Posted on 09/26/2010 3:37:54 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Napa Valley winegrape growers are discovering they can cope with the European grapevine moth.
While the industry’s ultimate goal is to eradicate the pest within the next few years, major progress is being made in reducing the insect population in vineyards. Organic and non-organic spray treatments, as well as chemicals that disrupt mating are proving effective in dealing with the problem, experts say.
“We have learned that the moth is fairly easy to control. I think we can eradicate this moth,” said Anne Steinhauer, Napa Valley Vintners community relations manager.
Napa County has deployed flights of traps since the infestation was discovered last fall. During the first flight, roughly 100,000 European grapevine moths were caught. In the second round, traps captured about 13,000. Most recently, traps caught 100 moths, Steinhauer said. County vintners and growers gathered for a discussion and tour last week of vineyards where the moth was first discovered. All agreed that eradication, if possible, will be a multi-year process.
Growers, haulers and wineries have adopted new protocols to keep the bug from spreading as equipment moves from vineyards to wineries this harvest season.
“Each one is a vital link in the chain,” said Greg Clark, the county’s assistant agricultural commissioner. “Everyone here understands this is a serious issue.”
“Everyone has been working together at the county, state and federal levels to create the best outcome as possible,” Clark said.
At Cakebread Cellars, viticulturist Toby Halkovich said they will not accept a truckload of grapes from designated areas where the moth has been trapped if there is not a compliance agreement from every party involved. On Wednesday morning, crews at Cakebread Cellars were power-washing bins that were coming in from the vineyards after the chardonnay and pinot noir grapes had been dumped into the de-stemer and crushed.
A large waste bin of grape stems and miscellaneous debris was tarped before being sent to an Upvalley locations for composting.
Clark isn’t optimistic about eradication this year, but said much can be done to reduce the insect’s impact. Bob Steinhauer a St. Helena wine consultant who serves on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s European grapevine moth technical working group, credits the input from scientist all over the world in helping Napa County to control the moth.
His working group makes recommendations to county, state and federal government on such issues as to how many traps per acre there should be. “I’ve been their tour guide more or less,” he chuckled.
Michael Silacci, winemaker at Opus One in Oakville, said he was mildly surprised by the success of local efforts to control the moth from spreading. His winery uses only organic methods for controlling the moth, he said. “To battle this pest has been as much as 7 percent of our budget, Silacci said.
The moth bores into grapes, creating an opening where the botrytis fungus can develop.
The moth has been found in Europe, South America, North Africa, Israel and now California.
Endangered species alert. :)
Good luck to them. We had a horrible time battling grape leaf skeletonizers. Tried environmentally-friendly stuff like bacillus thuringiensis to no avail. Probably a case of too little too late. :(
P.S. If I see one, I promise to squash it gaily (sp?). :)
Wait till the stink bugs we have on the east coast make it out to California. Those things seem indestructible. Spider's will not even attack them if the are caught in the web. They just cut the web so they release the stink bugs!
Anyway they are starting to do real harm to the fruit and corn crop in PA and other states.
The way to deal with this moth is to entice it into the basement, and wall it up in an unused alcove.
The thousand injuries of the European grapevine moth I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge
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