Pest Control of Vineyard Grapes

There can be several types of pests in your vineyard that are enemies to the health of your grapevine and you have to pay attention to. The pests can be a type of disease, insects or birds and deer.

Common grapevine diseases include mildew, black rot, phomopsis can and leaf spot and fungus. You can tell your grapesvine got attacked by a disease by identifying common symptoms such as yellowing of the leaves, a film or lessions covering the leaves and decay of berries. A fungicide are normally used to eradicate these diseases. To find the best solution, you should conduct some research to find out what exactly the problem is.

Humans like grapes and so do the insects. Common insects can be found on a grapevine include grape berry moths, grape leafhoppers, Japanese beetles and rose chafers. If the berries have small holes and webbing bewteen them, you can tell grape berry moths have visited your grapevine. They lay eggs onto the surface of the grapes. Then the larva will hatch and bore into the grapes. Grape leafhoppers live on the undersides of the grape leaves. Fortunately unless there is a large population in your vineyard, they won't damage your crop. The Japanese beetles can seriously reduce the size of the harvest. They have been expanding the distribution in the US and is a type of insects you should keep an eye on. Rose chafers are some large beetles who love grapes. They live on the clusters of grapes.

Generally, grapevines can tolerate low to moderate levels of insect damage. Usually insects control are only required when a big portion of leaves are affected or the they are threatening fruit itself. Insecticides is the common tool for insect control.

When you have a small crop of grapes, the damage birds can cause could be devastating. Believe it or not, a large group of birds are easier to scare away than one individual bird. If they are causing your problems, using a net is realistic and easy as grapevines grow on a trellis, Although a net can normally last around 30 months, you need to take them off before winter comes to avoid the vine getting damaged by the ice formed on the net in the cold weather.

Using visual repellents is also a good idea and very easy to install too. There are various types include aluminum pie plates and models of animals such as hawks, snakes or owls. Another tool is a type of cannon which has timer and make a loud sound at certain intervals to scare the birds away. Bad thing about this is the loud sound may annoy your neighbours.

In early spring food for deers is limited, the new shoots on your grapevine can be a nice meal for them. A very effective way when it comes to controlling deer is odor repellents. Using the scent of coyotes who are natural predators to deers can have excellent results. Human scent, dog hair or soap are also good to use.