Infection
Definition - What does Infection mean?
Vineyard infections include a variety of germ and virus-based diseases. Infections in vineyards manifest in different ways, depending on the disease - symptoms can appear unexpectedly due to:
- High disease pressure
- Bad timing on using fungicide
- Poor fungicide coverage
- Rain washing away the fungicide
- Resistance to the fungicide or a combination of all these factors
The unfortunate truth is that virus-based infections are not curable, much in the same way that the common cold has no real cure. Grape growers' protection against infections are mostly preventative; they have to prevent virus-based infection to the best of their ability, and if an infection does take hold, they have to treat the symptoms as best they can.
WineFrog explains Infection
Grape growers check their vineyards in what is known as “field scouting”, and it is an important part of disease management. Afterwards, preventative fungicide sprays are applied and canopy management (the pruning and trimming of vines) is done. Once disease symptoms appear on the leaves and shoots, it is likely that disease pressure is high enough to infect the fruit as well. That is why grape growers will apply treatments as soon as they see symptoms on their vines; though the alternative is to wait for weather conditions to be ideal before spraying to ensure optimum spray coverage. Spraying too frequently could cause the disease to become fungicide-resistant; spraying too infrequently will allow the disease to spread. Grape growers have to walk that narrow line to ensure their crop makes it to harvest in top shape.
Common vineyard infections include:
- Happy Disease (bacterial necrosis)
- Crown gall
- Pierce’s disease
- Chlorosis
- Black measles
- Esca
- Fasciation
- Little leaf
- Oxidant stipple
- Rupestris speckle
- Stem necrosis (water berry, grape peduncle necrosis)
- Alfalfa mosaic
- Arabis mosaic
- Artichoke Italian latent
- Asteroid mosaic
- Bois noir (black wood disease)
- Bratislava mosaic
- Fan leaf degeneration (infectious degeneration and decline)
- Flavescence dorée
- Flack (Marbrure)
- Grapevine Bulgarian latent
- Grapevine chrome mosaic
- Grapevine yellows
- Leafroll
- Petunia asteroid mosaic
- Rupestris stem pitting
- Shoot necrosis
- Sowbane mosaic
- Vein mosaic
- Yellow speckle
