Wine-Grower-News #37 April 4, 2008

Midwest Grape & Wine Industry Institute: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Wine

Information in this issue includes:

Think Twice before Propagating Grape Cuttings Randall Vos is now a Movie Star – Check out his Pruning Video Here! Wabash Wine Company – Wish Them Luck! Western Iowa Grape Growers Annual Banquet – April 19th Do I Need a Private Pesticide Applicators License? Last Chance Private Pesticide Recertification Class Via Webcast April 15th Seven Excellent Vineyard Pest Management Online Spray Guides Free “TracGrape” Pesticide Record Keeping Software From Cornell Univ. Woodpile Story Worth Repeating Publicize Your Winery on Weekends R Us Quote of the Week Neeto-Keeno WWW Stuff Grape & Wine Development Commission $400 Scholarship Program- p.7 IDALS Sensitive Crops Database Sign-up Sheets – p. 8

Think Twice before Propagating Grape Cuttings

“Show me how to propagate grape cuttings.” This is a very common question this time of year. Most people do not realize that it is against Iowa law to give away or sell grape cuttings unless the vineyard has been inspected by the Iowa Department of Agriculture. Here is what the Iowa Code has to say about this:

177A.9 Inspection -- certificate -- fees. It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, give away, carry, ship, or deliver for carriage or shipment, within this state, any plants or plant products listed in the rules [=nursery stock] unless such plants or plant products have been officially inspected and a certificate issued by an inspector of the state entomologist's office stating that such plants or plant products have been inspected and found to be apparently free from dangerously injurious insect pests and diseases, and giving any other facts provided for in the rules...

The cost of a nursery inspection is $25 per acre or part thereof, according to the amount of stock needing inspected. The form to fill out and send in to request a nursery inspection can be found here: http://www.iowaagriculture.gov/Entomology/pdf/Inspectrequest2007.pdf

There also is the small matter of patent royalty fees one needs to consider. Many of the older cultivars do not require royalty payments. The University of Minnesota and Cornell University are the two

1 major patent holders we deal with here in Iowa. The following royalty fees are required by these two institutions:

University of Minnesota Cornell University Frontenac – 25¢ Chardonel - 25¢ Frontenac Gris – 50¢ Corot Noir - $1.05 LaCrescent - 50¢ GR-7 - $1.05 Marquette - 50¢ Noiret - $1.05 Valvin Muscat - 20¢

Petite Amie(40¢) by David McGregor and Valiant (20¢) by South Dakota State University are two other minor cultivars being planted in Iowa that would also require royalty payments. What about all the Elmer Swenson winegrape cultivars like, St. Croix, Brianna, Louise Swenson, Swenson White, Edelweiss, Swenson Red, Sabrevois, Prairie Star, LaCrosse, Esprit, St. Pepin and Kay Gray. There are no royalty fees on these cultivars, but some of the nurseries were voluntarily sending 10-25¢ per plant royalty fees to Elmer Swenson when he was alive. Elmer passed away on 12-24-04 at the age of 91.

Oh by the way, you just can’t send in royal fees unless you have a license to propagate these cultivars. It would probably be easier to purchase cuttings directly from a licensed nursery if you want to propagate such material. The licensed nursery can then send in their royalty fees.

Here are the contacts you would need to make to become commercially licensed to propagate cuttings:

1. Mr. Richard Cahoon, VP Cornell Research Foundation, Cornell University Ph: 607-254-4459, e-mail: [email protected] http://www.news.cornell.edu/chronicle/03/2.13.03/Cahoon_CRF.html 2. Anne Hall, Office of Technology Commercialization, University of Minnesota Ph: 612-626-2033, e-mail: [email protected] http://www.research.umn.edu/techcomm/ 3. David MacGregor, South Haven, MN 320-236-7685 4. Julie Hoffman, SD Nursery & Landscape Assn. Ph: 605-353-4414, e-mail: [email protected]

Final Notes: There is very little money available to support these winegrape breeding programs. They need every penny to continue their work and/or grow their programs. Iowa would not have a wine industry without these new cultivars. Serious diseases that can handicap our entire winegrape industry can be easily spread via propagation materials. There is are good reasons why the Iowa Department of Agriculture requires a nursery inspection.

Randall Vos is now a Movie Star – Check out his Pruning Video Here!

