Hi Folks,
Just a reminder that we have our final vineyard walk of 2013 scheduled for 6pm this Thursday evening at Avondale Sky (see post below for directions!). Right now the forecast is looking a little wet, so be sure to wear proper footwear, raincoats and bring and umbrella and hopefully we won't need any of it!!!
Hope to see you all tomorrow evening!
SWD, GGANS Summer Tour, and Next Vineyard Walk!
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Hi Folks,
As you have probably heard, there have been a few trap catches of Spotted Wing Drosophila in the province. Numbers remain low but I would strongly recommend that you start monitoring in your vineyards now using the technique outlined in our SWD Factsheet. If you start seeing significant numbers in your traps, you may want to consider using one of the insecticides that have been registered through the Emergency Use Program as a precaution. The list of products can be found here.
Reminder that the GGANS Summer Tour will be held in the South Shore area on Wednesday August 21st - please contact Joanne Moran at the Grape Growers Assoc NS ggans@ns.sympatico.ca for more information and to book your seat on the bus!
Finally our next vineyard walk will be held on Thursday August 29th, 6pm at Avondale Sky Winery, 80 Avondale Cross Road, RR#2 Newport Landing . Click here for directions and a Google Map. We have had great turn out so far this season for all our vineyard walks so we would love to see you all out again on the 29th!
Rachael
As you have probably heard, there have been a few trap catches of Spotted Wing Drosophila in the province. Numbers remain low but I would strongly recommend that you start monitoring in your vineyards now using the technique outlined in our SWD Factsheet. If you start seeing significant numbers in your traps, you may want to consider using one of the insecticides that have been registered through the Emergency Use Program as a precaution. The list of products can be found here.
Reminder that the GGANS Summer Tour will be held in the South Shore area on Wednesday August 21st - please contact Joanne Moran at the Grape Growers Assoc NS ggans@ns.sympatico.ca for more information and to book your seat on the bus!
Finally our next vineyard walk will be held on Thursday August 29th, 6pm at Avondale Sky Winery, 80 Avondale Cross Road, RR#2 Newport Landing . Click here for directions and a Google Map. We have had great turn out so far this season for all our vineyard walks so we would love to see you all out again on the 29th!
Rachael
Reminder Vineyard Walk TONIGHT - Domaine de Grand Pre
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Reminder that the vineyard walk is being held tonite at 6pm at Domaine de Grand Pre!!!!!! See directions in details in the post below!
Next Vineyard Walk - Domaine de Grande Pre - WEDNESDAY July 24th, 2013
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Hi Folks,
Hope you are enjoying this heat and sunshine... Just wanted to let you know that our next Vineyard Walk has been scheduled for WEDNESDAY July 24th at 6pm at Domaine de Grand Pre. Please note the change in day - for this month only we will be holding it on Wednesday instead of Thursday (due to a standing Thursday evening event at Grand Pre).
The Walk will start at 6pm - We will meet in front of the restaurant in the Central Square area with the cobblestones. People can park in the main lot by the highway, if this gets full, go past the winery, if coming from the 101, take the first right and go down the Old Post Road, at the top of the hill on the right across from the new park is a lane into Grand Pre's new vineyard. People can park there and walk down to the winery. For directions: Click Here
Looking forward to seeing you all on the 24th!
Hope you are enjoying this heat and sunshine... Just wanted to let you know that our next Vineyard Walk has been scheduled for WEDNESDAY July 24th at 6pm at Domaine de Grand Pre. Please note the change in day - for this month only we will be holding it on Wednesday instead of Thursday (due to a standing Thursday evening event at Grand Pre).
