Southwest Michigan Horticultural Days held February 8/9, 2006 at Lake Michigan College, Mendal Center was attended by over 400 participants. The exhibit hall was filled with thirty eight various exhibitors, which displayed, fruit, sprayers, chemicals, irrigation equipment and numerous other items.
Various topic were covered on tree fruit, small fruit, vegetables and grapes. Out of state speakers came from the Cornell University, University of Massachusetts and Glassboro, New Jersey. There were also various speakers from Michigan State University.
Again this year, the Wine Tasting reception was well received with local wineries donating some of the wine.
The Michigan Grape Society would like to thank all the exhibitors for their participation and all the participants who attended.

Recently the Farm Service Agency and Nation Grape announced that cash payments are available for Concord grape growers. Trade Adjustment Assistance, (TAA), is a program developed by the Federal Government to help industries affected by foreign competition. These cash payments are designed to help ease the impact of reduced prices and not to replace lost income. The program was designed for industries that needed time to adapt to changing industry conditions. TAA also contains provisions for educational benefits for those who need to modify their business model or transition into another industry. To participate a grower needs to have produced Concord grapes in 2004 and their farm income in 2004 was less than in 2003. Growers also need to participate in a free educational program delivered by MSU Extension focused on the Concord grape industry, farm financial management and alternate agricultural enterprises available to grape growers.

The income loss requirement in 2004 means that many Michigan producers will not meet the lost income provisions because their farm income in 2004 was greater than 2003. There are several reasons why the 2004 income could be greater than 2003. A severe frost in 2003 reduced the crop and growers had a bigger crop in 2004 when Michigan set record grape yields. Also, 2004 was a year when growers could file for disaster payments from either 2002 (cool bloom and poor fruit set) or 2003 (spring frost and poor yields).

I would urge all grape growers to sign up at their county USDA/FSA office. The deadline for signup is June 26. Growers need to determine if there are any other USDA forms and requirements they need such as Farm Conservation plans. While these forms are not required for the TAA educational benefits they are required for growers who received farm payments for the USDA.

They say that scouting is the foundation of IPM, but how beneficial is it to Michigan grape growers? For the past two growing seasons, Michigan State University has worked with southwest Michigan grape growers to answer this question. Two projects that ended in 2005 both indicate that weekly scouting helps confidence in pest management and allows growers to improve vineyard management by better timing of sprays or by spraying only when needed.

In one project, research technicians visited seven farms (4 juice and 3 wine) each week to scout one vineyard through the 2004 and 2005 growing seasons and told the grower what they found. End-of-season interviews with the seven growers found that on average, one insecticide and one fungicide spray was saved by receiving the scouting information. Wine grape growers were much less likely to cut sprays because of their very high quality standards, but scouting during the dry summer of 2005 meant that juice growers saved money by skipping some downy mildew sprays. One grower said that he found value in just “knowing what was out there” even though he didn’t save any sprays, while another saved over $50 per acre by using the scouting information to adjust his spray program to the pest complex in his vineyards.

Instead of research technicians doing the scouting, in 2005 we worked with a larger group of 14 growers to see what happened if they were trained in how to scout their vineyards, given scouting sheets, and then they scouted their own acreage through the summer. These growers have a total of 1300 acres of grape, with each of them scouting about 20 acre sections on their farm. Most of the fourteen cooperators in this project said they found the scout training sessions valuable and that their scouting helped them tailor their spray program to the pests that were present. From 0-4 pesticide sprays were saved on these vineyards without a loss of quality, with an average savings of 1.1 fungicides and 0.7 insecticides per scouted acre.

Scouting takes time to do well, and time is money. Of the fourteen growers who did their own scouting, it took them 1-1.5 hours per week and most of them found it valuable enough to plan to continue scouting their own farms this year. If you are not sure exactly how to do your own vineyard pest scouting, there will be a series of free evening workshops put on by MSU Extension this summer to train growers in vineyard IPM scouting (see below). If you really don’t have time, someone on your farm could come to the classes and learn how to scout as part of their job, or you could hire an independent scout in your area to do this job. Many suppliers of agricultural products can also provide scouting as part of their service to your farm.

In summary, scouting should be considered an important input into your farm operation. It will help you keep ahead of potential pest problems, identify hot-spots on the farm that need special attention, and should allow you to save some sprays when the scouting indicates there’s little pest pressure. As one of the growers in this project said last fall when asked what the benefits of scouting were to him “First of all, peace of mind. Most importantly, a clean crop. I don’t like to see disease and insects after it happens. I want to be first.”

To learn more about vineyard IPM scouting, attend these free evening workshops from MSU Extension this summer. More details will follow, but please put these dates on your calendar.