Randall Vos, Viticulture Instructor at Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) e-mailed me this week and asked me to review his “NEW” 9 minute pruning video he has put together for one of his classes at DMACC. It is a pretty good video. He did a good job. Check it out here: http://www.dmacc.edu/programs/viticulture/video/pruninghwc.html

2 Wabash Wine Company – Wish Them Luck!

Wabash Wine Company is a newly formed company in Coin, Iowa (SW Iowa) that is owned by Joe and Shelly Skahill. They will start their vineyard out this year with 3,300 plants (approx. 6 acres). You can check them out here: http://www.wabashwinecompany.com/

Western Iowa Grape Growers Annual Banquet – April 19th

What: Western Iowa Grape Growers (WIGGA) Annual Banquet When: 6 PM, Saturday, April 19, 2008 Where: Ashley Hall Cafeteria, Iowa Western Community College, Council Bluffs http://www.iwcc.edu/ Agenda: 6:00 – 6:45 PM Appetizers and Wine Tasting 6:45 – 8:00 PM Dinner 8:00 – 9:30 PM Social Time, Auction and Music Cost: $50 per person, tickets can be purchases from any of the 7 wineries on the Western Iowa Wine Trail: http://www.westerniowawinetrail.com/ Sponsor: Western Iowa Grape Growers Association: http://westerniowagrapegrowers.org/ Further information: James Rost, 402-659-4463 or [email protected] Comments: There is a fund raising auction, supporting WIGGA programs. The menu is prime rib, ocean scallops, or pork medallions, desert- white chocolate moose.

Do I Need a Private Pesticide Applicators License?

There are two types of pesticides one can purchase in Iowa,..."General Use - GU" or "Restricted Use – RU”. RU pesticides require the applicator to have a Private Pesticide applicators license too

3 purchase and/or apply. Luckily, most of the vineyard pesticides being used in Iowa are GU pesticides. The most common RU vineyard pesticides labeled in Iowa would include: Baythroid XL, Capture, Danitol, Gramoxone, Lorsban, and Mustang Max. All of these are insecticides except for Gramoxone which is a post emergent burndown herbicide.

Only a minority of vineyard operators in Iowa currently have a Private Pesticide license. In most cases they have it because they either want to apply a RU insecticide for foliar phylloxera control or Gramoxone as an inexpensive weed burndown herbicide that does not translocate into the grape plant if a leaf or two are accidently sprayed.

Obtaining a private pesticide applicators license entails passing a 50 question exam and paying $15 for a 3 year license. Private applicators do not need to retest every three years if they attend a 2 hour training session each year. Those not attending the yearly training sessions need to retest every 3 years. The private applicator exam study guide (217 pp) can be found Online here for free: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PAT1.pdf . Hardcopies can be purchased online for $10 each here: https://www.extension.iastate.edu/store

ISU Extension is the organization that provides all the annual training and publications needed for the Private applicator license. Most of these publications and resources are "free" online here: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/pme This is the #1 source for pesticide training information in Iowa. The Iowa Department of Ag's Pesticide Bureau is the governmental entity who issues the exams and licenses. The testing and training locations and dates can be found here: http://www.iowaagriculture.gov/pesticides.asp

Last Chance Private Pesticide Recertification Class Via Webcast April 15th

Private pesticide applicators have until April 15th of each year to attend a 2 hour recertification class. Iowa State University Extension will be offering a recertification class via Webcast on the Internet at 7PM, Tuesday, April 15th through participating county ISU Extension offices. The cost will be $15 each. Pre-registration will be required. Not all county offices will be offering this Webcast. If interested, contact your local county Extension office ASAP and let them know that you would be interested in attending. You can contact your local county office here: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/ouroffices.htm

Seven Excellent Vineyard Pest Management Online Spray Guides

1. 2008 Midwest Small Fruit Spray Guide, 76p: http://hort.agriculture.purdue.edu/pdfs/08SprayGuide.pdf 2. Midwest Small Fruit Pest Mgt. Handbook: http://ohioline.osu.edu/b861/index.html 3. 2008 Pest Mgt. Guide for Grapes, Washington State University – EB0762, 44p: http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/eb1491/eb1491.pdf 4. 2008 Grape Disease & Insect Spray Guide, Virginia Tech University: http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/pmg/hf3.pdf 5. 2007 NY and PA Pest Mgt Guidelines for Grapes: http://ipmguidelines.org/grapes/ 6. Grape Disease Control- 2007, Dr. Wayne Wilcox, Plant Pathologist, Cornell Univ.: http://pss.uvm.edu/grape/IPM/Wilcox-GrpDis-4'07.pdf 7. Organic Grape Disease Mgt. Guide, Ohio State Univ.: http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/fruitpathology/organic/grape/index.html 4 Free “TracGrape” Pesticide Record Keeping Software From Cornell Univ.

