Overall a great improvement so far!
This is focused on organic methods
Quick and dirty
morning glory is also a host vector for potato leaf hoppers and they seem to prefer it over grapes.
Also planting potatoes and giving them systemic pesticides seem to work on potato leaf hoppers
I have an unknown weed that seems to repel everything except carpenter ants or whichever ones chew the hole in the foliage but the damage is so negligible I honestly will not pursue them until I get really bored.
I need to I’d it bc it grows tall and doesn’t seem to spread readily.
For norm ants that line to farm aphids American pitcher plants are the best organic solution you can have. You don’t necessarily have to locate the ant hill but it hastens the process. It can be effective by placing the pot on one of their highways. The nectar serves as an enticement and as a result they send ant after ant until there are no more ants!
The slaughter nourishes the plant and attracts predators in droves.
The pitcher plant only takes minor damage from mealy bugs. Only thing for it to be effective the pitcher plant needs to be mature.
I use trench style irrigation which I irrigate once a day generally and a side benefit is it becomes a heavenly Beacon for mud wasps who are fairly hungry predators!
I suspect over time they will build colonies close by!
Another hot ticket plant is dog fennel but since it is so weedy pots are most recommended for it!
An accidental addition hemlock also attracts predators and may actually kill any insect that tries to feed off it.
I didnt observe any other great benefit from any other weeds.
Accidentally discovered a way to increase efficiency the morning glories and native honeysuckle actually was able to reach out and connect some of the various pots with the weeds in them.
Predators loved it. Acted like a highway system allowing them to move quickly pot to pot without needing to take flight and become vulnerable. It was particularly favored by assassin bugs.
That crap about Japanese beetles consuming 4 o clocks may be true but not for grapes. They seem to prefer grape foliage over 4 o clocks so that strat will be abandoned moving forward.
I had a strat that I will try next year I made an error and specimenized something else but last I observed knotweed Is preferred by Japanese beetles over grape foliage and further presumption would dictate Japanese knotweed even more so but the plan is to inoculate the knotweed with a systemic
I took specimens from all non-muscadine wild vines and either amputated them or relocated them either to my onsite preserve for small ones and offsite for large ones *cough* cordiflora *cough* resulting in zero sightings of phylloxera leaf galls.
Lastly I tried planting petunias, French marigolds, Lemmon balm And mint. It seems to be effective for smaller vines and porch railing pots but the range is limited and not suitable for larger grapes; however I will continue to use French marigolds for their nematocidal properties and hope it works the latter 3 only for porch railing and new plants.
On a side note I think some petunias can vine but do they still repel as well? Next year’s project.
I’ll post a pic of this grand weed soon.
Only pests to note light pressure from leaf folder and heavy pressures from beetles. Many of the new plants I decided to let the grapes do what they naturally do which is bush out to overproduce foliage to compensate.
Year ain’t over yet but I know there was some interest in bioorganic ipms however it may be great for my scaled down experimental stuff but may be less viable for an actual vineyard.
Time will tell
This is focused on organic methods
Quick and dirty
morning glory is also a host vector for potato leaf hoppers and they seem to prefer it over grapes.
Also planting potatoes and giving them systemic pesticides seem to work on potato leaf hoppers
I have an unknown weed that seems to repel everything except carpenter ants or whichever ones chew the hole in the foliage but the damage is so negligible I honestly will not pursue them until I get really bored.
I need to I’d it bc it grows tall and doesn’t seem to spread readily.
For norm ants that line to farm aphids American pitcher plants are the best organic solution you can have. You don’t necessarily have to locate the ant hill but it hastens the process. It can be effective by placing the pot on one of their highways. The nectar serves as an enticement and as a result they send ant after ant until there are no more ants!
The slaughter nourishes the plant and attracts predators in droves.
The pitcher plant only takes minor damage from mealy bugs. Only thing for it to be effective the pitcher plant needs to be mature.
I use trench style irrigation which I irrigate once a day generally and a side benefit is it becomes a heavenly Beacon for mud wasps who are fairly hungry predators!
I suspect over time they will build colonies close by!
Another hot ticket plant is dog fennel but since it is so weedy pots are most recommended for it!
An accidental addition hemlock also attracts predators and may actually kill any insect that tries to feed off it.
I didnt observe any other great benefit from any other weeds.
Accidentally discovered a way to increase efficiency the morning glories and native honeysuckle actually was able to reach out and connect some of the various pots with the weeds in them.
Predators loved it. Acted like a highway system allowing them to move quickly pot to pot without needing to take flight and become vulnerable. It was particularly favored by assassin bugs.
That crap about Japanese beetles consuming 4 o clocks may be true but not for grapes. They seem to prefer grape foliage over 4 o clocks so that strat will be abandoned moving forward.
I had a strat that I will try next year I made an error and specimenized something else but last I observed knotweed Is preferred by Japanese beetles over grape foliage and further presumption would dictate Japanese knotweed even more so but the plan is to inoculate the knotweed with a systemic
I took specimens from all non-muscadine wild vines and either amputated them or relocated them either to my onsite preserve for small ones and offsite for large ones *cough* cordiflora *cough* resulting in zero sightings of phylloxera leaf galls.
Lastly I tried planting petunias, French marigolds, Lemmon balm And mint. It seems to be effective for smaller vines and porch railing pots but the range is limited and not suitable for larger grapes; however I will continue to use French marigolds for their nematocidal properties and hope it works the latter 3 only for porch railing and new plants.
On a side note I think some petunias can vine but do they still repel as well? Next year’s project.
I’ll post a pic of this grand weed soon.
Only pests to note light pressure from leaf folder and heavy pressures from beetles. Many of the new plants I decided to let the grapes do what they naturally do which is bush out to overproduce foliage to compensate.
Year ain’t over yet but I know there was some interest in bioorganic ipms however it may be great for my scaled down experimental stuff but may be less viable for an actual vineyard.
Time will tell
