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A saturated spring has North Georgia grape producers concerned about disease management with harvest season on the horizon.
Sarah Lowder, University of Georgia viticulture Extension specialist, discussed some of the diseases growers have dealt with over the past few months.
“Especially with how wet this year has been, we’re trying to keep on top of our downy mildew management,” Lowder said. “Everyone should probably be past bloom by this stage, so now we’re just trying to make sure our fruit can grow properly. Make sure you’ve got a good, healthy canopy. When we have a lot of rain, we worry about downy mildew, and when we don’t have a lot of rain, we’re more worried about something like powdery mildew.
“A lot of the fungal diseases, it’s really important to control for early, and you don’t see it until later which maybe too late to do anything about it. We’re still making sure they keep good coverage especially now that they’ve got full canopies, so we can maintain a good source of nutrients to put into that quality fruit.”
Lowder emphasized those grape producers that have failed to maintain their disease management will see more issues with downy mildew, some of the black rots and other diseases that use the moisture to grow. “If you let the disease take over, you’re not going to get control the rest of the season, because at some point, it becomes a fast moving train that you’re trying to catch up to. We’re trying to make sure we can keep that healthy canopy going forward so we can put those resources towards the fruit,” Lowder said.
By Clint Thompson