Isleworth vineyard update

[tonyhibbett]

Having laboured many hours to remove debris from the whole site, I discover that downy mildew is absorbed into the soil and becomes endemic, lasting for up to 5 years. Despite spraying with the banned Dithane, what's left of the slowly swelling grapes are now splitting into dry mini lenti-like objects. Contacted Bayer about replacement product for Dithane, which causes cancer if you drink it on a regular basis, and they said they currently have no anti downey mildew products for non commercial growers and that I would have to get a licence for agricultural fungicides.
So I contacted DEFRA who gav me the non existant number for the non existant Vinegrowers Association. I tracked down the South East Vinegrowers Association, who wanted £54 annual fee to join, in return for which you get a newsletter. In France you can get a £3000 EC grant to set up a smallholding to which the UK government contributes, but does not apply in the UK. Ho hum.

 

[Hawks]

Gutted for you... although based on the story so far I guess you are not giving up so easily :clap:

 

[Casey76]

We use Bordeaux mixture for mildew on vines here... if that helps :)

 

[tonyhibbett]

Thanks. Useful to know what other people use. I tried Bordeaux mixture, but it doesn't seem to mix well with water. Inconsistent. I believe a few drops of detergent may help. It took too long to diagnose as downy mildew, as I read it is rare in the UK so assumed it was powdery mildew and used Systhane, which does not claim to be effective against downy mildew, although I have read that it is. I also appear to have dead arm too. Clearly I should have started spraying as soon as the buds began to break, but delayed as the plants looked very healthy in May. 12 inches of rain in 4 months is rather exceptional though!
However, some of the vines seem to be aware of the problem and are producing a second batch of flowers, which I have never seen happen before.