Fungicide

I bought three fungicides yesterday to spray on the vines: Mancozeb, JMS Stylet Oil and Agri-Fos. Agri-Fos is a commercial name for phosphorous acid. According to one internet source, Phosphorous acid kills downy mildew and helps to preclude new growth by stimulating plants to develop their own defense mechanism (dont ask me how they do that). JMS Stylet Oil is a white mineral oil that treats powdery mildew pre and post infection. Stylet Oil also has insecticide properties. Mancozeb controls for downy mildew, botrytis and black rot.

All three come as a concentrate that is mixed into a gallon of water and applied through a sprayer. Our sprayer is a small hand pump one.

The concensus on a grape growing message board was that our vines are fighting with mildew and this is stunting their growth. We should have been spraying for mildew from the start of the summer, but ignorance got the best of us.

Our trip down to Culpeper last weekend, July 26, was sobering. The vines look OK, but most have some serious issues. Many have new, impressive growth, but wilted older leaves that look sick. The Vidal Blanc vines look much better than the Cab Franc. I'm sure this is because Vidal Blanc is much more resilient in the face of disease pressure and their location on the hill is further from the trees.

Results of the fungicide soon. Try not to fall over while you are on the edge of your seat.

Also, we have found a source of Virginia grapes that will sell in quantities less than a half ton. We had only found one source prior to this most recent discovery that would sell us anything under one ton (1/2 ton). This exception would still mean an almost $900 investment in grapes. Not to mention the work required to crush, ferment, press and age 1000 lbs of grapes.

So, now we can buy a few hundred pounds of one or two different varieties and try our hand at winemaking!