Efficacy of biopesticides and leaf removal in grapevine powdery mildew management

Abstract

Integrating biological-based fungicides into conventional spray programs may help with fungicide resistance management. However, little is known about how to best integrate these products while still maintaining maximum disease control. Programs with as few as one synthetic fungicide or as many as three synthetic fungicides added to a biopesticide-based rotation during the bloom period of Vitis vinifera had significantly better disease control than a biopesticide-only-based program. When integrated with different timings of fruit-zone leaf removal, specific combinations of biopesticide programs and fruit-zone leaf removal enhanced the efficacy of that program to be on par with disease control seen in a program entirely based on synthetic fungicides. This suggests that when designing a fungicide program using biopesticides as a base, the addition of a synthetic fungicide during the window of ontogenic susceptibility in clusters and the adoption of cultural practices such as leaf removal can significantly improve the efficacy of that program.