Thursday June 15 – Tim Seppala’s Farm, Lawton
Thursday July 20 – Bob Dongvillo’s Farm, Berrien Springs
Thursday August 17 – Jeff Lemon’s Farm, Berrien Springs

Advertising in the Michigan Grape Society Newsletter

Full page ad: $250
Half page ad: $150
Quarter page ad: $75
Ad of 50 words: $50
Ad of 30 words: $25

This year will be the sixth growing season that MSU Extension has sponsored luncheon discussions and field trips to Southwest Michigan vineyards and wineries. We have shared ideas and experiences among those involved with both wine grape and wine production in Southwest Michigan and once in Northwest Michigan. Topics have involved research projects and grower experiences with varieties and various cultural practices. We rely on stakeholder input where everyone in our small but growing industry offers topics and locations for a meeting. These are field-oriented meetings rather than indoor seminars. Often we learn from looking at problems in vineyards as well as things going well. Please send your contribution of possible topics to us as soon as you can -- by email or phone to either contact Al Gaus (gaus@msu.edu; 269-944-4126) or Tom Zabadal (zabadal@msu.edu; 269-944-1477 x 206).

With access to the internet, you can get the latest weather information for Michigan grape production regions, and see what our weekly vineyard scouting at four southwest Michigan farms has revealed. The MSU grape website can be found at www.grapes.msu.edu. There are many features of this site tailored to the state’s grape growers but the most useful for during the growing season are weather and scouting reports.

Weather information for grape production has improved recently with the addition of two weather stations to the system. One is at the Oxley farm in Lawton and another at the Dongvillo farm in Scottdale. By clicking on the ‘weather’ link, a page appears where you can select the station nearest to your farm and then look at rain, temperature, and growing degree days. As degree-day models are developed for crop estimation, disease infection and insect development, they will be incorporated into this system.

Each week during 2005, MSU technicians will be visiting four farms in southwest Michigan (2 wine and 2 juice) to scout for insects and diseases. The scouting will be late in the week and early the next week a report of this will be posted at the website. Click on the link to the scouting reports from the front page of the website to access the latest copy.

If you have a spare 10 minutes some time and can access the internet (or someone can help you with it), take a look at this site and look through the information on weather, pest information, pesticides, cultural practices etc. There should be something useful there for anyone involved in grape production in Michigan. If you have any feedback on the site, please send an email message to the website manager at landisj@msu.edu.

It Is Not Too Late For “Dormant” Sprays Against Phomopsis In Grapes
Annemiek Schilder, MSU Department of Plant Pathology

Lime sulfur (calcium polysulfide) has traditionally been used as a dormant spray in crops such as apples and raspberries to eradicate pathogens and insects that overwinter in or on woody plant parts. The disadvantage of lime sulfur is that it is odorous, corrosive and relatively expensive. In grapes, we have done several years of trials with dormant sprays, especially looking at more affordable alternatives such as sulfur and copper. Sprays were applied in late dormancy (budswell) for control of Phomopsis viticola, the fungus that causes Phomopsis cane and leaf spot. The trials showed that a single late-dormant application could reduce Phomopsis rachis and fruit infection at harvest by 40-70%. We also saw reductions in black rot, powdery mildew, anthracnose, and downy mildew as a result of dormant sprays, although downy mildew was only reduced by copper and not by sulfur.

In 2005, we tested whether “dormant” sprays applied at 1-2 inches of shoot growth (versus at budswell) were still effective at controlling Phomopsis in ‘Niagara’ grapes. This was indeed the case (Table 1), however, Sulfur 6L appeared to perform a little better at that timing than Cuprofix. We have to keep in mind, however, that the 2005 season was rather unusual, so these results have to be confirmed by more trials, but at least they are encouraging.

 We did not see any phytotoxicity as a result of these treatments in ‘Niagara’ grapes, even when applied at the 1-2 inch shoot. Of course there is a concern about sulfur sensitivity of ‘Concord’ grapes, and therefore we are not recommending sulfur sprays after bud break in ‘Concord’ at this time. We did not see any phytotoxicity in ‘Concord’ grapes in from Sulfur 6L applied at budswell. Phytotoxicity can only occur when there is green tissue present. While there is a chance of redistribution of material by rain from canes to newly developing leaves, it is not very likely, especially with a ‘sticky’ product like Sulfur 6L. Also, the concentration of redistributed product would be much lower than the original spray solution. Furthermore, sulfur phytotoxicity is less likely at temperatures below 85ºF. In contrast, copper phytotoxicity is more likely during cool, wet conditions but ‘Concord’ and ‘Niagara’ are only slightly copper sensitive, lessening the concern. In summary, copper and sulfur appear safe on both cultivars when applied before bud break. After bud break, it is probably best not to use sulfur on Concord grapes unless further studies show otherwise. For all dormant applications, it is important to ensure good coverage of the canes by focusing nozzles of spray equipment on the trellis.

