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Stefania Wine San Jose, CA
 Grape Puncher Posts:725

 | | 07/25/2005 6:11 PM |
| Last week I received a call from someone in the Cambrian Park area of San Jose who was having problems with their vines. I get 4-5 calls like this a year and usually it's phylloxera. People buy ungrafted vines from the local nurseries and after 12-18 months they wither and die.
Here's how the troubleshooting works:
This was thebefore picture, and here is theafter picture. Note the brown spots and dried out and withered berries.
The first thing to eliminate is powdery mildew, which can dry out berries and make leaves dry and curled up. We've had a lot of mildew this year in the area. Note though that in the before picture the berries are clean. Powdery Mildew lookslike this with cobweb like growth on the leafs.
Phylloxera has many of the same symptoms as Pierce's. Basically the vine is malnurished because it's roots are being eaten. Here's a row ofvines with Phylloxera. You can not actually see the bug under less than 10x magnification, but I did dig one hole to check for theswelling and nodes that occur on the roots as the bug eats it. There was none and in addition the vine tips where healthy and growing. With Phylloxera damage usually shows first on the tips.
The final clinching clue wasthis. Note that leafs are asymetrical and deformed. A sure sign of Pierce's Disease.
Unfortunitly this homeowner was out of luck and I called this little 20 plant vineyard terminal. The area is known to have the Glassy Winged Sharpshooters which is a traveling vector for the disease. He is also less than 50 yards from a creek which will contain other sharpshooters that can vector the disease. Finally he's surrounded by neighbors with fruit trees and other hosts for Pierce's Disease, so even if he rips out and replants and sprays for bugs regularly, the disease is likely to keep returning. | | Paul Romero - Owner/Winemaker Stefania Wine www.stefaniawine.com | |
| stemor Collierville, TN
 Wine Thief Posts:2813

 | | 07/25/2005 6:37 PM |
| | Very informative and an interesting read. Thanks, Paul! | | Cheers, y'all | |
| ChangeMe
 Barrel Racker Posts:1907

 | | 07/25/2005 7:50 PM |
| | Yep, thanks Paul! Great pics and explanations! | | | |
| Binski South Bay
 Grape Fermenter Posts:457


 | | 07/25/2005 11:33 PM |
| | Awesome! Thanks for the info. | | "Why Keep Score if you are not going to play by the rules?" | |
| ChangeMe
 Master of Wine Posts:11169

 | | 07/26/2005 12:30 AM |
| | Interesting. Thanks for the information. | | | |
| Drew Sammamish, WA
 Wine Bottler Posts:3105


 | | 07/26/2005 12:53 AM |
| | Thanks for the notes and pics! | | | |
| Pool Boy Laurl, MD (DC suburb)
 Master of Wine Posts:13672


 | | 07/26/2005 1:17 PM |
| | So, if I ever win Powerball or Mega Millions, I'm asking you for advice as to where to buy my little micro-vineyard, dude. | | www.roguefood.com -- www.cellartracker.com | |
| Stefania Wine San Jose, CA
 Grape Puncher Posts:725

 | | 07/27/2005 7:45 PM |
| Thanks everyone, I had no idea if anyone would care but I had good pictures  | | Paul Romero - Owner/Winemaker Stefania Wine www.stefaniawine.com | |
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