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+--- Thread: Phylloxera (/thread-20084.html)
- wineguruchgo - 10-26-2003
Hello Moderators,
I'm not really sure where to post this so please feel free to move it to whatever section you think is appropriate.
Much of this will be over some of the board members heads, so I figured I would post it here.
I read something of interest yesterday and wasn't sure how many on the board were aware of it.
It seems that there are many vines that are Phylloxera resistant because of the grafting that has developed over the past 100 years.
What I found interesting is "Infestations of plylloxera have recently been identified, so far on a limited scale, in California, New Zealand and England. And Australian vineyards, worryingly, are still 90% ungrafted".
Janice Robinson - Vines, Grapes and Wines
I don't know about you, but I'm sure our friends from down under are really nervous with it showing up in New Zealand.
- randery - 10-26-2003
Hey, WG, don't sell all of us lowly ignorami so short, for even we, when we break away from Nick at Nite, can learn new things. Maybe that's why we enjoy this board so much.We're always learning something here. And, believe it or not, we may even be capable of understanding the gravity and consequences of a botanical air, water or soil borne disease.Some of us even know how to read without a primer. And WW? Man, he types like the wind in his very own language.
- wineguruchgo - 10-27-2003
Sorry Randery. Didn't mean to offend you.
I obviously thought I could contribute something to this board, but I was mistaken.
It won't happen again.
Ciao!
[This message has been edited by wineguruchgo (edited 10-26-2003).]
- winoweenie - 10-27-2003
WineG I'm sure Randerys' post was done like 93&1/3 of mine, "tongue-in-cheek". The dad-burned lil' root louse is a huge problem for wineries and drinkers alike. I didn't realize the pest had hit N.Z. In the 1880s' the sucker decimated Bordeaux and it has caused multi-millions of dollars in damage to our Calif vineyards. Another fiend is the glassy-winged sharpshooter which has caused tremendous damages to the wine industry in So. Calif. Made Callaway move their vineyards.WW
- Kcwhippet - 10-27-2003
guru,
I'm not sure what Jancis Robinson is referring to, or how you read it, but infestations of phyloxera have been on a more than limited scale in CA. Most of Napa Valley has been replanted over the past decade, because the rootstock UCD claimed was louse resistant (AXR-1 I believe) really wasn't to all strains of Phyloxera. There have been some infestations elsewhere where there weren't before around the world, and those are being dealt with also.
- Innkeeper - 10-27-2003
Altitude seems to be a factor. The higher you are, evidence suggests you have less chance of infestation. Gary Pisoni does not graft his pinot vines in the Santa Lucia Highlands, and firmly believes he is safe.
- Kcwhippet - 10-27-2003
Soil type plays a role also. The vines planted in the delta region of Contra Costa county are in sandy soil and that is an inhospitable environment for the nasty little buggers. So, you'll find the Zins, Mourvedres and others, mostly from Cline and Rosenblum, are from self rooted vines. From all the replanting the Napa Valley wineries have had to do as a result of using the recommended rootstock, it looks like some of the folks from UC Davis aren't as infallible as once believed.
- randery - 10-27-2003
guru: This was meant as a joke; fun; as WW noted, a tongue in cheek remark in reference to your wondering if this issue might be over most of our heads. Relax and thanks for the info. Keep it coming.
- Thomas - 10-31-2003
If you can get your hands on Wines and Vines magazine, the June issue, I think, I have an article in there about the subject. There is an awful lot of misinformation about phylloxera, and UC Davis played a major role in spreading both the misinformation and the modern version of the disease in Ca.
As for soil: ph is an important factor for the development or lack of development of the root louse. But I'd rather not add to the misinformation with half-statements. Grape vine disease is a complicated subject, which is why it is still a pest to viticulture. Mostly, I think Jancis Robinson a good source for information about wine--but not about viticulture.
- winoweenie - 10-31-2003
Certainly agree wholeheartedly. Her viticulture skills are on par with my assements of the latest SWs' to hit the market [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/wink.gif[/img]
- Kcwhippet - 10-31-2003
How close to zero might that be, ww?
- winoweenie - 11-01-2003
Iffn' my skills be a department store on this I'd need an elevator to send goods up to the "bargain basement". [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/wink.gif[/img]
- hotwine - 11-01-2003
A confounded root-borne disease called "oak wilt" turned up at the back of my place here in Helotes just this past week - three oaks dead, half a dozen more infected, with the whole place at risk (surrounded by 160 oaks of 6" to 30+" in diameter); spread through the root network, but also by #%^@! beetles. The best treatment so far, costing $15/diameter inch for each tree, has only a 50% success rate. Will be contracting to dig ~1000' of 4' deep trenches to sever the root network, at $10-$15/linear ft, to try to prevent the further spread. State & county horticulturists and arborists say they're working on the problem (but have made no progress in 15 years). Argh.
- Innkeeper - 11-01-2003
Bummer. We had an article in the local papers this past week that our forests are just getting over investation of a critter called the spruce bud worm that hit us back in the '70s and '80s. They had to clear cut thousands of acres to stop it. Now some of the new forest is approaching harvestabilty.
- quijote - 11-01-2003
How awful; sorry to hear that. I read that many of the trees burned in the California fires had already been killed by huge infestations of beetles. I hope you can save your trees.