TracGrape pesticide record keeping software has been available from Cornell University for several years. I purchased a copy back in 2005. I found out today that you can now download the new 2008 version for “FREE”. That ain’t a bad price! There is a lot of inherent New York information that comes with TracGrape, but the core Microsoft Excel program can be easily used by Iowa wineries and vineyards for their entire season pesticide records. Here are some of the worksheets that are included: Company and applicator contact information. Fertilizer Applications Vineyard location and vineyard block identification. Harvest Data Detailed pesticide information tables that can be used for reference. Dailey Spray Records Worker Protection Standard Posting Information Private Applicator Restricted Use application records. Crop History

There are also nine private company pesticide application and vineyard record forms that have been included for vineyard operators in New York to fill out if they are selling to these buyers.

The procedure for downloading takes several steps. They first ask for your contact information and then have you download the 21 page TracGrape manual. They then have you download the TracGrape Excel program. It comes to you in a zipped file folder. I would suggest first making a new file folder named “TracGrape 2008” and then saving the two downloaded files into this folder. The empty zipped folder can then be deleted after you are done saving the two files to your TracGrape folder. Check it out here: http://www.nysipm.cornell.edu/trac/about/about_grape.asp

Thank You Cornell!

Woodpile Story Worth Repeating

This is a story I just had to tell. I asked my neighbor down the road last week why they had such a large woodpile in their backyard. Curiosity got the best of me. You see, he does not burn wood.

Answer: “It is for the kids”, he said. Every time my wife or I catch them in a lie, they get to move the woodpile. It normally takes anywhere from 6 hours to 2 days to move the pile. It all depends on the distance they need to move it.

(I wish I had thought of this 20 years ago!)

Publicize Your Winery on Weekends R Us

Looking for some inexpensive exposure? Weekends R Us is a fresh website that provides the most powerful search tool for building a better weekend. Weekends R Us offers information on places to visit, lodging, activities, food, drink and event options; the site is arranged particularly for a weekend trips. By joining Weekends R Us, your winery will receive additional exposure while attaining new consumers who are searching for weekend excursions. The best part is, any activities, dining, events,

5 festivals or tourism venues can be listed on the site for free! Registration is quick and easy. Individual page formats can include usage of text, contact information, pictures, logos and videos. So, if you’re looking to publicize your winery, join some of the other North Carolina vinyards, and sign up at www.weekendsrus.com.

- Taken from “From The Cellar” Vol 2, Issue 3, North Carolina Grape & Wine Council newsletter: http://www.nccommerce.com/en/TourismServices/NurtureWineAndGrapeIndustry

Quote of the Week

“White Elk Vineyards of Keokuk, Iowa. Established in 1869 by Hiram Barney of New York, the one hundred acres of White Elk vines produced, by 1880, up to 30,000 gallons of Concord, Ives, Norton, and Clinton wines a year.” Page 396 of History of Wine in America (see below).

White Elk Vineyards Established in 1869 Neeto-Keeno WWW Stuff

1. Wine Consortium East Research reports: http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/pubs/vitcon/

2. History of Wine in America , 555 pp (entire book is online!): http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft967nb63q&chunk.id=d0e43516&toc.id=&brand=eschol

Past issues archived as html: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Wine/Resources/winegrowernews.htm Past issues archived as pdf: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/ag/newsletters/winegrowers.html

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Please reply with the word "unsubscribe" in the Subject Line if you wish to no longer receive this newsletter. Michael L. White, ISU Extension Viticulture Specialist 909 East 2nd St. Suite E, Indianola, IA 50125-2892 ph: 515-961-6237, fax: 6017 or [email protected]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Many materials can be made available in alternative formats for ADA clients. To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building,

6 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call 202-720-5964.

April 3, 2008

Dear Vineyard and Winery Owners, Operators, and Staff Members:

On behalf of the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) and the Iowa Grape and Wine Development Commission, I want to call to your attention the Iowa Grape and Wine Development Fund’s Scholarship Program. This grant program was set in place by the Commission to provide scholarships to recipients to enhance grape and wine quality in Iowa by increasing accessibility to education.

Approved candidates will be reimbursed up to $400 in an academic year for completed viticulture and enology courses taken from an Iowa community college or university. Eligible courses also include those taken through the online Viticulture and Enology Science and Technology Association (VESTA) program and associated Iowa community colleges.

