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Around The Vineyard

“The insect pest that incurs the highest costs per AVM offers its clients pest and disease scouting
treated acre and poses a significant threat in the along with a customized management program.
Northern California region, where we do a good The company deploys spray programs that involve
amount of farming, is vine mealybug, which is argu- Integrated Pest Management principles, which
ably impossible to eradicate. Once it is present in a it says minimizes chemical use while maximizing
vineyard, it requires continued inputs to minimize the effectiveness of sprays required to eradicate a
spread into uninfected areas of the vineyard and problem.
prevent damage to the fruit.”
“I would say that we advocate for management
Rowan-Davis told The Grapevine Magazine how strategies to be well rounded,” said Rowan-Davis.
vine mealybug triggers multiple problems, including “IPM guidelines are very helpful and allow us to
disease. “Not only can it damage the fruit by pro- minimize our reliance on chemical solutions while
ducing copious amounts of honeydew that results producing the highest quality wine grapes that a
in the fruit being covered in sooty mold, but they given site can produce. We use chemicals and man-
also vector multiple strains of grapevine leafroll agement practices that are permitted in organic
virus, which reduces the ability of the grapevine farming, even in our conventionally farmed proper-
to ripen its crop. The plant cannot be cured once ties.”
it is infected, so this can result in a lot of expense
– ripping out & replanting infected vines – as well Like insect pests, there are diseases that affect
as lost revenue since it takes several years for the some grape growing regions more than others,
replanted vines to produce a crop. Because this including leafroll and red blotch.
pest has multiple generations in a single season,
it can be particularly bad in warm growing regions “These diseases are both caused by viruses and
where populations can multiply more rapidly.” can dramatically impact the quality of the fruit,”

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