Buds swelling in local vineyards

By Terence Bradshaw

Grapevine buds are showing significant swelling in vineyards both in the Champlain Valley and at my house at near-1500 feet in Washington County, so bud break is right around the corner. However, This extended cool weather expected this week will leave those buds in this swollen state for an extended period, which leaves them susceptible to damage from grape flea beetle and climbing cutworms. It may be a good idea to scout vineyards this week; feeding damage on more3 than 2% of buds scouted may indicate a need to treat; carbaryl or a pyrethroid material (Including, for organic growers, Pyranic) would be effective options. However, once vines have pushed 1” or more growth, they are no longer susceptible to damage from these pests, so don’t bother treating if you get that far without having done so.

The window to treat vines with liquid lime sulfur (LLS) is closing as vine growth increases, do not consider applying high doses of that material to vines with green tissue showing. I described the use of LLS in my April 3, 2017 message.

If you will be using glyphosate to manage in-row weeds this spring, your window for safest application to the base of vines is now, before any foliage that is susceptible to herbicide uptake develops. I would still use a shield of some sort to keep the material off of vines.

Reminder: NY-PA Grape IPM Guidelines are available for order at: https://cropandpestguides.cce.cornell.edu/

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