Welcome and Announcements Nick Frey, Sonoma County Winegrape Commission’s Executive Director, and meeting facilitator Laura Breyer welcomed new and returning participants to the 7th year of Grower Appellation Meetings. Held once a month during the growing season in Alexander Valley, Dry Creek Valley, Russian River Valley, and Sonoma Valley we have an agenda of timely viticultural topics to facilitate participatory discussions. Over 90 people attended the sessions this month.

Announcements included: Ø Joe Browde from the Code of Sustainable Winegrowing gave an update on the Air Quality chapter and indicted that workshops to bring new participants on board as well as workshops to advance specific subjects would be upcoming. Reassessments will help keep the targeted education on-track and relevant. Progress reports are online – check them out! www.sustainablewinegrowing.org The Code may help defer regulations and is a proactive approach by growers to lead their own futures into sustainability. We are getting good press and have lead stories in Practical Wineries and Vineyards and the Wine Spectator. This Sustainable Winegrowing program will be the Wine Institute and CAWG’s signature program. One third of the acreage in Sonoma County has been assessed. Ø Turkey damage? Let Rhonda know. A UC researcher has a grant to study it and they are looking for sites. Must have deer fencing and ideally with no ground squirrels.

Old Business Our last regular meeting was in July 2006. Harvest met with challenges, including high levels of botrytis. Delayed dormant applications of lime sulfur will probably not affect the outcome of botrytis at harvest.

Review Cooperator’s Block a) Russian River Appellation—Host Dennis Devitt at Laguna Ranch Owls are present in the boxes and working on the gopher and vole populations. First spray is eminent, even with the stunting in pinot brought on by the cool weather. Potentially a lot of crop judging from the flower clusters. All varieties look good. First spray will be Kocide and JMS oil. Applied Mg and B post harvest last season. Used borosol after pruning. Will be adding Zn for 2 sprays post bloom. Predaceous mites plentiful, as usual. No pest issues at this time. Gallo is working on the flavor chemistry behind cabernet.

b) Sonoma Valley Appellation—Hosts Tom Gore and Mel Dagowitz and at Barricia Vineyard Block 1 old zin is budswell to Q-tip, block 10 merlot is Q-tip to 2” growth. Last year’s wine from the merlot was highly rated. Diane Kenworthy’s efforts to rebalance the quadrilateral system to a lower fruit:shoot ratio apparently paid off. The insectary hedgerow may be contributing more predators in the vineyard and the resultant reduced mite pressure observed in the old zin last year.

c) Dry Creek Valley Appellation—Host Richard Rued at Rued Vineyard Richard is preparing for his first treatment. Pierce’s disease issues continue, and have actually increased due to increased vegetation in Dry Creek. The dam has eliminated winter flood scouring and provides flow year-round. One strategy is to use 0.5 oz/ac Provado when blue-green sharpshooter yellow sticky trap counts show flights into vineyards, then 2 more treatments at 0.75 oz/ac each. This will use 2 oz/ac total of Provado and provide 3 treatments. The use of Surround to repel sharpshooters can help reduce PD incidence, too. A good discussion as to whether cane pruning or cordon pruning would incur less PD followed. James King with Clendenen Vineyard Mgt has a new ranch with side-by-side cane and cordon blocks and will keep an eye on them to see if there is a difference in PD incidence over time.

d) Alexander Valley Appellation—Host Dana Grande at Jordan Vineyard Cane borers more noticeable this year, and some folks have also been seeing the large green horn worms. Mites are still up and about and we discussed Fugi-mite and Agrimek.

