Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/1031957
W ith more than 80 years serving growers globally for a number of crops including wine grapes, Miller Chemical & Fertilizer has a well-estab- lished reputation for quality adjuvants and fertil- izers. NuFilm ® , possibly its best-known product, was launched 40 years ago and serves to improve the deposit and retention of fungicides and pesticides on plants, reducing the effects of rainfall erosion, volatility and UV degradation. Sugar Express ® , another popular product with growers, is a crys- talline fertilizer with a ratio of phosphorous and potassium allow- ing maximum nutrient uptake and brix increase close to harvest. The newest development at Miller is Spur Shield™, a revolution- ary new polymer resin-based concentrate for pruning wounds. "It's a natural Band-Aid," says Mike Fiery, VP of product devel- opment. "The antiseptic essential oils in Spur Shield cleanse the pruning wound while the resin sets. It creates a physical barrier and polymerizes over time on the wood surface. Unlike acrylics which can crack and allow water penetrating patho- gens into the wood, Spur Shield remains on the wound for six weeks and then dissolves off naturally, making the application one and done (no need to re-apply if it rains)." The combination of cleansing and sealing properties is espe- cially effective in vineyards where the pruning season is cold and wet. The six-week protective barrier of the resin can in- hibit invasive wood diseases such as Eutypa, Botryosphaeria Canker, Esca and other common trunk disorders. Recent field studies using Spur Shield were conducted in Chile by leading wood canker disease specialist, Blanca Luz Pinilla, and re- sulted in significant reduction in penetration by inoculum into pruning wound cuts in cherries, plums, wine and table grapes. Tim Rossi, Miller Chemical's Technical Agronomist on the central coast of California, has clients working with Spur Shield already. "It's perfect for sprayer application," he explains. "You can tank-mix with fungicides if you want to co-apply it, and the resin sets in any environment. Machine-pruning splits the wood, but Spur Shield spreads and penetrates those wounds very evenly. Some small growers use backpack hand-sprayers." According to Rossi, Spur Shield was utilized for pruning wound protection on multiple acres of cordon-pruned vines (12 to 16 years of age) including Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay Mal- bec, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Pinot Gris, and Syrah in San Benito County of Central California during the 2015/2016 pruning season. Spur Shield was applied to achieve reasonable-cost insurance to help protect the life of the vineyard against various trunk and canker diseases. Miller believes you should start with new plantings and make sure to treat annually, every time you prune with a Spur Shield or Spur Shield– Fungicide tank mix in order to provide a strong defense. Spur Shield isn't organically certified but is an all-natural and non- toxic product. "It even smells good! Smells like Christmas" Rossi says, "and it has a sharpness to it, a bit like Vicks VapoRub." For more information visit millerchemical.com, call Mike Fiery in Pennsylvania at 717.632.8921 or Tim Rossi in Califor- nia at 831.229.3443. Miller Chemical & Fertilizer PO Box 333 Hanover, PA 17331 800.233.2040 Millerchemical.com SPONSORED CONTENT SPUR SHIELD Polymer-resin concentrate revolutionizes the treatment of pruning wounds UNTREATED TREATED