The Walk will start at 6pm - We will meet in front of the restaurant in the Central Square area with the cobblestones. People can park in the main lot by the highway, if this gets full, go past the winery, if coming from the 101, take the first right and go down the Old Post Road, at the top of the hill on the right across from the new park is a lane into Grand Pre's new vineyard. People can park there and walk down to the winery. For directions: Click Here
Time to start thinking about disease management
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Hi Folks,
First off I'd like to give a big shout out to Michael and Jocelyn and their staff at Lightfoot and Wolfville Vineyards for the great Vineyard Walk last Thursday night. What a great way to start off the 2013 Season - there were over 50 people in attendance and I suspect many of you went home to google some information on Biodynamic Grape Production. Here's a link in case you were looking for more information... UC Extension Research into Biodynamic Grape Production. And here's the buzz on Biodynamic wine - we hope to see some vintages from Lightfoot and Wolfville make this list someday!
Regardless of whether you are growing conventionally, organically, or biodynamically... this is the time to start thinking about fungicides for disease prevention! As you can see by the 2013 Grape Guide - there have been a number of new fungicides registered this season and it's important to rotate fungicides to prevent resistance development. There are a number of products that are registered for more than one disease so for more 'bang for your buck' it's probably a good idea to include some of these products into your rotation schedule.
We are approaching bloom (and perhaps reached it in some areas of the province) - so it's time to start thinking about Black Rot, Downy Mildew, Powdery Mildew, and Botrytis Prevention. I want to bring special attention to Botrytis Bunch Rot. It is difficult to predict what the weather is going to be like in 2-3 months from now, so really your botrytis management program should start at the Late Bloom stage with further applications at Pre-bunch Closure; Veraison, and Pre-Harvest (days to harvest will depend on product’s PHI). There are number of products registered for Botrytis management and there are also some cultural practices that can help in botrytis management:
For more information on Botrytis Bunch Rot, please see the following factsheet from Virgina Tech Cooperative Extension.
We are still looking for a volunteer vineyard to host our July Vineyard Walk - please send me an email if you are interested!
First off I'd like to give a big shout out to Michael and Jocelyn and their staff at Lightfoot and Wolfville Vineyards for the great Vineyard Walk last Thursday night. What a great way to start off the 2013 Season - there were over 50 people in attendance and I suspect many of you went home to google some information on Biodynamic Grape Production. Here's a link in case you were looking for more information... UC Extension Research into Biodynamic Grape Production. And here's the buzz on Biodynamic wine - we hope to see some vintages from Lightfoot and Wolfville make this list someday!
Regardless of whether you are growing conventionally, organically, or biodynamically... this is the time to start thinking about fungicides for disease prevention! As you can see by the 2013 Grape Guide - there have been a number of new fungicides registered this season and it's important to rotate fungicides to prevent resistance development. There are a number of products that are registered for more than one disease so for more 'bang for your buck' it's probably a good idea to include some of these products into your rotation schedule.
We are approaching bloom (and perhaps reached it in some areas of the province) - so it's time to start thinking about Black Rot, Downy Mildew, Powdery Mildew, and Botrytis Prevention. I want to bring special attention to Botrytis Bunch Rot. It is difficult to predict what the weather is going to be like in 2-3 months from now, so really your botrytis management program should start at the Late Bloom stage with further applications at Pre-bunch Closure; Veraison, and Pre-Harvest (days to harvest will depend on product’s PHI). There are number of products registered for Botrytis management and there are also some cultural practices that can help in botrytis management:
- Practice shoot positioning and selective leaf pulling
- Remove leaves that are directly touching clusters
- Avoid excessive Nitrogen
For more information on Botrytis Bunch Rot, please see the following factsheet from Virgina Tech Cooperative Extension.
We are still looking for a volunteer vineyard to host our July Vineyard Walk - please send me an email if you are interested!
1st Vineyard Walk of 2013 - Thursday June 20th - 6PM - Lightfoot and Wolfville Vineyards
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Hi Folks,
I'm pleased to invite you all to the first Vineyard Walk of the 2013 Season. Lightfoot and Wolfville Vineyards have kindly agreed to open their vineyards to us at 6pm on Thursday June 20th! We will have a look around the vineyard and have the opportunity to discuss issues of the day and see how things are done in an organic system. In light of my last blog post, I will also bring along some samples of some homemade SWD Traps so you can see how to make them and hopefully do some trapping in your own vineyards this year.
