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Post by Admin on Aug 29, 2013 23:44:21 GMT
Thank you, Mr. Reed for the concise chemical directions and recommendations. It is hoped by many that some sort of bio-controls can be added to the mix. Unfortunately HERO and Brigadier won't be of much good to us, as the strongest pressure from the SWD typically hits in the few weeks before harvest, making these unusable during the critical period. If you know of any new sprays that come along, please keep us informed. Thanks, again. Christine
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Post by Admin on Aug 30, 2013 0:08:22 GMT
After spraying Malathion yesterday, we went into the vineyard at sunrise and were dismayed to find
many SWD around the clusters. My theory is they emerged from the fruit overnight, so we had to spray again this morning (Belay)in hopes of stopping the cycle. This evening I cannot find any in the fruit zone. Will check at dawn tomorrow. We will be harvesting Sunday so am thinking if new adults lay eggs tomorrow or the next day, the berries won't have time to turn to sour rot, so perhaps our SWD nightmare for 2013 will soon come to a close:) I will examine the vineyard for bad berries/clusters tomorrow and remove from the vineyard. Had the thought today that if one has any pomace from harvest, it might be interesting to create a mound of it to see if it attracts SWD. You can take a close-up photo of the fruit flies and then zoom in to see if any SWD are in there. If they are, then spray it regularly, killing vast numbers at a time... a lovely thought, eh?
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lucie
New Member
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Post by lucie on Sept 2, 2013 12:24:58 GMT
From what I am hearing, the use of multiple insecticides is no guarantee of success, and pretty disheartening from a vineyard (human?) health perspective.
It seems to me that a lot of the variability reported has to do not only with variables inside the vineyard (trellising systems, treelines, etc.) but also the SWD "homesites" outside the vineyard. If there are continuous waves of new bugs coming in at dawn, one can see how futile the battle can become.
Has anyone tried or seen reports the use of?
1) Surround
2) Essential oils (lavender, clove, peppermint, eucalyptus, lemon, etc.)
3) Other non-toxic approaches?
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Post by robbie on Sept 2, 2013 14:54:02 GMT
The Mustang Max spray last week had a good effect. This morning, there were still little to no SWD in the fruit zone. However, in the nearby Viognier, I found heavy SWD presence. Don't avoid inspection simply because it is not red!!!! The Viognier block is along the same wood line and and at the same elevation. It is also on lyre trellis. Sprayed this morning. Mustang Max.
Robbie
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Jeff Sanders/ Glass House
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Post by Jeff Sanders/ Glass House on Sept 2, 2013 20:47:56 GMT
While we have some SWD, the rotation every 3 days of Delegate, Malathion, and Mustang Maxx has cut our populations way down from what we experienced last year. We really have seen damage only in our 45 vines of seedless concord (for table grapes), but no damage in any of the wine grapes.
Last year, the SWD moved in block from the ripest red to the next ripest red when we harvested the first, and so forth.
Based on that experience, I am going to stick with the idea of a bait crop (those 45 vines of concord), and just leave it out there. We will spray it regularly, at least every 3 days. I might throw some must near it and continue to spray that as well. Maybe risky, but we really saw these beasties hone in on the ripest fruit, so we figure it is our best solution. For reference, last year the SWD moved into our Barbera first at maybe 19 or 19.5 Brix (or at least that's when we saw the damage). This year (as of today) our Barbera is 20.7 Brix with no damage that I can notice. Our Pinot Gris (likely harvested in about a week) is 21 Brix with no damage either (but it wasn't affected last year either).
I would love to hear if anyone has had any success with Surround...
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Post by Bill Tonkins on Sept 4, 2013 14:11:32 GMT
“Ignorance is bliss” exclaimed Christine Vrooman last Thursday when I proudly took her on a tour of my “pest free” vineyard with Lucie Morton, Tremain Hatch, Molly Kelly and Amanda Stewart (our new Professor of Enology at Virginia Tech) following a Berry Sensory Analysis meeting at Veritas. We were checking the traps that I had put out the day before for SWD and BFF. She was able to quickly point out a SWD and a BFF. Fortunately there was not a "brazillion” of them!
We sprayed Delegate on 12 August and Malathion on 20 August and have just repeated the Delegate spray. So far I have not seen any damage to the fruit but then again the brix are still below 18 and it is at 18 brix that Christine tells me the fun begins. Well they are out there and I am not so sure what to spray next? The winemaker does not want me to spray Malathion and I have used up my quota of Delegate and do not wish to spray Mustang Maxx but it may come to this.
