Pest Control for your Vineyard Grapes

We have weather and bad soil to bother our vineyard grapes and yet we still have to contend with all kinds of vermin that may want to destroy our harvest.  These are not just bugs, oh no, there are other things to worry about like; deer, birds and disease.

There are many different types of diseases that can attack our vineyard grapes, the most common being phomopsis cane, leaf spot, fungus, black rot and mildew.  The plants are easy to notice when they are diseased and each of the diseases will produce certain symptoms.  Some familiar signs and symptoms are the vineyard grapes will look sickly and decayed the leaves will look as if they have a film on them or some sort or discoloration and they may have odd appearing lesions.  The disease will spread if left unchecked, so if you see some it is probably going through your vineyard.  You will have to do a lot of research to find the answer that will solve the problem.

Now for the many insects that seem to lie in wait for your crops.  There is an insect called the grape leafhopper that leaps from leaf to leaf and feeds on the underside of the leaves.  It takes large amounts of this grape leafhopper to hurt your vineyard grapes but they will if allowed.  Then there is the grape berry moth.  They lay their eggs on the grapes themselves and when the larva hatches they burrow into the berries and destroy them.  Beetles are another problem that you need to be aware of.  Rose chafers eat clusters of grapes and the Japanese beetle is becoming more common and can reduce the yield of the vine.  Most vineyards can bear up well against low to even moderate insect damage.  It is when they damage or destroy the grape or the whole leaf that it is time to look into some sort of insect control.
 
Birds seem so beautiful when they soar in the sky, that it is hard to imagine the total devastation that they can inflict on vineyard grapes. There are many options to use against an attack by birds.  One would be to put up something visual that they do not like; the shiny pie tins on strings, a scarecrow, wind whistles and even fake predator birds like hawks and owls.  If that doesn’t work and you have no neighbors that are close enough to complain, they do sell what is called cannon.  The cannon is just as it implies, something that goes really loud with a boom.  It comes with a timer so you can set up the bang for certain times. The other option since grapes grow on a trellis is to put a net over the crop.  It is easy to install and you can remove it at winter time so ice does not damage the vines.

We don't call the deer Bambi when they are down eating our grape vines.  They are a real nuisance especially around spring when the new shoots are coming out and the food sources of the deer have been exhausted.  It seems to be that odor repellents are the best thing to keep deer away.  You just need to scent mark your vineyard with something that they don't like, for instance, the scents of coyote, dog, soap and human hair.

You should make it your main concern to control the pests that might damage your vineyard grapes.  Vineyards take so long to cultivate that you really don't want anything to destroy them.