these spring rain events can be precursor events for both downy and powdery mildew.  As noted in the previous posts, keep protecting young shoots from these pathogens.  At this point, you can use mancozeb, captan, and sulfur. (Note: for some reason, this post was not posted in a timely manner.  Sorry!)

As usual, we start our season with rains.  It has been more than 13hr of wetness so far at Winchester with an average temperature of low 50s.  It has accounted for a low risk of Phomopsis infection, and a line of rain just passed the area too.  We will see how it will turn out over the weekend. As shoots extend rapidly in the early part of the season, the new tissues are not protected by the previous application of fungicide(s).  Keep in your mind to protect these new tissues. I often am asked about when to reapply fungicide(s) after rain.  An often discussed rule of thumb is: < 1 inches of rain: Continue with intended spray interval 1-2 inches of rain: Consider shortening your spray interval in half.  (E.g., if there is 7 days remaining for the normal spray interval, shorten it to 3-4 days) >2 inches of rain: Consider re-application soon. However, please note that it also depends on the history of your vineyard(s), cultural practice, and also cultivar selection too.