Phil Brannen
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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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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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Much of the wine grape pathology research we have conducted in Georgia over the last 2-3 years has been associated with resistance management of fungal pathogens such as downy mildew, powdery mildew, Botrytis and others. Alternation or tank-mixing of different fungicide classes is critical for prevention of resistance development. Under the direction of Dr. Walt…
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Vineyards in many of the northern counties of Georgia have received cold damage on multiple occasions this year. The most recent damage occurred 10 May, which means that grapes were phenologically more advanced that one would have observed with past frost/freeze events. In fact, this is the latest event of this nature that I remember…
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See below for a message from our Associate Dean relative new funds that are available for helping farmers. I am not sure whether wine grape producers could benefit from these funds or not, but I am sure that muscadine producers for fresh market consumption could benefit. At a minimum, I would follow up to ask…
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It is time for tissue sampling in grapes. Student workers were taking samples today in our research vineyards, as we are in full bloom in the Athens area. I suspect that the bloom will vary by variety and location, but all of us are close. I am providing more information than you might want for…
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Mark Hoffman, viticulturist for NCSU, sent me the following information this morning. There will be a pertinent webinar on responding to COVID in winery operations. The webinar will take place on Monday, May 18th from 12-1:30 PM, and is titled “Re”wine”ing the Clock in a Post-COVID World: ensuring personal safety & production efficiency as winery operations…
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