Wine-Grower-News #1

May 10, 2007

Information included in this issue includes:

Introduction
Do I Need a Private Pesticide Applicators License?
Three Excellent Vineyard Pest Management Guides
Where to Purchase Your "Personal Protective Equipment" (PPE)
Two Excellent Sources to Find Pesticide Labels and Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)
Mustang Max Insecticide Gets Approval for Grapes
"NEW" Iowa Wine & Beer promotional brochures now available.
4/2007 Nebraska Economic Impact Study Completed
Results of 2006 National Tasting Room Survey
Neeto-Keeno WWW Stuff

Introduction

This is a first of a series of newsletters that will be sent out on a weekly basis during the growing season (May -August).  It will be sent out on a bi-weekly basis during the rest of the year.  Occasional articles by other ISU Exentension specialists will often be included.  Our intent is to use this newsletter to update you with both viticulture and enology timely topics.  We hope you find it of value.

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Do I Need a Private Pesticide Applicators License?

There are two types of pesticides one can purchase in Iowa,..."General Use" or "Restricted Use".  Restricted Use pesticides require the applicator to have a Private Pesticide License to purchase and/or apply. Luckily, most of the vineyard pesticides being used in Iowa are General Use pesticides. The most common Restricted Use vineyard pesticides labeled in Iowa would include: Baythroid XL, Capture, Danitol, Gramoxone, Lorsban, and Mustang Max.  All of these are insecticides except for Gramoxone which is a post emergent herbicide.

Only a minority of vineyard operators in Iowa currently have a Private Pesticide Applicator license.  In most cases they have it because they either want to spray Danitol for foliar phylloxera control or Gramoxone as an inexpensive burndown herbicide that does not translocate into the grape plant if a leaf or two are accidently sprayed.

Obtaining a private pesticide applicators license entails passing a 50 question exam and paying $15 for a 3 year license.  Private applicators do not need to retest every three years if they attend a 2 hour training session each year.  Those not attending the yearly training sessions need to retest every 3 years. The private applicator exam study guide can be found Online here for free: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PAT1.pdf .  Hardcopies can be purchased online for $10 each here:
https://www.extension.iastate.edu/store
         
ISU Extension is the organization that provides all the annual training and publications needed for the Private license.  Most of these publications and resources are "free" online here: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/PME/  This is the #1 source for pesticide training information in Iowa. The Iowa Department of Ag's Pesticide bureau is the government entity who issues the exams and licenses.  Their testing locations and dates can be found here: http://www.agriculture.state.ia.us/pesticidebureau.htm

Three Excellent Vineyard Pest Management Guides:.

        1. 2007 Midwest Small Fruit Spray Guide: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/hort/ext/sfg/                
        2.  Midwest Small Fruit Pest Mgt. Handbook: http://ohioline.osu.edu/b861/index.html
        3. 2007 Michigan State Univ. Fruit Mgt. Guide:
                        http://web1.msue.msu.edu/epubs/pestpubs/E154/   

Where to Purchase Your "Personal Protective Equipment" (PPE)

Every pesticide label will clearly identify the "Personal Protective Equipment"  the user should wear when mixing, loading or spraying.
Waterproof gloves, goggles, apron, and sometimes a respirator may be recommended. Often one can purchase these from their local ag-dealer or farm supply store.  PPE can also be purchased at many other places via telephone or the WWW. The publication "Personal Protective Equipment For Agriculture - Sources of Protective Apparel and Gear" PAT13 lists 20 different sources of PPE and is available free from ISU Extension here: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PAT13.pdf

Two Excellent Sources to Find Pesticide Labels and Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)

        1. CDMS:  http://www.cdms.net/LabelsMsds/LMDefault.aspx
        2. Greenbook: http://www.greenbook.net/

Mustang Max Insecticide Gets Approved for Grapes

Effective 4-11-07, Mustang Max received EPA approval to be applied to grapes.  Mustang Max and its former initial version "Mustang" has been labeled for many other types of crops, including corn and soybeans since 2001.  The active ingredient in Mustang Max is zeta-cypermethrin, an insecticide compound in the pyrethroid class of chemistry.  This class of chemistry typically offers a quick knockdown, good residual action and some repellency.  Pyrethroids are extremely toxicity to fish and aquatic invertebrates. Keep them away from water bodies! Mustang Max is labeled for the control of Eastern, Variegated and Western leafhoppers. I am sure the insects controlled by Mustang Max will enlarge over time.  We now have four pythrethoid type insecticides labeled for grapes.  They are:

                        Active      Restricted    Rate/Acre     Approximate   Pre-Harvest    
Insecticide   Ingredient      Use          Fluid Oz.       Cost/acre       Interval     Manufacturer
Baythroid         B-cyfluthrin         Yes       1.6 to 3.2          $5 - $10          3 days          Bayer
   
Capture  2EC    Bifenthrin            Yes       3.2 -6.4           $6 - $12         30 days         FMC 
                                      
Danitol  2.4 EC  Fenpropathrin      Yes     5.33 - 21.33     $7.50 - $30    21 days        Valent

 Mustang Max    zeta-cypermethrin  Yes          4                    $8             1 day            FMC
____________________________________________________________________________

"NEW" Iowa Wine & Beer promotional brochures now available.

The new "Iowa Wine & Beer promotional brochures are now available. There are now 57 wineries listed in this brochure, up from 38 that were in the 2006 brochure.You can order one or more copies (no charge) by visiting their WWW site here: http://www.iowawineandbeer.com.  Also, .... check out the "Festival & Events" tab. There are now over 150 events listed.

4/2007 Nebraska Economic Impact Study Completed

The University of Nebraska at Lincoln just completed a 2006 Economic Impact study of Nebraska Wineries and Grape Growers. This study was prepared by Dr. Eric Thompson and Seth Freudenburg. The study was completed for the Nebraska Wine and Grape Growers Association.  Highlights of the study include:

        1. 18 of the current 20 wineries in Nebraska were open for business at the time of the study.
        2. Estimated statewide sales of Nebraska produced wine was 49,000 gallons in 2006. 
            Up from zero in 1994.
        3. Estimated average (on-site and wholesale) price was $10 per 750 ml bottle.
        4. 2006 sales were estimated at 244,000 bottles for a total of $2.4 million.
        5. Experts estimated anywhere from 300 to 500 acres of grapes in 2006.
        6. Experts estimated 1,020 tons of grape production in 2006 worth an average price
            of $1,000.
        7. 110,000 people visited the 18 wineries in 2006 = 6,111 visitors/winery.
        8. $5.3 million impact including $1.6 million in worker wages spread over 82 jobs.

You can read the entire study here:
            http://www.nebraskawines.com/supporting%20documents/ImpactStudyFinal2007.pdf

Results of 2006 National Tasting Room Survey

Wine Business Monthly just completed their 2nd annual Tasting Room Survey. The results of this survey represent 103 wineries across the U.S. The majority of the respondents, 74 of 103 were from the West Coast states of California, Oregon and Washington.
Here are some of the highlights of this survey:

        1. 59% are now charging a fee for wine tastings (8% above last year) with the average fees
            falling between $3-6.
        2. 43% of tasting rooms report applying tasting fees to a customer's purchase.
        3. 83% of tasting room employees are part-timers
        4. 87% operate out of one tasting room, with 10% operating multiple tasting rooms.
        5. Wineries selling less than 5,000 cases reported 68% of their sales coming from their
            tasting room.
        6. 86% of tasting room sales in the West Coast wineries resulted from wine compared to
          76% for the non-West Coast wineries.
        7. 53% of West Coast Wineries and 25% of the other wineries paid incentives to their tasting
            room employees for wine club sign-ups.
        8. Only 20% of tasting room employees received any formal training.

You can read the entire report here:
            http://www.winebusiness.com/ReferenceLibrary/webarticle.cfm?dataId=43195

Neeto-Keeno WWW Stuff

        1. Excellent video on the Schade Vineyard & Winery homepage. Check out Jim Schade's
            homemade horizontal piston press.  http://www.schadevineyard.com/ 
        2. Midwest Grape Production Guide: http://ohioline.osu.edu/b919/0001.html
        3. Check out the large list of harvest juice data generated by grape variety at Chateau-Z
             Vineyard in Virginia. Click C-Z Virtual Vineyard: http://www.chateau-z.com/
        4. Origins & Ancient History of Wine:  
            http://www.museum.upenn.edu/new/exhibits/online_exhibits/wine/wineintro.html


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