What I do know is that we have always had problems with Petit Verdot berries splitting and the consequent sour rot, which that brings about. This has resulted in us dropping a lot of infected fruit, which have been swarming in fruit flies and yellow jackets. Clearly the problem has been around for awhile. We just had not associated the SWD with it before.
I shall keep you informed on how things go and wish you all well for a successful harvest against the odds in your own individual battles. The sun is out
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Post by Admin on Sept 5, 2013 10:15:40 GMT
OK, here is our update. We harvested our Dijon clones of Pinot Noir this past Sunday. We were starting to notice increasing amounts of sour rot and SWD so we picked a week or so before we would have liked to. We did a good amount of field sorting and ended up with barely any rot on the sorting table, much better than last year's situation. So we feel early intervention and diligence helped this year, but it did not solve the problem, as we were spraying more than we would have liked at the end. We have about 10% of our crop still on the vine, an Italian clone that ripens later. We are experimenting with Surround on these vines. We also left two rows of Dijon clones at the top of the vineyard that were damaged more than the rest to serve as a bait crop and to experiment with essential oils. On the afternoon of harvest this past Sunday we sprayed on the remaining (Italian clone) Pinot a combination of Surround, OMRI certified Entrust and Cohere (spreader-sticker). The very bottom of these rows had seen some critter damage so this row is our bait row for this area. We are very excited to see very little SWD in the Surround covered fruit, while seeing high numbers in the uncovered fruit. We will be harvesting this clone within the week most likely so will see how it goes. We will attempt to withhold any more insecticides here and see if the Surround will suffice, as it currently seems to be. In the upper trial rows with essential oils, I used a combination of clove oil, lavender and eucalyptus. I am seeing no positive effects from the oils after either spraying the canes and leaves, soaking a cloth and hanging it near a cluster, or even spraying the oils directly on a cluster, which probably would leave oil residue and be unacceptable, although I am not sure of this. The flies left the area for a short time but returned quickly, except for the cluster sprayed with the oils where they didn't return for several hours. Here is an interesting site from Oregon that contains some extensive research: spottedwing.org/I will publish a detailed survey questionnaire after the growing season is complete in hopes of gathering info on the successes and failures of SWD control attempts. How are the rest of you doing? |
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Post by robbie on Sept 6, 2013 13:57:06 GMT
Hello Everyone,
At the moment, I am happy with the control I have been able to obtain of the SWD. Of course, I do not want to count my chickens before they are hatched.
To summarize, I have had a relatively heavy infestation (more than 10 flies around a single cluster) of SWD in my Nebbiolo block. The block also contains Malbec and PV in that order moving away from the wood line. I did not trap but rather performed the "shake test." I went up and down rows and throughout the block shaking the cordon wire and watched the flies fly up and then re land on the clusters. The SWD was first sighted in the block on August 26 in animal damaged rows along the wood line at the top of the mountain. I sprayed a full tank (300) of a cocktail with Malathion on the entire block that afternoon. On August 27, about half of the flies were still around. On august 28, there were less but it was raining. 3 days later on August 29, I sprayed 150 gallons of a cocktail with Mustang Max in the morning. I sprayed from the wood line rows down, only about half the block. The next day there were no flies visible.
The next spray was September 3, 5 days later. Flies were beginning to show up again, but not in the same numbers as on the 26th. I sprayed 1/4 tank (75 gallons) this time using delegate. Very few flies were observed between the 26th until the 3rd of September. Still the infestation was well less than 5/cluster and most clusters had 0. Again, they seemed to be focused near animal damage. Today, September 6th I sighted only about 3 flies, all in the top row and none in interior rows. Most of the sour rot, seemingly associated only with animal damage, is drying. I am most happy that the Malbec and PV in the same block as the Nebbiolo have no SWD damage and no SWD sightings since my initial spray.
Here is what I have taken away from the experience so far:
Scout diligently and catch the SWD early.
Spray hard but not everywhere. Rotate, rotate, rotate. It seems the fly might be controlled by spraying a bait row rather or bait crop. I prefer to call this "spot spraying" as I have not given up on my "bait row" as being viable for wine. But don't forget to rotate chemicals.
Be vigilant for animal damage, the flies are right behind the animals once fruit is damaged. Prevent animal damage if possible.
As I have also experienced a large infestation in my neighboring Viognier block, I can only assume that the SWD, at our site, arrives from the woods and in numbers. Catching them early can prevent them from laying eggs. I sprayed the Viognier once and have not observed SWD in the block since, but the day I observed them there were many.
I hope that the control will continue to work and that I will now be able to increase spray intervals to much large lengths of time. The weather has been beautiful this week and the mildews are not a concern...sadly there are other pests out there too. Good luck to everyone for harvest.
