# vine disease?



## berrycrush (May 28, 2014)

Is this a disease of the vine? see the browned edge on the leaves.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/14289142362/


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## grapeman (May 28, 2014)

It looks more like Potassium deficiency than a disease. There may be a bit of secondary mold that formed on the defieicent leaves though. Check this out

First Picture 
Here potassium deficiency symptoms increase from right (normal) to left (severe). Note that the first symptoms are seen along the leaf margin and that the area between the veins is affected. The veins produce wide green bands in a field of yellow or brown.

Second Picture
The deficiency symptoms of this shoot are much worse at leaves 7-8 than at more basal positions. This is an important diagnostic symptom for potassium deficiency. Most nutrient deficiency symptoms start at the base of the shoot on the oldest leaves and progress upward. Note that these leaves are somewhat curled. This is also common with potassium deficiency.


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## berrycrush (May 28, 2014)

Thanks Grapeman. I read from somewhere said "Lemon and orange rinds are especially high in potassium, and the potassium they contain is easily transferred over", so maybe I should try some ground orange rinds?


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## TicinoVintner (May 28, 2014)

berrycrush said:


> Thanks Grapeman. I read from somewhere said "Lemon and orange rinds are especially high in potassium, and the potassium they contain is easily transferred over", so maybe I should try some ground orange rinds?



Try a orange rind tea and spray as a foliar fertilizer if you want to. F.F has the advantage of getting the nutrients direct to the leaves. Then look at getting more potassium into the soil. Try stinging nettle tea as well. It also has lots of potassium plus the plants seem to love it. I know mine do.


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## dwhill40 (Jun 3, 2014)

So Ticino, how do you prepare your nettle tea? After reading, it seems to be a part of the european culture. It is merely a weed here in the southeast as far as I'm aware. My only exposure to stinging nettles was running through a large patch in a creek bank as a child. ouchy. Until my soil amendments get to working I'd like to try a foiliar spray. I bought a box of dried tea at a nutrition shop and have it soaking in a gallon jug. Any advice?


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## blumentopferde (Jun 4, 2014)

As far as I know you literally brew it:

You shred the nettles, put them into rainwater and keep them warm (put the container into the sun) over 3 or more weeks and stir the whole thing once in a while. Once the nettles are fermented you can put them out and you can use the remaining liquid as fertilizer.

Don't know how many nettles you need per liter though, maybe Ticino knows more!


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## TicinoVintner (Jun 4, 2014)

I just fill a glass jar full of leaves and fill with water them let it sit in the sun for two weeks then mix with water at a 1:10 ratio. 1 part nettle to ten parts water. Fresh nettle is better than dried. It's a weed here as well and grows everywhere. They say to use the plants before they flower, or just use the leaves. 


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## dwhill40 (Jun 4, 2014)

Thanks for the replies guys and apologies for hijacking the thread. I will start an experiment on my problem child Zin. and a healthy Cab vine before I go all in.


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## TicinoVintner (Jun 5, 2014)

Let us know how it works out. I can notice the difference in as little as one day. The leaves look greener, healthier and more vibrant after spraying them with nettle tea. Another plus is nettle contains sulfur so it acts as a fungicide as well. 


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## dwhill40 (Jun 9, 2014)

Oh boy, after a week of sitting in an open gallon bucket in the garage that stuff smells like a pale of used baby diapers and gingivitis. Wow.


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## blumentopferde (Jun 9, 2014)

I guess that's a good sign! 
At least there's obviously some fermentation process going on. Did I mention that whre I'm from we don't call it "nettle tea" but "nettly manure" instead ;P


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## berrycrush (Jun 9, 2014)

TicinoVintner said:


> Let us know how it works out. I can notice the difference in as little as one day. The leaves look greener, healthier and more vibrant after spraying them with nettle tea. Another plus is nettle contains sulfur so it acts as a fungicide as well.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Wine Making



Taking your hint, I threw a rind from an orange and a rind from a lemon into my blender, added some water and made a "citrus skin smoothie". Let it sit in the sun for a day. Now the juice and pulp are kind of layered, I spayed the juice onto the leaves and dumped the pulp around the plant base. It seems working. New leaves don't get the rusty edges anymore and vine is growing taller. Thanks to everyone for your great advice.


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## sour_grapes (Jun 9, 2014)

berrycrush, may I ask where you are located?


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## berrycrush (Jun 10, 2014)

sour_grapes said:


> berrycrush, may I ask where you are located?



I live in Northern Virginia, the suburb of Washington DC.


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## sour_grapes (Jun 10, 2014)

Thanks. Looks like your growing season is going well! Good luck with the browning leaves -- hope you got it beat now.


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## dwhill40 (Jun 16, 2014)

I got over to the farm this past weekend and found several varieties of vinifera looking bad while the Cab vines look awesome. My Zin vine looked great the first year but is now very sick. Malbec and Merlot look to have a K deficiency. Sangiovese looks like a boron issue. Barbera looks like a P issue. The first year they looked great. A very perplexing set of wonky issues. So with a little detective work I think I know the cause. My subsoil ph tested at 4.9 which means aluminum is highly available and the second year root growth is getting into that zone and is basically shutting down the roots. I amended the topsoil and dug in lime fairly deep but not subsoil deep. I read on to find that gypsum is highly mobile in the soil and can lock up Al and make it non-toxic especially when mixed with a nitrogen compost. So, I have plans for the 4th of July now. The best lessons are the ones that inflict pain.


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## berrycrush (Jun 19, 2014)

... is this also K-deficiency or something else?


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## dwhill40 (Jun 20, 2014)

Pretty good diagnostic photos here -> https://agronomy.unl.edu/c/document_library/get_file?folderId=4294998&name=DLFE-31728.pdf

Sulphur burn?


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## dwhill40 (Jun 29, 2014)

The nettle juice seemed to halt the leaf burning. The new growth still looks a little weak. Dug a two foot hole beside the Zin vine and threw in a couple of handfulls of gypsum and soaked with nettle tea and water trying to speed up the migration into the subsoil. Tested ph and the subsoil is at 5. Topsoil is beautiful at 6.2ish. Laid a ring of decomposed oak tree around the different varieties and threw out half a dozen bags of gypsum before a heavy thunderstorm. Put triple 13 around the sangiovese. We shall see...


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## dwhill40 (Jun 29, 2014)

Oh...and I found this in my best Cab vine. Thought it might be best to let it be.


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## grapeman (Jun 30, 2014)

From the picture it looks like black rot. Do the spots have a dark brown border?


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## berrycrush (Jun 30, 2014)

grapeman said:


> From the picture it looks like black rot. Do the spots have a dark brown border?



Yes there is a dark brown border. Should I spray it with Mancozeb?


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## grapeman (Jun 30, 2014)

Mancozeb protect the leaves from new infection. Once you see it, it is too late to prevent it. If it is just a small amount, spraying will help keep it from spreading. Keep in mind you should not spray with it within 66 days to harvest.


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## berrycrush (Jul 1, 2014)

grapeman said:


> Mancozeb protect the leaves from new infection. Once you see it, it is too late to prevent it. If it is just a small amount, spraying will help keep it from spreading. Keep in mind you should not spray with it within 66 days to harvest.



I see. I don't have clusters this year, and the leaves are less than 10% affected. Should I leave it alone for now?


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## grapeman (Jul 1, 2014)

I would spray them for about another month. After that it affects the vines a lot less. If you spray now, you will lessen the infection of the whole vineyard.


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