Page 37 - Grapevine March-April 2020

Around The Vineyard

“Vineyard birds are eating summer bugs, other able due to their physical presence and feces left
fruit crops and seed crops,” Miller said. “Wine behind. Yet, they can also be elusive and scamper
grapes are often grown in very agriculturally-rich away quickly or burrow underground, remaining
locations, so the birds are there to eat it all. Each undetected until significant damage is done.
vintage is different, and the longer the winemakers
let their fruit hang, the more they will have to bat- “Gophers and field mice can be a major problem
tle our avian friends.” in vineyards. Gophers, especially, like grapevine
roots and can severely damage new vineyards,”
“Grape-growers who have the most success using said Hurlburt of H&M Gopher Control. “Treatment
Avian Control Bird Repellent start spraying their is not a one-time operation. It needs to be on-go-
grapes directly before the scout birds are even in ing year-round to keep rodent populations below a
the area,” said Stone of Avian Enterprises. “If the financial crop-damaging situation.”
grower can start spraying before the scout birds
inform the rest of the flock of the buffet below, the “The best time for rodent control is after the
grower has a very good chance of keeping most, if foliage has fallen and the operator has a better
not all, the birds away from their grapes. This pro- visual view of the ground in and around the vines.
cess always happens before veraison. Most growers Gophers are active year-round through late fall,
will then continue to spray their grapes once per and winter treatment is optimum. Spring treatment
week at a rate of anywhere from 32 to 42 ounces after pruning works well, but it is also in the breed-
until they harvest.” ing season for gophers, so the females are not usu-
ally building new mounds when raising young.”
Falcon Force is typically contracted to service a
vineyard from veraison to harvest, with one of Developing Your Vineyard’s
its team members and a fleet of four to eight fal- Wildlife Control Strategy
cons at the vineyard for eight to 12 hours a day.
Depending on when the service starts, there may Gellerstedt of Nixalite stressed the need to be
already be crop damage, which makes it harder to proactive and start early by putting a wildlife man-
change bird feeding habits. Therefore, Alaverdian agement plan in place.
recommends starting falconry service while the
fruit is still green and before nuisance birds estab- “Protect the fruit before birds have an opportunity
lish a feeding routine, so his team can keep them to destroy it,” Gellerstedt said. “Timing is critical
away and the grapes safe. when using netting, repellents and other deter-
rents. Sometimes it only takes a few days for a bird
“The one piece of advice I cannot over-stress is infestation to damage a crop.”
not to wait till the damage is well in progress and
then call us,” said Alaverdian. “Our staff is limited, Miller of Bird Control Group advises vineyard man-
and we are often contracted months in advance, agers to plan and take an integrated approach to
yet we are always willing to consult and offer flight wildlife control rather than waiting until it’s nearly
demonstrations provided we have enough notice. harvest time, and birds are actively eating the fruit.
We share an immense amount of information on
our website and are always willing to share our “Foraging birds are hard to move, and there isn’t
experience and expertise with our wine-grape a bird deterrent device in the world that can erad-
growing friends.” icate 100% of feeding birds once they have tasted
the sweet taste of 20º Brix fruit,” Miller said. “Take
Stone of Avian Enterprises agrees that bird repel- the integrated approach and don’t rely on one tool.
lency in vineyards requires early planning. “We tell Just like the rest of your integrated pest manage-
our customers that the easiest and most effective ment practices, you must use redundancies and the
way to keep their grapes free from birds is not to synergistic effects of multiple deterrents.”
wait until there is a flock of birds attacking their
grapes before they decide to start spraying Avian
Control Bird Repellent. Prevention works!”

Unlike tiny insect pests, animals are more notice-

877-892-5332 The Grapevine • March-April 2020 Page 35

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