Virginia Grape Disease Updates

I noticed that some of our 'Cheloir' vines are in trace bloom and also it has quite a bit of black rot. As I suspected, the cold rains we received were long enough for pathogens beyond Phomopsis to be able to infect vines. If you have not seen black rot lesions on leaves and shoots, the pictures below are good examples. If you click on them, it should open a larger picture. Please note the small dots on these lesions. These are fruiting bodies that contains spores. Once again, most of us will be seeing bloom in the near future, and it will be a start of critical period for so many diseases . Please be on top of your game (shoot thinning, canopy management, and of course, fungicide applications). Mancozeb, as well as both DIM and QoI fungicides are very effective against black rot pathogen. Looks like we are expecting some rains again next week! Black rot on leaves  Black rot on shoots and rachis

1) What to do this and next week It looks like we have a window today for application, and after the rains over the weekend, next week looks good too. Right now, I am not too concerned about powdery mildew because it has been too cold and wet for this disease; however, next week will be nice and dry (I hope!) Thus, if you are concerned about powdery, you may need to add powdery mildew specific material (Quintec, Vivando, Torino, Luna Experience, etc) for your next application. Of course, something like Luna would be good for black rot, so, you may want to hold off until at bloom application (which may happen soon for people in the south) Also, make sure to cover for downy mildew too. Although temperature has been low, with all the rain we received, I have a feeling downy mildew pathogen can cause infection. I would use a phosphonate material (Prophyt, Phostrol, etc) at this time of the year so that I can keep the use of a big gun (Ridomil product) for at bloom application, if needed...

Due to many rain events and relatively cold weather, it looks like we are somewhat back in truck in terms of the growth stages. When shoots are about 10-12 inches long (i.e., right now), downy mildew, powdery mildew, and black rot tend to show up. Then, at bloom time, flowers and young berries will be susceptible to these diseases, and young berries are susceptible until 4-6 weeks after bloom.   In addition, Botrytis, ripe rot, and bitter rot can cause infection on flowers.   Yes, it is a lots of diseases to think about. What you need to think about is which disease(s) have been the major issues at your vineyards. The disease history of your vineyards tends to repeat itself. Downy and black rot management depend on weather condition.   I have seen cases where downy or black rot developed prior to bloom under wet conditions, and this year would be such a case, if you could not keep up with the protection. If you have concerns on downy or black rot...