Wines & Vines

June 2014 Enology & Viticulture Issue

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30 W i n e s & V i n e s J U n e 2 0 1 4 g r a p e g r o w i n g M any members of the Califor- nia wine grape community have been waiting several years for the third edition of Grape Pest Management to be published by the Univer- sity of California Agriculture and Natural Resources Division. The wait is over, and it was worth it. Once again UC's Communica- tion Services has produced an outstanding pest-management manual, this time to replace the second edition published in 1992. Larry Bettiga, the technical editor, deserves to be congratulated for working with 76 editors and authors to produce the excellent 609-page book. There were 684,000 acres of vineyards in California in 1992—331,500 of them in wine grapes. This is not all that different from the 766,000 acres of vineyards pres- ent in 2012—480,000 of wine grapes, 196,000 of raisins and 90,000 in table grapes. However, since pest management is constantly changing, it was important to convey new information about important pests, improved sampling and monitoring techniques, pesticide resistance issues, pest biology and epidemiology. Moreover, sev- eral important pests have been accidently introduced into California since 1992, including vine mealybug, glassy-winged sharpshooter, Virginia creeper leafhopper, light brown apple moth and the European grapevine moth. So it was important to present information about these new chal- lenges for California grapegrowers. The theme of Grape Pest Management's third edition is managing grape pests using Integrated Pest Management (IPM), as one would expect from a pest-management manual from the University of California, where many of the IPM pioneers worked. The introduction reminds the reader that grape IPM is an approach that seeks to manage pest populations below an estab- lished economic injury level. Key compo- nents of this approach are correct identification of the pest, knowledge of the ecology of the crop, the pests and their natural enemies using established monitor- ing techniques and treatment thresholds that determine when control practices are appropriate. Grape Pest Management pro- vides important information for all of these key components. Those with copies of the second edition will notice that quite a bit of information from the book released in 1992 is included in this new one. Many of the photos are the same excellent and still very valuable images taken by Jack Kelly Clark. Some of the illustrations are also the same, but many are now in color, making them even more useful. The general layout of the book has changed some. The 1992 edition presented information in 10 sections, with a glossary of terms and key references at the end of each section. The 2013 edition presents information in 90 chapters, with a reference list at the end of most chapters, but the glossary of terms is all together at the end of the book. The 90 chapters are separated into nine parts: general viticulture, diagnos- tics, diseases, insect and mite pests, stored raisin product pests, nematodes, verte- brates, vegetation management and pesti- cide application and safety. Part one, general viticulture, is only 26 pages but covers all of the important infor- mation about basic vine biology such as the annual growth cycle including bud break, canopy development, flowering and fruit set, shoot development and root development. There is a very nice graphic labeling the important parts of the vine, including the internal structures of buds and flowers. Another important inclusion from the 1992 edition, now with improved graphics, is the detailed calendar of vineyard events throughout the year graphically dis- played for the state's six major grapegrow- ing regions: North Coast, Central Coast, South Coast, Northern San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys, Southern San Joaquin Valley and the Coachella Valley. The vine- yard event is listed on the left side of the page, the 12-month calendar is across the top, the management notes about the event A Book Worth Waiting For University of California releases third edition of Grape Pest Management Highlights • Grape Pest Management is an excellent reference for anyone growing grapes in California. • All of the relevant information, photos and illustrations from the 1992 edition are included. • The new edition is 609 pages, a 50% increase from the 1992 version, with great new pest- management information. Vineyard View C L I F F O H M A R T

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