Cornell Cooperative Extension Ing While I Was in Western New York
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Newsletter #6 August 24, 2007 grad school at UC-Davis, I learned about grape farm- Cornell Cooperative Extension ing while I was in western New York. What I mean Finger Lakes Grape Program by that is that I learned quickly that everything you do in a vineyard has an associated cost, whether that In This Issue: cost is in terms of money, labor or time, and benefits that are gained by incurring those costs, whether in • Meet the New Viticulturist productivity, fruit quality, or improved profitability. • Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle: The practices that we recommend in agricultural Ex- tension always need to take that cost/benefit balance Friend or Foe? into account. One of my major challenges in the • Petiole Testing: An Important Tool Finger Lakes is to balance those considerations with the needs of the various markets that this region’s for Vineyard Nutrient Management grape industry serves, which range from juice proc- • FLGP Assists with Leafroll Survey, essors who pay for maximum tonnage at a minimum quality standard, to small farm wineries that are de- Harvest Sampling Projects manding the highest quality possible out of their fruit • Upcoming Events in order to compete with some of the best wineries in the world. • 2007 NY Grape Price List In addition to helping growers deal with the day-to- day and season-to-season questions and issues that arise in the vineyards, like site selection and prepara- MEET THE NEW FINGER LAKES VITICULTURIST tion, vine nutrition, pest management decisions and Hans Walter-Peterson the like, I think part of my job is also to try to look down the road a bit and anticipate issues that might I know it might seem a bit late to be be heading the industry’s way. Here are a few that I doing this, but it seemed like a good see coming at us that the FLGP can possibly play time to introduce myself to those of some kind of role in addressing (these probably you the Finger Lakes grape and wine aren’t terribly shocking to most of you, and you can industry that I haven’t had the chance probably think of others): to meet yet, let you know a little bit about myself, and share a few initial • Labor supply – This is obviously a major issue thoughts as to where I see the Finger for agriculture in general, not just grape growers Lakes Grape Program (FLGP) being able to help the in the Finger Lakes. But if we are going to be region’s grape industry. able to keep producing quality fruit at somewhat competitive prices, regardless of the final prod- As most of you probably know, I served the grape uct that fruit is destined for (juice, wine, fresh industry in western New York and Pennsylvania as market), we need to know what options are the viticulturist for the Lake Erie Regional Grape available and practical, whether those are new or Program for a little less than 6 years. I have said modified governmental programs, or new prac- many times that, while I learned about viticulture in tices and technologies that might reduce our de- pendence on an uncertain legal migrant labor against my better judgment sometimes, but have de- force. veloped a passing interest in the Buffalo Bills (also against my better judgment). I love to cook but • Water management – Thanks to being in a cli- don’t take the time to do it often enough, and I have mate where we normally receive rainfall during become a serious fan of Riesling since coming to the growing season, we have probably not paid New York, and have been working on converting my enough attention historically to managing soil family into ones as well. moisture and vine water status. Research done by people like Terry Bates in Fredonia, Alan So there are a few things about me in a nutshell. I Lakso in Geneva, and Andy Reynolds in Ontario am always open to your suggestions and ideas about have shown that the water status of our soils and what the Finger Lakes Grape Program can do to help vines are far more influential in the productivity, you and the industry here, so please feel free to get in fruit quality and winter survival of vineyards than touch with me to share them anytime. I look forward has been understood in the past. This is likely to getting to know more of you and to working with going to become more important as projected you in the years to come. changes to our climate over the next few decades make this a more pertinent issue. • Fruit Quality and Productivity – If that’s not a Hans catch-all phrase for viticulture, I’m not sure what is, but I think it is central to the continued suc- cess of this region’s grape and grape product in- MULTICOLORED ASIAN LADY BEETLE: dustries. As the globalization of our markets FRIEND OR FOE? continues, there is constant pressure to continue Tim Weigle to innovate and improve our viticultural practices NYS IPM Program so that this industry can remain competitive in the future. I have been impressed with some of Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle (MALB) may soon the things that I have seen in the vineyards here be doing its transformation from Dr. Jekyll into Mr. in the Finger Lakes so far, but I know there are Hyde in area vineyards as soybean fields start to dry other improvements that can be made. Are we down and grape harvest gets underway. using the best rootstocks, varieties and trellis op- tions on our sites? What practices and technolo- Do We Need To Spray? gies can we employ that will maximize winter It is important to remember that Dr. Jekyll is the hardiness? How do we adjust our practices to dominant personality for MALB and Mr. Hyde ap- optimize fruit quality when Mother Nature pears only at harvest and rarely at levels where con- throws us curveballs during the growing season trol is warranted. MALB does not attack sound (i.e., how do we make the best possible lemonade grapes and is typically found in vineyards only on from the lemons that we’re given)? grapes that have been split by damage from other pests such as grape berry moth, bees and/or birds as Like I said, these are just a few initial thoughts that I they search for sugar before they hibernate. have had, and I look forward to hearing yours as well in the years ahead. A recent addition to the list of pests of grapes, the Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle was introduced into A little bit about myself? Well, I spent most of my the United States a number of times as a beneficial childhood in a small suburb outside of Philadelphia, insect, most notably for control of aphids in pecan but I’m a Minnesotan at heart, because that’s where orchards. Once established, MALB has spread and my family is from originally, and where they live can be found in most areas of the continental United now. My wife, Amy, is a pastor in the Lutheran States with the exception of parts of the Southwest as church, and also a native Minnesotan. If you have well as Montana and Wyoming. every listened to A Prairie Home Companion’s Gar- rison Keillor talk about his hometown, Lake Wobe- Why Is MALB Worse in Some Years Than Oth- gon, you’ll have a general sense of what kind of ers? stock we come from. We are both singers, which is One of the contributing factors in the move from un- part of the genetic code of Minnesota Lutherans, I known to grape pest was the introduction of the Chi- think. I root for the Vikings during football season, nese Soybean Aphid, one of the preferred food sources for MALB. Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle spots ranging from no spots to is know to be an excellent predator and will move as many as fourteen. The one great distances in search of prey. It is this ability to common identifier for the move great distances that create problems for the MALB is the ‘W’ or ‘M’, de- vineyards of the Finger Lakes and Lake Erie regions. pending on which direction you As the soybean fields start to dry down in the fall, are looking, found on the soybean aphid populations crash as their food source pronotum (the white colored disappears. Multicolored Asian Lady Beetles also area just behind the head). While the average adult leave these fields as populations of their primary is 1/3-inch long, Kawauchi (1979) found that larvae food source, the soybean aphid, are reduced. It is not reared at higher temperatures produced smaller completely clear where the next stop in their journey adults so we may be looking at smaller MALB adults is during the weeks between soybean fields drying this year. down and the grapes reaching a sugar level where they are attractive to MALB. What is clear is that As mentioned previously, MALB is rarely a pest of MALB can travel great distances to area vineyards. grapes and often times populations that are found In the Lake Erie region, we monitor aphid popula- one day when it is warm and sunny are gone the next tions in Ohio and Ontario as well as Pennsylvania if it turns cloudy and cool. A week prior to harvest and New York soybean fields to determine the po- is a good time to get out and start looking in vine- tential for MALB populations to build.