Robbie
Breaux Vineyards
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Post by robbie on Sept 6, 2013 14:03:49 GMT
Oh and after reading Bill Tompkins post I forgot to mention that I have developed the habit of dropping fruit into a bucket, putting it in a bag and throwing it in a dumpster. Carrington warned of problems they faced last year after dropping fruit on the ground. No fruit on the ground!
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Post by davemrv on Sept 9, 2013 0:05:21 GMT
So to jump the gun, sprayed malathion, and delegate together to see how control might be,( 300L/acre, 3km/hr tractor covering all vine, GDC) since neither had worked very well for anyone on this list. It has been 5 days and saw 1 fly over more than an acre of scouting. I already have had 10% damaged berries. This is the 5 th spray for this field since veraison. I used Surround twice post bloom to help with control of powdery mildew, I did one spray near berry touch. Still have saw SWD first in this field. I wonder if Dr. Pfeiffer thinks if bare soil might help with early season control, or anything else other than spraying 2 times a week.
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Post by Admin on Sept 9, 2013 3:21:34 GMT
An interesting observation.. we have been spot spraying affected areas. One night we left the hand sprayer laying on the ground on its side. The following morning there were many dead SWD on the bottom of the sprayer, indicating the SWD were in in the grasses. So are they habitating on the ground under the vines? Should we be spraying the vineyard floor?
An important note... Surround seems to be working amazingly well. We sprayed it at the suggestion of our consultant, Lucie Morton. We have had virtually no SWD pressure in the Surround covered berries. This could be quite a discovery. How would this affect fungal disease pressures? Would the pychnidia of Black Rot be less able to penetrate the clay of Surround? Are birds less inclined to peck at Surround covered fruit, and thus lessen the need to apply netting? If SWD are less inclined to lay eggs in this fruit, would Grape Berry Moth be less inclined as well? This most definitely needs further studies. We will see if the clay creates any issues with wine-making. We are told that the clay will just precipitate out during fermentation. We shall see! We harvest the last of our Chard and Pinot on Tues. It is an interesting sight to look at rows of white covered grapes and leaves. Has anyone else used Surround?
I think these cooler nights are diminishing the SWD populations as well. Has anyone noticed a decrease of SWD pressure during the last several mornings after these cool nights?
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Post by Admin on Sept 13, 2013 11:46:23 GMT
From
Stephen Rose
stephen@rosemontofvirginia.com
Sept 3, 2013
We sprayed the whole vineyard with Danitol early on. You can’t use it now because it has a 21 day PHI. Now we alternate with Mustang Maxx. Seems to do really good in killing the adults but seems to have very little residual effect. Then we spray with Delegate or Belay. Both seem to do more for killing emerging larvae. Seem to have good residual effect. Delegate has a 7 day PHI and Belay has a zero day PHI.
Keys to SWD management:
1. Develop tough skins with calcium and copper sprays.
2. If you think you are going to have SWD, start early. Use IPM. Lots of sprays for SWD are also used for sharpshooters and GBM.
3. Try and keep grape damage to a minimum. (ie. birds, deer, ripe rot, etc.)
4. They like thinner skin and smaller grapes. Will see lots more when sugars reach 18 brix.
5. Like reds better than whites. (However, we have about 5 Sauvignon Blanc plants in our Cab. Franc and they went after the SB and not the CF. Probably because of some degradation and high brix in the SB. Will pick these plants tomorrow.)
6. Seem to like the wet moist weather. We have been dry (that is up until 1 hour ago) and our population seem very low as compared to last year when we were constantly wet.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
Stephen
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Post by Admin on Sept 13, 2013 12:03:38 GMT
Lucie Morton, our consultant, had suggested we try spraying Surround on some of the vines to test it out. We ended up spraying 250 vines of our last ripening clone on the same day we harvested our Dijon clones. They were covered in Surround for ten days before we harvested them this past Tuesday. Well... I really think we are on to something here. I will let you know how the juice ferments and if the Surround affected it in any way, but in the vineyard, it protected the fruit from SWD, from the sun, from birds and just about everything!! Interestingly, the pH even came in lower than expected, perhaps because the temp of the fruit stayed cooler due to reflecting the sun? It tastes great, it was easy to sort, as the clay turned clear after the de-stemmer from being washed by its own juice. The juice it is sitting in right now is definitely cloudier and of a thicker consistency, but it hasn't started to ferment yet, sitting in its cold-soak. We are anticipating the clay to eventually settle out in the settling tank after fermentation and before barreling. It will be interesting to see if the color extraction is affected. That is the only possible downfall we can think of at this point.
