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 …
Monthly Archives: May 2020
Cold temperatures, foliar nutrients, and scab
The good thing is that insect and fire blight activity remain pretty low. On the other hand, we have potential for an extended scab event starting today and lasting through the weekend. This is a tough one to plan around. Ascospore maturity is creeping up, and significant wetting, especially today, can discharge a lot of …
Continue reading “Cold temperatures, foliar nutrients, and scab”
Thinking about early season grape disease management
By Terence Bradshaw Despite the bit of snow on my deck this morning, spring is here and vineyards will be waking up soon in Vermont. It’s better to plan ahead than to be reactive to problems after they become established. Therefore, I recommend reading Dr. Katie Gold’s Early Season Grape Disease Management recommendations to help …
Continue reading “Thinking about early season grape disease management”
SBA EIDL program re-opening for farmers; prebloom orchard activities
By Terence Bradshaw Earlier today I sent a notice from Tom Berry at Senator Leahy’s office regarding availability of emergency funds to farmers affected financially by the COVID-19 pandemic. That was referencing a re-opening of the portal specifically for farms to apply for funds. If you are an ag business that was unable to take …
Continue reading “SBA EIDL program re-opening for farmers; prebloom orchard activities”
SBA EIDL program open for agricultural sign-up
Forwarding from Tom Berry in Senator Leahy’s office: Agricultural programs were excluded from the first round of applications for this program. That was changed in the subsequent action by Congress. Now SBA is opening applications exclusively for agriculture. The portal is otherwise closed while SBA works through a backlog, and the reopening seems to be …
Continue reading “SBA EIDL program open for agricultural sign-up”