General Topics · Argentine ants – High populations of Argentine ants exacerbate scale and mealybug populations. Argentine ants trail after one another. Our native Grey ant does not. The Grey ant does not interfere with biological control of scale or mealybugs. I monitor Argentine ant populations by going to 5 vines in the area of concern. Near the head of each vine I estimate the number of ants in a roughly 3”x5” area and obtain the average. To me, an average of 20 or more ants in the 3”x5” area is a high population. Lorsban has been the only material registered for use against Argentine ants. Gourmet Liquid Ant Bait is now also registered. Gourmet is a 1% boric acid in sugar solution and its low toxicity allows many ants to feed, bringing the material back to the nest where the whole colony is killed. The special local needs (SLN) registration for Gourmet states its use is for organic vineyards since Lorsban has the SLN for conventional crops. However, neither Sonoma nor Napa county Ag Commissioners will be pressing this issue. Gourmet Liquid Ant Bait is used in a bait station which can be constructed by UC blueprints, or the KM Ant Pro can be purchased from Wilbur-Ellis. 15 stations per acre are recommended. Walsh Vineyard Mgt in Napa has the 96 oz plastic bottles needed for the UC stations. Materials for the UC stations run from $10 to $15 depending on sourcing. John Schuster of Wild Wing in Cotati may be building them to order. If the ants are already in your vines tending the scale/mealybug, the bait stations will not be effective. Report bait use one time on your monthly pesticide use report when the stations are put out. Esteem ant bait is not for Argentine ants. It is a protein bait, where Argentine ants have a big sweet tooth.

§ Spaders – A good discussion about using spaders for vineyard floor management ensued at the Russian River meeting. A thorough review in the Wine Business Monthly was referred to. Go to WWW.winebusiness.com and look under product reviews.

Heads up § GWSS – Several finds by county inspectors already this year. The GWSS grower initiated trapping program continues this year with coordination by SCWGC. § Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) – This tortricid moth is similar to California’s orange tortrix and omnivorous leafrollers. It causes damage by feeding in the cluster and causing rot. It is established in northern California, though not found in Napa or Sonoma counties thus far. It is native to Australia, feeds on more than 250 plants (including eucalyptus), and currently has no natural parasites keeping it in check here. Moving fruit from an infested county to an uninfested county will be an issue. Keep alert for small to medium sized worms in clusters from set to harvest. Our Ag Commissioner has pheromone traps out to help detect presence of males.

Monitoring Points § Cutworms – Count the number of buds damaged on 5 vines. Recount the next day. If no increase, then cutworms have finished damage. Also, you can note the amount of damage per cane/cordon. If only one or two buds are damaged, including the small pin-prick size hole on a bud close to the head, this is an indication that you’ve caught the damage early and treatment may be worthwhile. Contact materials would be of little use unless sprayed at night. An insect growth regulator such as Intrepid might be effective, or a BT product such as Dipel. Damage is usually localized and limited to approximately 2 weeks. I have only made 1 recommendation for cutworm treatment since the damage is just about over by the time treatment can be made, and new buds push quickly. Look for fat brown hairless caterpillars under the bark, or hiding in trash directly at the base of the vine. They feed at night and turn into a large brown night-flying moth. Deer can also cause similar damage. What is it? § Oak root fungus (Armillaria mellea ) in a 7 year old pinot vineyard planted on an old apple orchard. Scattered vines. Wood under bark of rootstock is soft and decaying with an orange color and, when fresh, a musty mushroom odor. Bark can be white and flaky, but § Pinot Leaf Curl – this is what I call the curling of pinot leaves 1” to 3” across after a cool spell. This year it occurred when shoots were short. If the growing tip was just above the developing clusters, you may see the growing tip die and a dense bunching of shoots emerge. The curled leaves may die and fall off, or may persist with the mid-rib shortened and curled under. Botrytis may follow, but is not the cause. My guess is that it is a physiological reaction (a biochemical response?) and I have seen it in all varieties of pinot. Several pinot vineyards in Sonoma county suffered freeze damage this winter, as well. Dead spurs, and in some cases, dead cordons were the result. Pruning a week or two before the intense cold seemed to result in more damage. § “Cinch Bugs” – Those little lygus bugs are actually called “black grass bugs”, and are not the “false cinch bugs” in the Pest Mangement Manual. Closely related, but not the same (thank you Lucia Varela, via Don Mitchell). Adjourn - Thanks for coming!