For the ten days the grapes wore Surround, they were sprayed with only one organic insecticide (Entrust) on the first day, so they went the last ten days, the days where there should have been the most pressure, without SWD pressure. WE had left out a few traps in the perimeter of the vineyard during this time and left the bottom row partially unprotected due to critter damage. The SWD were hanging around this fruit and we spot sprayed it every other day just to try to keep the numbers down. Matthieu Finot told us of a grower who sprayed Surround and has not had to spray one insecticide yet. He has Bordeaux varieties and I don't know what his brix are yet.
Are we looking at a future of white covered vineyards in Virginia during the last month on the vine? I must say, if we find no detrimental effects of Surround in the wine-making process, I think next year we will spray all our Pinot Noir with Surround, maybe about a week into veraison. I am feeling really encouraged. Please let us know if any others of you are using Surround and what your observations are.
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Post by Admin on Sept 13, 2013 12:31:01 GMT
From: "Jeanette Smith" <jeanette@vinesmith.com> Date: Fri, Sep 13, 2013 8:18 am To: "'Christine Vrooman'" <contact@ankidaridge.com> Cc: <Emily@veritaswines.com>, <stephen@rosemontofvirginia.com>, <grayrose@bitbroadband.com>, <justin@rosemontofvirginia.com>, <bfreitag@earthlink.net>, <winemakingconsultant@gmail.com>, <ben@8chainsnorth.com>, <rcorpora@breauxvineyards.com>, <tajordan@vt.edu>, <democracywine1@att.net>, <muserl@yahoo.com>, <rkatsiteli@comcast.net>, <carringtonking@gmail.com>, <jwheeler@trumpwinery.com>, <paulknole@yahoo.com>, <kwc21adv@aol.com>, <luciemorton@gmail.com>, <khambsch@embarqmail.com>, <dgpfeiff@vt.edu>, "'Nathan Vrooman'" <nathan@ankidaridge.com>, "'Meredith Shrader'" <mcassell@vt.edu>, <JEFF@GLASSHOUSEWINERY.COM>, "'Bill Tonkins'" <bill.tonkins@veritaswines.com>, <sballard@annefieldvineyards.com>, <GRAYSON@ROVERSRECESS.COM>, <mierskis@cstone.net>, "'Christopher O Hill'" <omanhill@gmail.com>, "'Thomas Kelly'" <tkelly@rappahannockcellars.com>, <rgarsson@gmail.com> I sprayed Surround on Chardonnay fruit in 2009 when I could only get a crew to do leaf-pulling on a day when the temp was 100 degrees and I was worried about sunburn. This was in late June. The unsprayed vines suffered a lot of sunburn, the sprayed vines had no sunburn. In spite of my efforts to wash the Surround off the fruit, it was still there at harvest 3 months later. It looked like someone has sprayed latex paint on the fruit. Bruce Zoecklein assured me that it would have no effect on the wine. The winemaker who was buying the fruit said “bring it on”. He reported later that the Surround had no effect on the wine. Of course, that was white wine, so it will be interesting to see if there will be any color-stripping with your PN. Jeanette Jeanette Smith VineSmith, Inc. |
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Post by Admin on Sept 13, 2013 12:31:56 GMT
Jeanette, that is encouraging and confirms my observations.
Jeff of Glasshouse just asked if we left any control panels to see if SWD were still around in high numbers while Surround was in use. Yes, we left a couple rows at the top of the vineyard of the Dijon clones and they continued to be infested at high numbers, as well as the bottom row. But the numbers at the bottom have been decreasing as the mornings grew cooler. But at the time the Surround was applied, the numbers were still high, one trap caught over a hundred in a ten hour period.
I am copying Jeff's email below and posting all of this on the forum, as there are growers on the forum who are not in this email list, (and vice-versa!)
From:
<jeff@glasshousewinery.com>
Date: Fri, Sep 13, 2013 8:16 am
To: "Christine Vrooman" <contact@ankidaridge.com>
Christine,
Thanks so much.
A question-- did you not spray a control with surround, to see if you got more pressure and damage? Because, I have to say, our fruit flies have just about disappeared. And I have the least rot I have ever had in my vineyard at this point of ripening (virtually none), WITHOUT Surround. I assume, the lack of fruit flies resulted from nuking them earlier (every 4 day roatation from 18 brix on), but I have not done an insecticide spray for 5 days now, we have left a bin of (white) must out for those 5 days, and we just aren't trapping or spotting any fruit flies. And because we used pyrethrins, I was worried about bees, and while we have fewer than in past years, they have returned in the last 2 days....
Now, if you want to hear about the roving bands of deer (some with eye-patches), gangs of squirrels, hordes of raccoon, and swarms of birds, I could spin a tale of woe!!!
Jeff
Christine
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