Virginia Grape Disease Updates

Our Chardonnay clusters are getting larger and berries are starting to touch each other. It feels a bit early, but here are grape disease management reminders at berry touch/cluster closure stage. Botrytis gray mold: The best management practice is canopy management. Botrytis pathogen likes high humidity, thus, the poorly managed canopy that traps humidity will help them to thrive. This pathogen also needs wounds to develop spores, thus, grape berry moth and other insects plus birds need to be managed too. There is a number of Botrytis materials such as Rovral and Meteor (FRAC 2), Elevate (FRAC 17), Vanguard and Scala (FRAC 9), Luna Experience (FRAC 7 plus 3), Kenja (FRAC 7), Miravis Prime (FRAC 7 plus 12), Switch (FRAC 9 plus 12), etc. Botrytis pathogen is well known for its ability to develop fungicide resistance, so, please rotate FRAC codes!! QoI fungicides (FRAC 11) are no longer the effective material for us due to the development of QoI-resistant Botrytis isolates thro...

My colleagues and I are seeking information on sour rot so that we can develop research priorities (and hopefully obtain grants). Many of us suffer from sour rot (remember the last season?), and we need to get our heads together. If you could fill in this short survey, we really appreciate. It should not take more than a few minutes to complete. It is not just for Virginia, so, please feel free to complete the survey if you grow grapes outside of Virginia. Sour rot survey (will open a new window) Thank you!!

Of course, once I mentioned the lack of rainfall, we  (i.e., northern VA)   were hit by a series of rain. To make things more complicated, we had at least three consecutive nights of warm and humid (RH > 90%) condition prior to the rains. Humid nights encourage downy mildew pathogen to produce spores, and rains will splash spores to healthy tissues. Thus, the risk of downy mildew during recent rain events was very high. ( Note : Central VA also had two humid nights in 7/5-7/6 at the Charlottesville airport, but the chance of rain is not high until this Thursday.) There are a number of materials can be used for protection: captan (FRAC = M4), mancozeb, ziram (FRAC = M3), Revus, Forum (FRAC = 40), Zampro (FRAC = 40 plus 45), Ranman (FRAC = 21)). Mancozeb products have the 66-day PHI, but ziram's PHI is 21 days.  Another good option is a copper (FRAC = M1) material, which is more economical than other materials. Copper has good efficacy against downy mildew, and ten...

It depends on where you are, but in northern VA, we are having relatively "dry" weather this summer. We have some rain events here and there, but overall, the air is humid, but not wet. Such a condition promote powdery mildew development, so, I just want to provide a reminder on powdery mildew management. (Powdery mildew symptom on a cluster: the picture was taken this morning) Powdery mildew pathogen thrives under shaded condition  (i.e., overcrowded canopy). Thus, canopy management is a very important aspect of powdery mildew management. Chemical management options: Sulfur (FRAC = M2) is an economical option. Copper (FRAC M1) works too, but compared with sulfur, copper seems to be slightly less effective. Other options are: DMI fungicides (e.g., Rally, Elite, Mettle, Rhyme, etc, FRAC 3), Quintec (FRAC 13), Vivando (FRAC 50), Luna Experience (FRAC 7 plus 3), Topguard EQ (FRAC 11 plus 3), Rhyme, Kenja, and Aprovia (FRAC 7), Torino (FRAC U6), etc. Please make sure to...

Just a quick reminder about the 66-day PHI for mancozeb products. If you are thinking about harvest at the end of August or early September, we are getting very close to the limit. You can switch to captan or copper, but these two cannot control black rot, thus, you may need to add a DMI or QoI fungicide for black rot. At least in our area, it has been dry (relatively speaking) so, depends on where you are, you may or may not need to be concerned about black rot. I see black rot on leaves sporadically in my vineyards, but not in the level I need to be greatly concerned.

It was very nice to see you all at the meeting. Here's the content of my handout. Seasonal grape disease updates For VVA Summer Technical Meeting at Stone Tower Winery 12 June 2019 Mizuho Nita nita24@vt.edu Grapepathology.blogspot.com The critical period for cluster infection: Grape clusters are sensitive to infection by powdery mildew, downy mildew, and black rot from the time of bloom to 4-6 weeks after bloom. The length of this critical time depends on the cultivar, 3-4 weeks for American grapes (V. labrusca),  5-6 weeks for French grapes (V. vinifera), and somewhere between the two for hybrids. Please make sure that you have good coverage during the critical period. In a typical year, once we pass the Fourth of July weekend with a clean canopy, we can relax a bit. We are a week or two ahead of “normal” year, so, you may able to relax sooner this year. Downy mildew: Rainfall is not as intensive as the last year (knock on the woods!), but there are enough to driv...

This is the second part of "at bloom" fungal disease management tips. P lease refer to yesterday's post as well. The spray timings for Botrytis is at bloom, bunch closure, and veraison.  The pathogen has a wide host range and seems to be active throughout the season, but blooming time is considered as a critical timing because the pathogen can infect flowers without showing symptoms. Please keep in your mind that Botrytis is very well known for its capacity to overcome fungicides.  Thus, a rotation of mode of action groups is a very important aspect of Botrytis management. Mode of action for a particular fungicide can be found as a FRAC code, which you should be able to locate on the label.  Here’s a short list of materials for Botrytis and their FRAC code in parenthesis: Elevate (17), Scala (9), Vangard (9), Switch (9+12), Inspire Super (9+3), Luna Experience (7+3)*, Kenja (7)*, Meteor/Rovral (2), Endura* (7), Pristine* (7+11), Miravis Prime (7+12)*. The materia...