Enclosed in this newsletter is a tentative program for the Southwest Michigan Hort Days, February 5th and 6th, at Lake Michigan College, Mendal Center in Benton Harbor, Michigan. The pre-registration form for Hort Days and Michigan Grape Society Dues renewal form in also enclosed. The deadline for pre-registration for Hort Days is January 30th, 2003. Pre-registration cost is $15.00 and after the deadline and at the door the fee will be $20.00. Please print names clearly on the pre-registration forms as we will be making name badges.

The Michigan Grape Society form for dues may be mailed any time or paid at the Hort Days Show. As voted on last year at the annual meeting, the fee for dues is now $15.00. Please make all checks payable to Michigan Grape Society and mail to the address on the form.

If you have any questions regarding registration please contact Jerri Pursley at the MSU Extension Office at 269-657-7745 or email: pursleyj@msue.msu.edu.

Dr. Mike Saunders, will be at Southwest Horticultural Days, February 6, 2003. The title of his presentation is “Predicting Grape Berry Moth Development”.

Dr. Saunders is currently researching two areas, the first is studying the ecology and management of insects affecting viticultural systems. His current research includes the population dynamics, diapause inititiation and termination of the grape berry moth, Endopiza viteana, and conducting surveys and bioassays measuring resistance of this insect to carbaryl. In addition, he investigates grape root borer ecology and control in the southeastern counties of Pennsylvania.

His second research area is the development of knowledge based his models for managed and natural systems decision making. His Extension work focuses on education programs regarding IPM in grape production.

Good Fruitful Growth
Two years of poor yields have many Michigan grape growers hoping for a normal year. After spending 8 years here in Southwest Michigan, I no longer know what normal is. I know that the vines will have lots of vigor stored up after two years of low crop and little stress. It was pretty oblivious in the spring of 2002 the vines would have been very fruitful if we had not had a killing frost on April 23. Many vineyards that were hurt by the frost still had good yields at harvest. Most of the fruit came off of secondary buds that were more fruitful than most of us thought they would be. This fruitfulness was due to the light crop in 2001. The grapevines had good growing conditions during the season in 2001. The fact that we had a light crop meant that the vine had extra nutrients. The extra energy was stored in the grape plants and used to develop more fruit buds than we normally see on Michigan juice grapes. I expect that we will see the same thing this coming spring. I expect that the shoots and buds we leave after pruning will be more fruitful that most growers expect them to be. I do not think that growers should be leaving more than they normally do when trimming their vines this winter. Most growers will have a heavier than normal crop, even if they leave the normal number of buds.

More Pests and Disease
After the 2002-growing season and the reduced spray programs many growers used, I expect a real problem with phomopsis and grape berry moth in 2003. I think the best way to control phomopsis is to cover your grapes early so that the spores from last year's infection lesions cannot infect the current season's growth. I think it is important for growers to be aggressive with their early pre-bloom sprays and keep the flower clusters covered with protectant fungicides from the moment they emerge until after they bloom. I become more convinced that the phomopsis infections we see late in the season began before bloom. I think 2003 will be a bad year for phomopsis unless grape growers try to control it early. Powdery mildew and downy mildew will be easier to control because the fungicides we use to control these diseases have back action and we can predict infection periods. With phomopsis we do not see the symptoms of the disease on the fruit until veraison. I often see the black lesions on the stems and leaves before bloom. Even though we do not see the fruit symptoms until late, I feel that the infections took place early in the season.