June 2020
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Disease identification in wine grapes can be confusing, even for the “experts,” so it is good to continually reinforce your knowledge of diseases and their symptoms (spots or discoloration on a leaf for example) and signs (actual pathogen fruiting structures and other tissues you can see with the naked eye or a hand lens) —…
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If you listen to podcasts, you might be interested in listening to the podcast found in the link below. This is from a new University of Arkansas podcast site that is sponsored by the Southern Region Small Fruit Consortium, the same group that funds much of the training of county agents on wine grape production,…
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We are within a few weeks of the anticipated initial emergence of grape root borer (GRB) adults in North Georgia. If you are planning on implementing mating disruption as a management tactic for GRB and you haven’t deployed your pheromone dispensers/ties, now is the time to get those distributed. If you are unfamiliar with grape…
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Many of the fungicides utilized for Botrytis management are no longer efficacious due to resistance development in this fungus. Now is a great time to collect Botrytis samples for fungicide-resistance testing. While the funds last, Botrytis resistance testing is free for wine grape producers in most of the Southeast (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina,…
Posted in: Bunch Grapes -
Today, I observed downy mildew for the first time this year. It was on Lenoir vines in west Georgia, and this indicates that producers should be scouting for it throughout the state. In addition, if you have not already done so, I would consider incorporating highly efficacious materials such as Zampro, Revus, Ridomil Gold MZ…
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Powdery mildew is just starting to show up on untreated plants in the research vineyard at Blairsville, GA. The photograph below was taken today, but infections likely started occurring some time ago. I hope you will not see it yet in well managed vineyards, but recent rains and other difficulties may have hampered spray programs.…
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Paula Burke has alerted me that the Japanese beetles are starting to show up in West GA vineyards. They are only just beginning to emerge, so their numbers will increase dramatically over the next few weeks. In large enough numbers, Japanese beetles can be a severe pest of grapes during the summer, feeding mainly on…
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Main points: Neutral conditions are expected to change to La Niña by fall Active Atlantic hurricane season, but no way to know where they will go Long-term trends towards higher temperatures and humidity, especially at night Warmer and wetter conditions likely across Southeast summer, especially near Gulf Coast, with warmer than normal temperatures continuing through…
Posted in: Weather