By Clint Thompson
It is not quite time for grape producers to be wary of key diseases for the upcoming production season. But the time is coming, believes Phil Brannen, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension fruit disease specialist.
“We’re not as critical with disease management, though don’t discount, we need stuff on there for diseases. But the real critical phase is during the pre-bloom, bloom and post-bloom on grapes. We’re a little bit removed from that right now,” said Brannen. “There are some diseases that can certainly be hit by early rainfall, phomopsis being an example of that.
“Phomopsis is the one disease I can think of, as we hit budbreak, if they don’t have mancozeb type of products on and others for phomopsis, then we would be in potential trouble going forward. But if they’re doing that right now and can get those fungicides out, we’re in pretty good shape. As we get into the bloom phase for grapes, that’s a real critical phase for diseases. That’s still about a month away at least.”