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Pennsylvania Vineyard Pests Under Control with IPM - February 2005

February 9, 2005

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA - Pest damage is on the decline in two vineyards in the Lake Erie Region, thanks to a Penn State Cooperative Extension and the Pennsylvania IPM program.

There are approximately 30,000 acres of vineyard in the Lake Erie region of New York and Pennsylvania grown on 840 farms, making it the largest grape growing region outside of California. According to Andy Muza, extension educator in Erie County, "Grape berry moth (GBM) is the most important insect pest of grapes in this region. GBM larvae feed on flower clusters and grape berries and can cause substantial economic losses in commercial vineyards, as well as grapes being rejected at processing plants because of contamination by GBM". Growers were looking for a new management strategy in their high-risk vineyards, and turned to Penn State Cooperative Extension for help.

Sponsored in part by a grant through Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences' Extension IPM mini-grants program, Muza developed a GBM management program that involves integrating pheromone-mating disruption along with insect growth regulators and conventional insecticides. These management tactics are all used in an integrated pest management, or IPM, program. IPM aims to manage pests -- such as insects, diseases, weeds and animals -- by combining physical, biological and chemical tactics that are safe, profitable and environmentally compatible.

The project involves two growers with a history of high grape berry moth populations. Pheromone dispensers were placed in two high-risk vineyard blocks. Pheromones are chemicals produced by insects to communicate with other individuals of their species. Typically, female insects use pheromones to attract males over long distances. "Mating disruption using pheromones works by shutting down the male moth's ability to locate females. Sticky traps baited with pheromone were used to indicate how well the disruption was working. The fewer GBM males the traps caught, the better the control system was working. Clearly, the pheromones did their job because we were only able to capture 13 GBM the entire season in both vineyard blocks, compared to over 200 in a typical growing season," says Muza.

Because injury levels were still high in the vineyard's border areas, insecticides were also applied to targeted areas. Even in the highly damaged border areas, however, injury levels were still lower than in previous seasons. "Most importantly, we noticed cluster and berry injury levels dropped dramatically away from border areas. This was in contrast to previous seasons where injury levels remained high even in the interiors of these vineyards," says Muza.

The growers were also very satisfied with the program and plan to participate during the 2005 season. "Growers of one vineyard commented that they finally got GBM under control and the grapes look better than they have in last five years or more. The other grower said that there was some GBM along the South border, but it really wasn't a problem this year, thanks to the program".

Growers expressed that the most important measure of the program's success was acceptance by grape processors of their grapes. "Cooperators were contacted after harvest and they informed me that no loads were rejected by processors from these vineyard blocks, " Muza states.

The project will continue through two more growing seasons, during which conventional insecticide applications will be removed from the management program if GBM population levels have been sufficiently reduced. For more information, contact Muza at (814) 725-4601 or email at ajm4@psu.edu.

For the past three years, Penn State's Extension IPM Program has funded projects that facilitate the adoption of environmentally sound pest management practices by Pennsylvania farmers, rural and urban pest managers, and homeowners/renters. The mini-grants program annually selects a number of proposed projects that develop and promote practical, locally based IPM programs. The program is supported through USDA-CSREES formula funds earmarked for IPM program development.

The Pennsylvania IPM program is a collaboration between the Pennsylvania State University and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture aimed at promoting integrated pest management in both agricultural and nonagricultural situations. For more information, contact the program at (814) 865-2839, or Web site http://paipm.cas.psu.edu/. To view our archived news releases, see Web site http://paipm.cas.psu.edu/10.htm.