Arkansas Grape Growers Battle Mold, Black Rot

FORT SMITH -- Arkansas grape vines took a hit in the spring with a late freeze, and what survived has been susceptible to mold and black rot from recent rain.

Five rounds of ice storms and hail storms and a late spring freeze reduced Post Familie Vineyards' grape crop by about 10 percent to 15 percent, said Thomas B. Post in Altus. Other Arkansas vineyards have seen as much as a 20 percent impact from the wet weather.

"Other than that, we're looking good this year," Post said. "It's a little weedy though with all the extra rain. It could be better, but it could've been a lot worse."

Audrey House at neighboring Chateaux Aux Arc was able to stave off much of the damage from the late freeze in mid-April with a blanket of smoke using debris from the previous ice storm. But the consistent rains and high humidity have given her vines, and her tractor, other troubles.

"The conditions have been perfect for mold and mildew and black rot," House said. "This is a growing year for the vines though, and we needed that recovery after the droughts because we had to cut back a lot of dead wood last year from the droughts in 2011 and 2012."

To combat mold, mildew and pests, Post is using a new pesticide-free method with ozone water from AgriOzein, developed by Ernie Wilmink in Lindsay, Neb.

"It does work," Post said. "But he's had to redesign the air system a little to work with the muscadines. They have a denser canopy."

Wine growers must spray antifungal agents three to four times more often than those in California because of the heavier amount of rain in Arkansas, Post said.

John Trickett of Circle T Winery & Vineyards said his vines near Booneville also have experienced a hard dose of black rot.

"Two weeks ago, I had more healthy fruit than I'd ever seen," Trickett wrote recently. "Then June turned atypical. It never got warm, we rarely saw the sun, and all the rain we should have had in the spring happened in mid- to late June."

Trickett said his grape crop has been "substantially reduced" by disease.

If the area had experienced a more normal year temperature-wise, the fruit would have gone through veraison, which would have made it immune to that by now, Trickett said. Veraison is when the fruit changes color and the canes turning woody.

Insects are expected to be a problem later in the year.

Barbara Lewis, an entomology professor at the University of Arkansas, said Arkansas wine growers are well informed on insects that could harm their crops and do a good job of maintaining their vines. If not maintained though, a grape berry moth could reproduce four generations before it is controlled, she said.

NW News on 07/07/2014

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