What is that white powder?
So I was lucky enough to go on a bike ride through the Dry Creek area of Sonoma County this afternoon - I don't think the weather gets better than this!
As I was riding I noticed one vineyard where the vines were a "whiteish" color - actually only about half the vineyard was like this.
Can anyone tell me what this would have been, what is it used for and how does it affect the fruit.
Thanks
As I was riding I noticed one vineyard where the vines were a "whiteish" color - actually only about half the vineyard was like this.
Can anyone tell me what this would have been, what is it used for and how does it affect the fruit.
Thanks
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Andrew on -
An attempt to deal with an infestation, or a recreation of the cropduster scene from North by Northwest?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053125/ One of Hitch's finest moments....
Andrew
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Permalink Reply by Steven on -
Ah! so I found out a closer answer to this. The white powder is a form of clay powder that is used for one of two reasons:
1. To protect the vines from the sun, if they are in an over exposed area; or
2. To protect against the Glassywing sharpshooter - apparently they do not like the taste of the "clay"
So I am guessing that as this area sprayed is on the road side and not close to a creek, it is probably being used for 1. above.
If anyone has any additional info. that would be great - this is what I have come up with so far.
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Permalink Reply by Steve Snyder on -
Looks like they are trying to combat a really bad outbreak of something. Looks like overkill for Powdery Mildew and more likely some type of insect infestation. I've never seen a spray that thick in a vineyard before.
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Permalink Reply by Steven on
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I have seen this at one other vineyard and it is the same each year, seeing this at a second vineyard had led me to think it was a specific purpose as opposed to a "treatment" for something not good.
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Permalink Reply by Alana Gentry on -
I asked a winemaker friend and he said it is most likely sulfur (also spelled Sulphur) but can be something else. As I was driving through Sonoma last week in my convertible, my friend said, "smell that sulfur"...so my vote is that it is fairly benign sulphur.
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Permalink Reply by Andrew on
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From the Oxford Companion to Wine:
"In the vineyard, sulphur products are widely used to protect vines against both powdery mildew and downy mildew."
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Permalink Reply by Steve Snyder on
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I spray sulphur every couple of weeks on my vineyard. While it stinks like 4th of July out there it doesn't turn the leaves white like that... Could be many different sprays, the two most common are sulphur and copper sulfate (among dozens of different types of sprays).
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Permalink Reply by Amanda / Administrator on -
When passing these vines (I'm wondering) are you on a dirt road or a paved road and what is the volume of traffic?
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Permalink Reply by Steven on
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Not on a direct road - so it is not the "dust" and it is a medium busy back road, it is hard to see from the picture but it covers an area about 75 yrds out from the vineyard edge. If I get a chance I am going to go over to where I have seen this before and see if it is the same this year - the white powder mystery continues?
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Permalink Reply by Amanda / Administrator on
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Hmmm - Road Dust is ruled out - CSI-VSS
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Permalink Reply by Andrew on
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Another possibility:
"ScienceDaily (Sep. 12, 2002) — Milk and other dairy products can be as effective as some conventional fungicides in controlling powdery mildew in vineyards, according to new research by the University of Adelaide in Australia."
"The most successful treatments Mr Crisp has trialled so far are milk and whey (the liquid waste from cheese production). The milk is diluted to 1/10th of its normal strength, and the whey 1/3rd, and the solutions sprayed onto the grapevine leaves and immature grapes. The solutions work well on most grape cultivars and, importantly, don't appear to affect the quality of the grapes and hence the finished wine product, although this needs to be evaluated experimentally. The success of milk as a control of powdery mildew on grapevines supports earlier research on zucchini in Brazil."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/09/020912071438.htm
mmmm zucchini!
Andrew
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