Development, Evaluation and Implementation of Low-input Systems for Eastern Vineyards

Development, Evaluation and Implementation of Low-input Systems for Eastern Vineyards

Summary

This proposal addresses the need to reduce costs in the three most expensive aspects of grape production in the northeast region: disease and insect management, pruning, and ground cover management. Previous work by the various cooperators has demonstrated that substantial savings can be made in all of these areas. Major reductions in seasonal fungicide use have been achieved in experiments involving the use of dormant treatments to destroy overwintering pathogens. The use of insect mating hormones (pheromones) has been shown to be effective in controlling grape berry moth in certain vineyards without the use of insecticides. Mechanical pruning and minimal hand pruning have greatly reduced labor costs in these operations. Finally, new approaches to ground cover management have eliminated or greatly reduced the need to till vineyards. The experiments outlined in this proposal are designed to provide the critical information that will allow the most promising grape production strategies to be combined into a truly low-input system for grapes in the northeastern United States.

Objectives

(1) Refine the technique of using dormant eradicant sprays, thereby making it an effective, practical method to replace or augment seasonal fungicide sprays.

(2) Conduct large-scale demonstrations of the effectiveness of the grape berry moth pheromone and compare the effectiveness of the GBM pheromone with that of conventional insecticides.

(3) Illustrate that secondary pests seldom cause economic damage to processing grapes.

(4) Develop an optimal vineyard design and management plan for low-input systems.

(5) Generate and deliver a weather forecast with a high spatial resolution (1 km) to be used for local management decisions on pest development, cultural management, and timing of pesticide applications.