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Crop Update - 9/27/2007
Back to the Lake Erie Regional Grape Program Home Page   
UPCOMING EVENTS REMINDER:
ATTENTION!!!!
Pellenc grape harvester demonstration will occur in our region - Everyone is welcome to attend!
October 2nd - CLOVERHILL FARMS [Tom Meehl] in North East, PA - 3 p.m.
October 3rd - DAVE KAPPLE'S FARM in Portland [Webster Rd.] - 1 p.m.
October 4th - FRUIT FARMS SHOP - East of Sheridan Center on Rt. 20 - 11 a.m.
Announcement:
FREE VACCINES are available for migrant and seasonal farmworkers, in New York State, over 19 years of age and their adult family members. Scroll to the bottom of this page for more information on the who, what, where, why and how!
Grape Integrated Pest Management     Tim Weigle

Grape Berry moth damage is being found in area vineyards, primarily those classified as being at high or very high risk of GBM damage. If you have areas that fit into these categories you should go out and take a look to determine levels of damage. If GBM looks to be getting out of hand you should look at developing a harvest plan to take those areas first. While we typically see a slower sugar accumulation in high risk areas for GBM, possibly due to their proximity to wooded edges, we are seeing sugar accumulation as being less of a problem this year. Research has shown that late season GBM damage can be a significant factor in crop loss and decrease in berry weight so if you can spend a bit of extra effort getting the crop off the edges you should be ahead in the long run.
Links for Grape Berry Moth:
Grape.MSU.edu - Grape berry moth, Rufus Isaacs, MSU Entomology
Michigan State University Extension - Fruit IPM Fact Sheet - Grape Berry Moth
NYS IPM, Grape Berry Moth Fact Sheet

Weed management is showing itself to be one of the biggest problems, behind water stress, for 2007. Any number of vineyards can be seen with locust, sumac, golden rod and foxtails growing uncontrolled for a number of reasons. This is also a great time to get some weed mapping done so you will know where your weed management program slipped and knowing what escaped will help in developing a program for next year.

Refer to the 2007 New York and Pennsylvania Pest Management Guidelines for Grapes

Pest Management Guidelines - Vineyard Weed Management: http://ipmguidelines.org/grapes/CH06/default.asp

Weed Fact Sheets from Pennsylvania State University - http://www.nysipm.cornell.edu/factsheets/weeds/default.asp
Goldenrod
In the Vineyard with...  Andy Muza
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)
Jody Lasko, District Conservationist, USDA-NRCS
Pennsylvania Grape Growers may be eligible for IPM, cover crop, or nutrient management payments through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The deadline to be considered for the first round of allocations is October 31, 2007. However, growers are encouraged to send applications to their local NRCS office as soon as possible so that fund allocations will reflect local interest in the program. This will also allow adequate time for field visits and updating Conservation Plans and other records.
For more information contact the Waterford NRCS office at 814-796-6760 ext. 3 or e-mail jody.lasko@pa.usda.gov.
EQIP application form is also available on-line at: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/PROGRAMS/EQIP/PDFs/EQIP_Program_Application_and_Appendix.pdf.
For additional information on EQIP, feel free to visit our website: http://www.pa.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/eqip/index.html.
Update from North East, PA   Bryan Hed
Here is a brief update from the lakeshore in North East PA.

Weather:
At our location, we have accumulated about 3 inches of rain so far in September. Our gdd accumulation since April 1 totals about 2500 through September 26. This represents a gain of 127 gdds over the last week; better than twice the gain during this same period last year.

Diseases:
Despite the abundance of dry, sunny weather (less than a half inch of rainfall in the last two weeks), downy mildew continues to chew away at leaves of susceptible varieties in our wine block, particularly Chardonnay. Two Prophyt applications within the last two weeks have maintained the disease at manageable levels thus far but we are not out of the woods yet. Also consider that we are in the midst of a 3-day-long infection period. This disease can strip a vineyard of its leaves quickly. Where leaf infections threaten to defoliate vines and reduce fruit and cane ripening, fungicidal intervention may be necessary, especially on late varieties like Cabernet and Riesling. Even if susceptible vines have been harvested, keep in mind that cold sensitive varieties, particularly vinifera, will benefit from an extended opportunity to accumulate all the photosynthetic resources they can before winter hits.