Dormant sprays should not be used as a stand-alone disease control measure. An additional mancozeb spray around mid-May (5-8” shoot growth) when Phomopsis is expected to be most active may be beneficial. A strobilurin fungicide, such as Abound, applied at bloom or at 1st post-bloom is also recommended to provide additional protection of the clusters against Phomopsis as well as black rot, powdery mildew, and downy mildew.

For your information, the company that makes Cuprofix Disperss (Cerexagri, Inc.) is in the process of changing the product formulation. This means that both the old and new formulation of Cuprofix may be difficult to find. The new formulation is called Cuprofix Ultra 40 Disperss and is twice as concentrated (and twice the price), so adjust the application rate accordingly (follow the label). I like Cuprofix because it is efficacious, disperses well in the tank and does not seem to clog nozzles. However, there are plenty of other copper products out there (Kocide, Champ, etc.) that can also be used as dormant sprays –however, most have not been tested specifically for efficacy, and some are harder to keep in suspension than others.

Council Appointments - Wine Grape Grower Representative
Individuals who are interested in serving a two year term on the Michigan Grape and Wine Industry Council (optional renewal for a second two-year term) are invited to contact Linda Jones at the Council office 517 373-9789 for more information or visit the Appointments section of the State of Michigan website http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-21984---,00.html or call the Governor's Appointments office at 517 335-7812.

Michigan Wine Industry E-news
Linda Jones issues a monthly e-newsletter to members of the industry, via e-mail. Past issues can be viewed on the Council's website at www.michiganwines.com under Industry Resources. If you wish to receive each new issue automatically via e-mail, please send an e-mail to Karel Bush at bushk9@michigan.gov. The Council has a double opt-in policy for its e-newsletter, so you need to request to be added to the distribution list and then re-confirm via e-mail. You can unsubscribe at any time.

April is Michigan Wine Month
Thanks to the many wineries that have jumped on board with the move of Michigan Wine Month to April with web site announcements, special events and new release wines. The 2006 edition of Michigan Wine Country is now in distribution. Copies can be requested on-line at www.michiganwines.com or by phone 517 241-1207.

MichiganWines.com Web Site Changes
Industry Resources: The "Industry Resources" link has moved off the home page, to the upper right navigation bar on all other pages of the site. You may want to bookmark this section of the site for information about upcoming meetings, POS order forms, Council reports, etc.

Annual Wine Industry Meeting PowerPoint Presentations These are now available on the industry Resources section of the website:

Wine Consumers Look at Michigan Wines and Wineries
Karen Peterson, Davidson Peterson Associates

It's All About the Sale: Direct Marketing
E Slater, In Short Direct Marketing

It's All About the Sale: Tasting Room
E Slater, In Short Direct Marketing

Best Shipping Opportunities for Michigan Wineries
Bill Nelson, WineAmerica

Delivering on Your Promise, Todd Fuller, FedEx

Profile of a Bankable Winery, Dave Berman, Wells Fargo

Julian-Stille Value-added Grants
In late March, the Michigan Legislature introduced some bills that will result in changes to the competitive grant program "Innovation through Agriculture" (also known as the "Julian-Stille Value-Added Program"). Until the complete details of the program are finalized, MDA has postponed grant-writing workshops that were planned across the state to assist potential applicants in developing sound proposals.

Uncorked 2006: The Grape and Wine Industry Conference and Trade Show, Niagara College, Niagara on the Lake, Ontario June 5-6, 2006
This conference is a joint initiative of the Grape Growers of Ontario (GGO) and the Wine Council of Ontario (WCO) and Stanpac. CCOVI at Brock University is pleased to renew its sponsorship of this event by providing support in the organization and planning of the conference. For more information, and to register online, visit www.uncorked.info.

MSU Commences Growing Season Reports
A new issue of MSU's Fruit CAT Alert has been posted at: www.ipm.msu.edu

Trevor Nichols Research Complex is a Michigan State University research facility specializing in fruit pest (insects) research. We have positions open for college student summer employment. Successful applicants will be involved in lab and field based research involving fruit insect pests, including insect monitoring and pest damage evaluations. Other activities will include work with laboratory colonies of insects and involvement with insect bioassays. This is a 40-hour per week position, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Compensation is 9.00 per hour.
For more information or to set up an interview contact:  Ryan Vander Poppen (vanderp6@msu.edu)