Enclosed in this newsletter is a tentative program for the Southwest Michigan Hort Days, February 4th and 5th, 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, 2004. Pre-registration cost is $2.00 and after the deadline and at the door the fee will be $25.00. 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. The fee for dues is $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. Wayne Wilcox will be presenting two sessions at the Southwest Hort Days, February 5th, 2004. The first session he will speak about Powdery Mildew and Phomopsis. The second session will be a discussion on the Mode of Action of Grape Fungicides.

Dr. Wayne Wilcox is a native of Northern California. He received a B.S. in Pomology and M.S. and Ph.D in Plant Pathology all from the University of California at Davis. Since 1984, he has been a faculty member of the Department of Plant Pathology at Cornell University’s New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, with responsibilities for applied research and extension programs in fruit crop pathology. He assumed the leadership of Cornell’s research and extension program in grape pathology concentrating on the biology and practical control of the major fungal diseases of this crop.

His role as leader of Cornell’s grape pathology program is to develop and provide new information that will enable grape growers and their advisers to implement improved disease management programs. Other projects have focused on factors concerning disease management tools, e.g., fungicide physical modes of action and the population biology of fungicide resistance.

We have put together another excellent program for grape growers this year. Researchers from Michigan State and Cornell Universities will look at some of the problems of this last growing season and what growers can do to increase their understanding of the vineyard and increasing their farm businesses bottom line. Michigan State researchers will speak on vineyard and pest management as well as the affect that pests and cultural practices have on the health of the vine. This year, Dr. Wayne Wilcox from Cornell University is the featured out-of-state speaker.

Again this year we have a wine tasting the evening before the grape session at the Ramada Inn in Benton Harbor. This is a great opportunity to visit with the speakers and other growers to ask them questions on a one to one basis.

Grape Vine Management
Is there some way that growers can manage their vineyards to allow them to take advantage of good years and harvest heavy crops while weathering poor years without substantial crop losses? Dr. Tom Zabadal will look at managing the growth and pruning juice grapes. He will share his vision of how to achieve the perfect vine.

What does 2004 hold and what can be done to prevent poor crops like in 2001, 2002 and 2003?
Dr. Stan Howell looks back at years past and forward to the future. The last three years have been extreme in the grape industry. It seems as though every possible thing that can go wrong and limit grape yields has in the last three years. In 2001, a cool bloom followed by warm weather caused a heavy berry drop after bloom and resulted in half a crop. In 2002, a hard frost during an early warm April killed the primary buds, so the crop from the secondary buds was only half a normal crop. But those secondary buds were very fruitful because of the light crop in the previous growing season. In 2003, we had the potential for a very heavy crop with very fruitful buds containing 3 or more flower clusters. The 2003 crop was the heaviest in memory and the cool growing season and late frost meant that growers were not able to harvest their grapes before the frosts had killed the vine’s leaves. While the 2003 crop was not a disaster like 2001 and 2002, the crop was still a disappointment because we failed to reach the high potential that was available at the beginning of the season.

Grape Disease Talks
Dr. Wayne Wilcox and MSU grad students will speak on Grape Diseases.

Dr. Wayne Wilcox is the grape pathologist at Cornell and works closely with the New York grape industry. He spoke on grape disease control at the 2001 Grape session and has been asked to return in 2004. Dr. Wilcox will give 2 talks. One will be on grape fungicides and how they work. He will discuss his field trials with Nova and Abound on grape berries inoculated with black rot spores to emphasize the differences in how these two classes of fungicides work. He will also review work done in New York on Prophyt, a new fungicide for use on downy mildew. In his second talk, Dr. Wilcox will review his research on powdery mildew and phomopsis emphasizing how to recognize infection periods for these diseases.

There will be two other grape disease talks during the grape session. One will discuss using sulfur during the dormant period to reduce phomopsis pressure in the vineyard. The other will look at the impact of downy mildew on leaf photosynthesis in Niagara juice grapes.

Insect Updates by Rufus Issacs
Dr. Rufus Issacs the MSU Small Fruit Entomology Extension Specialist will give two talks at this years Grape session. The first talk will be an update on Grape berry moth in Michigan tying together his research and scouting in Michigan vineyards over the last 3 years. Dr. Isaacs will also speak on a new pest, the Asian Multicolored Lady Beetle. This insect was imported into the United States to help control aphids and other small pests. Its population has exploded following the appearance of soybean aphids one of its natural prey species. Dr. Issacs will also participate in a discussion of the impact of Japanese beetle leaf feeding on grape vines.

Do you have an implement, tractor, or tool you would like to sell?  Do you have a service you would be interested in offering?  Why don't you buy an advertisement in the Michigan Grape Society newsletter.  Our circulation is about 270 and is focused at grape growers who would be interested in what you have to sell.  If you have an item you would like to sell call Jerri at 269-657-7745 or email her at pursleyj@msue.msu.edu. She also can help design your ad.