Protecting your grape vines from Pests and Disease

Yea - they're having sex right in front of you and they don't care one bit

Does this look familiar?  No, they won't eat your virgin berries hanging from the vine but they arrive in mass and you don't do anything about it, they will destroy your leaves.  Your vine will product more leaves but if you're like me, you want to look at your vines as a beautiful element in your home landscape.  

What to do.  You can intervene by pouring a little gasoline into a glass container and walk around your vines with the container directly below a leaf (like the one above) , and then flick the leave and they'll all tumble into the gas.  It's very quick for them and there's no having to crunch them between your fingers, unless you like that feeling. Either way you get the same results. 

You can also spray.  It's not too late.  Go to your local HW or agriculture store like Agway or Blue Seal and ask for a consumer based insecticide.  Most likely you'll find an all purpose fruit spray that includes a fungicide.  If you haven't been spraying a fungicide it's not going to hurt your vines.  If you have had disease on your vines in the past and have not addressed that issue this year yet, it may very well, be too late.  In grape diseases, like fruit tree disease, the disease may have already attached itself to what looks like a healthy berry or fruit.  The disease becomes apparent as the fruit or berry matures late in the summer.  

If you'd like more information on how to protect against pests and disease don't hesitate to contact me.