Advice on spraying grape vines

11 years ago

I recently purchased 3 grape vines from double A vinyards. Crossing my fingers they come out of dormancy soon. I can find an abundance of information on pruning and trellising my grape vines but very little information on what to spray them with and how often. I would very much appreciate someone who could offer advice in this area.

The three vines I purchased are one year old vines including, Brianna, Swenson Red, and Somerset. All are planted 8ft apart under a trellis along a south facing wall. I'm in zone 4B NW IA. Summers are normally hot and humid here.

I'm unsure if I need to just spray with a fungicide? Wait until I see problems with the leaves before starting to spray? Start spraying the first year or wait until they start producing fruit? Or if there is more to it. All sources about caring for grapes have left the part out about spraying and are focused on pruning.

All are listed at least slightly to moderately susceptible to black rot, downy mildew, powdery mildew, and Botrytis. One is listed as sulfur sensitive.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Featured Answer

spartanapples

11 years ago

CodyM:

I do not grow the grape varieties you mention but I am familiar with them. I grow Concord and Canadice in SE WI. I have grown Edelweiss, Himrod seedless and others in the past.

If your vines are young and not bearing fruit, I would not spray them. Once they are bearing, then I spray mine with Captan fungicide in spring to prevent back rot. Usually I spray them when the buds are just bursting and again weekly until the fruit is formed and sizes up so noticeable.

Since I spray my apples all season, I still hit the grapes as well. I got hammered last August as we had a freak 3rd generation of grape berry moth and ended up loosing 1/3 of my crop to it. Normally I do not spray my grapes

after August 15th. When to stop however depends on when the variety is

going to ripen. Some of my seedless grapes ripen in August so I stop spraying in late July on those varieties.

Last year a friend lost a lot of his crop to downy mildew in August. I had none on mine luckily. His fruit was just covered in white mildew.

I spray fungicide in spring for black rot prevention. I spray fungicide later in season for mildew control. For insects the only issue I have had is grape berry moth so I do use an insecticide during the growing season as we normally can get 2 generations of berry moth in my area.

The big issue on the fungal problems is that you need to spray to prevent the disease once you have fruit. Spraying a fungicide after you have black rot or

mildew on the fruit will do no good. If your area has low humidity then fungal issues may not be a big problem for you.

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Comments (6)

Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
11 years ago
We spray when dormant, and use imacloprid systemic monthly in our vineyard. I have no clue if this is the procedure in your zone. Ours is completely different. We are in wine country. It is never humid here so mildew is not an issue. Stylet or neem oil/seven spray can control that.
tigrikt (Central NJ/6b)
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Spraying Schedule for MidWest

Home Fungicide Guide
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southdakotagrapes_4a
11 years ago
Don't need any of that in northeast South Dakota (4a)
codym17
Original Author
11 years ago
Ok sounds like I should start spraying a fungicide in 3 years or so when they start producing grapes. Weekly after buds start to open. SouthDakotagrapes, what do you grow for grape varities? I can't imagine my climate (Sioux falls area) is much different than yours...
southdakotagrapes_4a
11 years ago
Codym17
I am less a grape expert and more of a spendthrift...

I only grow Valiant table grapes up this way...you just cant kill them! As a MG I've met 4 other people in town with grapes, mainly to investigate winter injury with the less hardy varieties, and have never run across major disease problems. Could be that there are so few plants to infect that these diseases have a difficult time spreading this way. I did get SWD this year, and that was the worst! Had to squeeze every berry before eating! In 2009 we had a very cool, wet year and I did get a few single grapes with Black Rot. As with SWD...just get them out of the yard before it has a chance to spread.