For directions to the vineyard walk:
There will be a sign posted at the end of the driveway and they ask that people park along the driveway and make your way up to the yard when you arrive.
I'm pleased to invite you all to the first Vineyard Walk of the 2013 Season. Lightfoot and Wolfville Vineyards have kindly agreed to open their vineyards to us at 6pm on Thursday June 20th! We will have a look around the vineyard and have the opportunity to discuss issues of the day and see how things are done in an organic system. In light of my last blog post, I will also bring along some samples of some homemade SWD Traps so you can see how to make them and hopefully do some trapping in your own vineyards this year.
For directions to the vineyard walk:
Lightfoot & Wolfville Vineyards
Hwy #1 Lower Wolfville
From Wolfville: They are located just outside of Wolfville town limits,
heading towards Grand Pre on the left hand side.
From Halifax:
Take
exit 10 to Grand Pre, once you get to Domaine d'Grand Pre winery on the right,
they are approx 2km's on the right hand side from there.
Looking forward to seeing you all there!
Spotted Wing Drosophila - how to monitor and what we can do...
Friday, May 31, 2013
Hi folks,
I hope everyone is enjoying this nice weather and I'm sure the vines will respond to it as well! I thought I'd take a minute to give you all an update on Spotted Wing Drosophila - if you have not heard about it, here's your chance to learn more...
This pest is a new invasive species that has been found in North America since 2010 and here in NS since 2011. It is primarily a pest of soft fruit (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, cherries, grapes etc...) and is different from native fruit fly species in that the adult female will lay it's egg inside the ripening fruit instead of waiting to colonize it after it starts to break down from being over ripe. There has been a fairly extensive trapping program in most soft fruit species in NS over the past two years and swd was detected in some vineyards last season. The cooler spring and cold winter this year may impact this pest however, we are advising growers to be aware of the pest and do some monitoring in your vineyards this year to see if this may become a problem.
Please see the new factsheet on our website Monitoring for Spotted Wing Drosophila for details on this pest and how to monitor! There are a number of insecticides that have received emergency use registrations for this pest and they will be posted on our website as they become available. To date, Malathion, Ripcord and Pyganic have received registrations for the 2013 growing season. If you have any questions on this or any other pest, please do not hesitate to contact me!
Stay tuned... we are working on our first Vineyard Walk for 2013 - details will be announced shortly!!!!!!!! And on that note... if you are interested in hosting a vineyard walk sometime during the 2013 season at your vineyard, please let me know!
I hope everyone is enjoying this nice weather and I'm sure the vines will respond to it as well! I thought I'd take a minute to give you all an update on Spotted Wing Drosophila - if you have not heard about it, here's your chance to learn more...
This pest is a new invasive species that has been found in North America since 2010 and here in NS since 2011. It is primarily a pest of soft fruit (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, cherries, grapes etc...) and is different from native fruit fly species in that the adult female will lay it's egg inside the ripening fruit instead of waiting to colonize it after it starts to break down from being over ripe. There has been a fairly extensive trapping program in most soft fruit species in NS over the past two years and swd was detected in some vineyards last season. The cooler spring and cold winter this year may impact this pest however, we are advising growers to be aware of the pest and do some monitoring in your vineyards this year to see if this may become a problem.
Please see the new factsheet on our website Monitoring for Spotted Wing Drosophila for details on this pest and how to monitor! There are a number of insecticides that have received emergency use registrations for this pest and they will be posted on our website as they become available. To date, Malathion, Ripcord and Pyganic have received registrations for the 2013 growing season. If you have any questions on this or any other pest, please do not hesitate to contact me!
Stay tuned... we are working on our first Vineyard Walk for 2013 - details will be announced shortly!!!!!!!! And on that note... if you are interested in hosting a vineyard walk sometime during the 2013 season at your vineyard, please let me know!
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