Recent Posts

  • The latest monthly and seasonal outlooks for the US were released today by NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. The images below show that September is leaning towards above normal temperatures in coastal areas of the Southeast, including the Florida peninsula and especially south Florida. Most of the region except for Florida is also leaning slightly towards…

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  • UGA Crop Quality Laboratory Analytical Services for Wine and Grapes Our goal is to offer analytical support for Georgia wine producers to monitor the quality of their entire winemaking process. The crop quality laboratory at UGA offers an array of analytical tests for grapes, juice, musts, and finished product which will benefit producers in a…

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  • I’ve just posted my climate outlook for fall and winter in my “On the CASE” blog. You can read it at https://site.extension.uga.edu/climate/2017/08/outlook-for-fall-and-winter-for-the-southeast/.  

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  • The following was written by John Scaduto, Rabun County Extension Coordinator, ANR Agent, and UGA Viticulture Extension Team member.  Thank you for the insight, John.   Research and experience has necessitated several manual labor tasks being performed in wine grape vineyards before the fruit ever reaches the winery. Of the major vineyard tasks during the…

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  • As a follow up to Phil’s earlier post about managing sour rot and spotted wing drosophila (SWD), I just want to mention that grapes are now becoming attractive to SWD, so if you have had issues with SWD and/or sour rot in the past, now is the time to start considering management options. The research…

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  • MONITORING MATURITY: Monitoring grape maturity is important in order to determine when to pick. I am not going to go into the rather subjective details of what defines maturity for making quality wine. Most industry practitioners use a combination of chemical and sensory evaluations to determine when to pick (… as well as the physical…

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  • This is a final reminder that The UGA Extension New Grape Grower’s Conference will take place next Wednesday, August, 17th at Crane Creek Vineyards in Young Harris, Georgia. You can sign up here until Monday at 5 PM: https://events.attend.com/f/1383779861   The final schedule is here: New Growers Workshop 2017 Program   See y’all there.

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  • Pierce’s Disease (PD) is an ever present threat in the minds of many grape-growers.  This disease, caused by the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa, is spread by many vectors, but most notably, the glassy winged sharpshooter (GWSS).  Though PD was first discovered in Anaheim, California and was spread by the blue-green sharpshooter, the presence of such an…

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  • Sour rot is showing up in some Georgia vineyards (see photo below), and this is really no surprise with our environment.  The classic vinegar smell in the vineyard helps to identify sour rot, as other rots are somewhat similar as they initially develop. We have issues with this disease complex to some degree in most…

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  • Presidio is no longer registered for grape downy mildew management.  This is unfortunate, but Valent confirmed this information. Presidio will be removed from the SRSFC IPM guide.  You can use existing stocks of Presidio, so no worries if you have it on hand at this time. Ranman has confirmed activity against downy mildew, and it…

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