Weather Facts   Tim Weigle and Edith Byrne
Fri., 9/28 A slight 20% chance of showers after 1pm. Mostly cloudy with a high near 70°.
Friday night: Partly cloudy with a low near 51°.
Sat., 9/29 Sunny with a high near 70°.
Saturday night: Mostly clear with a low near 51°.
Sun., 9/30

Sunny with a high near 75°.
Sunday night: Partly cloudy with a low near 55°.
Mon., 10/1 Partly sunny with a high near 73°.
Monday night: Mostly cloudy with a low near 54°.
Tues., 10/2 Mostly sunny with a high near 68°.
Tuesday night: Partly cloudy with a low near 59°.
Wed., 10/3 Mostly sunny with a high near 72°.
Weather Facts Information: through Wednesday 9/26/2007
Date
High
Low
Pct.
GDDs
accum.
Jan. GDDs
Apr. GDDs
9/26/07
76
67
0
21.5
2784.5
2735.5
9/26/06
63
53
0
8
2670
2650.5
9/26/05
79
66
0.39
22.5
3021.5
2996
  Jan. accum. Apr. accum. per/day accum.
Average GDDs: 2528.45 2504.76 11.05
September Precipitation: 2.22"  
Average Precipitation (September) 4.25"  
Year-to-Date Precipitation 21.44"  
Average Year-to-Date Precip. (Jan - August) 23.87" (behind 4.65")
Average April through August Precip. 16.67" (behind 6.69")
Average High 69.6°    
Average Low 52.4°    


You can follow the DAILY high and low (updated daily) by visiting http://lergp.cce.cornell.edu/Dailys2007.htm. Also, from the main weather page (http://lergp.cce.cornell.edu/weather.htm) you can navigate to other weather information/pages that we maintain for your information and use.

Phenology Information - 2007:
Veraison 8/18/2007; avg date = 8/24
Bloom 6/10/2007; (average = 6/15)
Budbreak 5/9/2007 - Fredonia West Tier (average = 5/6)

 

 
The weather proverb this week is:
A sunshiny shower won’t last half an hour. . .

Sustainable Viticulture Workbook Project

We continue to hear from growers and are still asking for more volunteers to go through the workbook, answering the questions that pertain to them (and let us know what questions do not pertain to their operation)! Please let us know if you are interested by emailing Edith (emb35@cornell.edu or grape@netsync.net)! We would love to hear from you.

Update - We have met with growers from Chautauqua, Niagara, Cattaraugus Counties in New York and several growers from PA. for this project which is a cooperative effort of growers, processors, the Finger Lakes Regional Grape Program, Long Island Grape Program and the Lake Erie Regional Grape Program.

Going over the questions in the workbook typically takes about 90 minutes. Depending on your operation and the type of grapes you are growing doesn't make any difference either - we are interested in everyone's input, no matter how many acres you have. Once you have completed the first phase of going through the workbook and answering the questions scaled from 1 (best practice) to 4 (should look at this practice to see if it can be improved), a follow-up visit is scheduled with a member of the SWCD from your county (they have the money to help with cost sharing) to discuss how you might be able to move the practices that received a rating of 4 to a rating closer to 1 - this is the Action Plan meeting.

The workbook questions are painless, self-reflective and the comments made by growers' are very positive - including how going over the questions makes them think about their total operation, or how they might be able to do or think about something differently, etc.

We have appointments set up with more growers through the month for both the workbook portion and Action Plan meetings... If you are interested in working with us on this project please send Edith an e-mail or give her a call at 716.672.6830 so she can schedule an appointment with you.

ANNOUNCEMENT:
FREE VACCINES are available for migrant and seasonal farmworkers, in New York State, over 19 years of age and their adult family members.

Why Should Your Workers be Vaccinated?
Most migrant and seasonal farmworkers are at risk for infection. They travel to and from countries with poor immunization practices where infectious diseases such as hepatitis are common. They may also be at high risk for chickenpox if the disease is not common in their native country.

What Vaccines are Available?

  • Tetanus and diphtheria (Td)
  • Hepatitis A and B
  • Measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR)
  • Chickenpox (Varicella)
  • Flu (Influenza)
  • Pneumococcal
  • Tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (Tdap)
We will come to you!
For more information and/or to get your workers immunized Chautauqua residents should call Amy Johnson at the Chautauqua County Health Department at (716) 753-4491. Residents in all other counties should contact Finger Lakes Migrant Health Care Project, Inc. at 1-800-724-0862.
Keep your workers healthy!

Lake Erie Regional Grape Program Extension Team Members:

Andy Muza Extension Agent, Erie County, PA Cooperative Extension (814) 825-0900
Tim Weigle Sr. Area Extension Educator, Grape IPM (716) 672-6830
For any questions or comments on the format of this update
please contact Tim Weigle at: timweigl@netsync.net

The Lake Erie Regional Grape Program Website is maintained by the NYS Grape IPM Program
412 E. Main Street, Fredonia, NY 14063              Telephone: 716-672-5296 E-mail: Webmaster