These documents can be found on IDALS website at http://www.iowaagriculture.gov/Horticulture_and_FarmersMarkets/grapeAndWineCommission.asp and clicking on the “Scholarship Program 2007-2008” and “Scholarship Application” links. If you need paper copies, please contact me and I will be happy to mail you these documents.

I encourage you to share this information with all the members of your operation. This is a great opportunity to enhance an employee’s knowledge of viticulture and enology - and help defray some of the costs of college coursework.

May 1st is the next deadline to submit applications. Currently the program has two deadlines per year – May 1st and November 1st.

If you need more information on the Iowa Grape and Wine Development Fund’s Scholarship Program, please contact me at the phone number or e-mail listed below.

Sincerely,

Paul Ovrom, Project Manager Grape and Wine Development Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship Wallace Building Des Moines IA 50319 Ph. 515-242-1577 Fax 515-242-5015 [email protected] 7 April 4, 2008

Dear Iowa Vineyard Owner:

As a commercial vineyard owner in Iowa you may be eligible to participate in the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s (IDALS) Sensitive Crops Program. The Program’s goal is to establish and maintain a sensitive crops internet database that will alert pesticide applicators of crops that are particularly sensitive to pesticides. To become part of the Sensitive Crops Directory you must complete the attached Producer Registration Form. Please note that, for practical reasons, only vineyards and orchards of an acre or more will be eligible for inclusion in this directory.

This is a voluntary program for both producers and pesticide applicators. In the future, producers, through the use of a username and password, will be able to access their information on this website. When the Sensitive Crops Directory is fully functional, you will be notified via e-mail about the website and on how to access the information that you have provided. Subsequently, producers will be prompted via e-mail on a yearly basis to update their information and to indicate their desire to remain on the database.

In addition, IDALS will make available sensitive-crop-area signage visible to both ground and aerial pesticide applicators. More information on this signage will be forthcoming later this spring.

We hope this will be a program that benefits sensitive crop producers and pesticide applicators alike. Ultimately, it is a volunteer program and its success depends on the information that you provide. If necessary, please make copies of the form, fill out the required information and mail or fax back to Paul Ovrom, Project Manager for Grape and Wine Development, Wallace Building, Des Moines, IA, 50319, (fax) 515-242-5015. To insure your information is provided to pesticide applicators, please return the completed form(s) by April 18th.

Paul will be the IDALS contact person for this project and he can be reached at 515-242-5028 or by e-mail at [email protected]

Sincerely,

Mike Bevins State Horticulturist Bureau of Horticulture and Farmers Markets

8 Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship Sensitive Crops Program Producer Registration Form

Contact Information

Business Name: ______

First Name: ______Last Name: ______

Street Address: ______

Mailing Address (if different): ______

City: ______State: ____ Zip: ______

Phone: ______Cell Phone: ______

E-mail: ______County: ______(be sure to include your e-mail address; in the future, this will be the primary means of contact)

Note: Registration is based on location. If necessary, after filling out the Contact Information, please copy this form if more than three location registrations are needed.

Location of Sensitive Crops: The location of your site can be entered onto the registry by filling out the Township, Range, Section, and Quarter Section details or by providing the Latitude and Longitude. Fill out all or some of the Quarter Section details depending upon the size of the property (see your tax records or abstract for legal descriptions). Please fill out two (or more) Sensitive Crops Location Information boxes if the property straddles two (or more) Sections. Sensitive Crops Location Information

Township: ______Range: ______Section: ______160 Acre Quarter Section: ______40 Acre Quarter of the 160 Acre Quarter Section: ______10 Acre Quarter of the 40 Acre Quarter Section: ______2.5 Acre Quarter of the 10 Acre Quarter Section: ______

Latitude: ______Longitude: ______

Check all that apply:  Orchard  Vineyard  Fruit & Vegetable  Apiary  Organic Total Number of Acres at this Location: ______If Applicable, Name of Organic Certifier: ______

9 Sensitive Crops Location Information

Latitude: ______Longitude: ______

Check all that apply:  Orchard  Vineyard  Fruit & Vegetable  Apiary  Organic Total Number of Acres at this Location: ______If Applicable, Name of Organic Certifier: ______

Sensitive Crops Location Information

Latitude: ______Longitude: ______

Check all that apply:  Orchard  Vineyard  Fruit & Vegetable  Apiary  Organic Total Number of Acres at this Location: ______If Applicable, Name of Organic Certifier: ______