Virginia Grape Disease Updates

It looks like we will have another wet week coming up. Our Chardonnay is about 50% bud break at this point, thus, I think that many folks south of us are seeing 1-3 inches growth. Once again, a 1-3 inch shoot growth is the timing for Phomopsis management. The forecast tomorrow and this weekend seems to be OK for spraying ( but watch out for the wind! Saturday seems to be a better day ). Also, if it is too windy to spray tomorrow and looking for things to do, we have a short workshop/Q&A session on grapeIPM.org , which is created to help your spray management, from 3 to 4 PM. Please join us in a virtual meeting.

Grape Pathology lab will hold an online workshop on grapeIPM.org, which is a new online database to help you track, manage, plan, record, and report your pesticide usage. You may remember my presentation at the VVA meeting in February.  It will be a 20-min presentation followed with a 40-min Q and A. We will help you set up an account, enter your vineyards and blocks information in the system, and go through basic functions to kick start the season. It will be on next Friday (4/10) from 3 PM. Please use the URL below to register by 4/8 so that we can send you a Zoom link for the meeting. https://forms.gle/Z3Mfx5BBfMmMerTBA In addition, if you find your vineyard management in a bind related to the pandemic, please keep records- a paper trail- of the details. This may be helpful if there is assistance available after the pandemic.

Our Chardonnay is about to break buds. It is about 2 weeks ahead of "normal" year, whatever it means at this point... One of the diseases you need to consider soon after bud break is Phomopsis cane and leaf spot. It causes minor leaf spots, which is more evident to our eyes, but the more critical damage is caused by necrotic lesions on shoots and rachis. It also causes berry rot; however, it is not common with wine grapes because of our spray programs.  (Typical shoot symptoms) Phomopsis spores can cause infection under the relatively cooler environment (the upper 40s). Thus, springtime rain events are ideal for Phomopsis to produce spores and cause infection. Unfortunately, we do not have curative fungicides for Phomopsis management. Therefore, it is vital to protect young tissues when they come out from the older canes and trunks. Since shoots will proliferate quickly, you may need to spray 1-2 times against Phomopsis, depending on how much rains we receive...

It looks like I forgot to upload my slides from recent extension meetings. So here you go! 1) Slides from VVA meeting on grape pathology research projects and grapeIPM 2) Slides from pruning workshop 3) Slides from IPM workshop 25 March 2020  Note: for #3, I am posting one from yesterday (but not the one from Tuesday) since this one is more up-to-date. As Tony mentioned yesterday, although we do not have a plan for face-to-face meetings at this point, we are available through email. Send me an email if you have questions regarding grape disease management. It would work better if you can send me pictures of affected grapevines. ;)

I cannot keep adding people at this point, so, I closed the registration. I am looking forward to seeing you via Zoom later today!!!

We will have an online grape disease management workshop tomorrow from 1 PM. Thank you for those of you who registered already. You should have received an email this morning. For those of you who registered today, I will send you an invitation email tonight.  We will use the Zoom application ( https://zoom.us/ ), which you can connect via a computer or smartphone, or tablet. In order for us to organize the event, please register using the form below: Registration form for grape disease management workshop on 3/24/2020 Once you receive an invitation to join the conference, please click on the link in the invitation before the meeting. It may ask you to install Zoom application on your computer or smartphone or tablet.

As I presented at the VVA meeting in February, our team has been working on an online disease management aid called grapeIPM.org. The main functions of the system are to help you keep track of your fungicide (and other pesticides) inventory, planning, usage, record-keeping, and reporting. We are in the last stage of the developmental phase, and are welcoming users to test it out. There are some details to be polished, but most of the functions are available. I have been using it in the past two seasons, and I am surprised how it made my spray preparation and record-keeping easier. If you wish to participate, please go to grapeIPM.org and request a new account. It is free for now. If you just want to see how it works, we created a guest account. Username: guestvineyard Password: VitisGu3st If you find some errors or have some comments or suggestions, please let me know. With all the restrictions on the gathering of people, I think it is a very good time for you to think ab...