# Grape Mite - Eriophyes Vitis



## Handy Andy (Jun 13, 2021)

I noticed a vineyard yesterday with the leaves covered with blisters. This morning I was spraying my own vineyards when I noticed a shoot with the same blisters. On searching the internet, I find it is 
*Grape Mite - Eriophyes Vitis*
which variously dependent on web site is regarded as unpleasant but harmless to it can destroy your vine or just stunt leaf growth. My vines are generally growing vigourosly, do I need to worry, and should I spray against this mite, this year or next ???


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## fermenter (Jun 28, 2021)

Handy Andy I have had black mites on the growing ends of the vines for 2-3 years. Norton grapes, vigorous growers so really no damage over all. Also, there are ants on the vines which I am told eat the mites so I don't spray unless the mites get extremely numerous (or my wife fusses too much).


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## Handy Andy (Jun 29, 2021)

Thanks for the feedback. 

Spraying I understand should be used as a preventative measure not as a curative, unless its fertilizer. This mite problem did not exist here last year. I want to nip it in the bud before it has a chance of taking over.

I noted one vineyard locally where nearly all the vines were infected, whilst adjacent vineyards were clear of the mite problem, which made me think they might be spraying against the neighbours mites.

I went to the Portuguese agricultural advisory service with some infected leaves. They advised I use a pesticide, to control the spread of the mites. I intend only to spray the vines around the infected vines, and continue to remove infected shoots on sight. 

I do not know if ants are good or bad, to my vines. There are lots of ant species here in the Azores (big, small, medium sized, black, brown etc). The big black ants are a problem on my fruit trees where they farm blackfly. I have had a couple of very weak vines, almost dead, which when pulled out appeared to have ants nests in the roots. Other vines do not appear to be stressed by ants nests around them. I wonder if there are good ant species and bad ant species ??


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## Handy Andy (Jun 29, 2021)

Oh crap, I just downloaded and translated the insecticide recommended by the Portuguese agricultural advisory service. The insecticide is for Phyxlloxera not grape mites. I may have misdiagnosed the original problem.

European grape varieties are not resistant to Phyxlloxera unless they are on grafted root stocks from north america. Lots of the vines in my red wine vineyards are grown from cuttings, from the original vines.

I will spray everything with the insecticide, and hope it does not g


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## Handy Andy (Jun 29, 2021)

Windows just decided to do updates on my other computer, before I finished editing the above.

I will spray everything with insecticide and hope it does not get a hold. I am going to trust the advisory service recognized the problem correctly. It might be serious !

Edit is there a easy way of recognizing the difference between leaf Mites such as Eriophyes vitis and Phylloxera. they both produce grape blisters that look similar??


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## Handy Andy (Jul 1, 2021)

The latest, news on my little problem. I had a visit from the local agricultural advisory service EXPERT yesterday, and he checked my vines and fruit trees. 
The conclusion ref my vines is that i have some Phylloxera and some Eriopphyes, which if it was worse he would recommend a pesticide. He said I should not spray anything, other than for the Mildew problems common in the area.

Interestingly in around 1850 the island of Sao Jorge was one of the main wine producing islands in the region until the harvests were initially attacked by Phylloxera followed a couple of years later by Odium (Powdery Mildew), both imported from North America.The European vines had no defense against these infestations. The problem was solved by using grafted root stocks from the US, the exxpert said most of my vines are from grafted root stocks and better still, he has a friend in Santa Maria who might be able to give me some(at a price) to replace some damaged vines.

My fruit trees appear to have acquired a fungal infection which can be treated.


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## fermenter (Jul 1, 2021)

Handy Andy said:


> Thanks for the feedback.
> 
> Spraying I understand should be used as a preventative measure not as a curative, unless its fertilizer. This mite problem did not exist here last year. I want to nip it in the bud before it has a chance of taking over.
> 
> ...


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## fermenter (Jul 1, 2021)

Glad to hear your issues are not major ones. Interesting to note Missouri and Eastern Kansas, where I am located, used to have many vineyards in the early 1900's. Most went away for corn. Now grapes are making a comeback. Another note: my vineyard is very small, 5 vines of Norton grapes and 3 Garnacha. Just a hobby. I also use kits to make the kinds of wine we prefer. We do have several varieties of ants, some can do a lot of damage and some don't.


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## toadie (Jul 1, 2021)

Hey Andy I've been following your exploits from afar. I'm basically a master gardener (in my mind anyway). Every year I find new things to give me a battle in the garden. This year it's anthracnose (?) on broad beans. I will say that my move to no pesticides and basically no dig gardening seems to anecdotally be paying dividends. The first few years are hell. I do use btk (bacteria)for leek moths and cabbage whites and bordo (copper) spray for fungus and mildew. Slowly the number and variety of wasps are increasing. As I walk around the property they often hit me accidentally in the face. Now the number of birds has slowly been increasing and a bunch of bee and wasp mimics have moved in. It's almost mind blowing. 

My dad on the other hand blasts everything with Sevin , Malathion and Mancozeb. He's too old to change his ways and it seems to mostly work. I planted some vines at his place mostly because I don't have the room. I said these are grapes for wine. He said grapes for wine? Grapes are for eating. Anyway, I'm curious to see how they will do though the deer seem to have other plans.

Anyway sorry for the ramble. I'm trying to figure out a way moving forward for dealing with fruit trees and grapes without resorting to nasty stuff.

Good luck with everything. Here's a Bumble Bee Robber Fly Mimic.


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## Handy Andy (Jul 4, 2021)

toadie said:


> Anyway sorry for the ramble. I'm trying to figure out a way moving forward for dealing with fruit trees and grapes without resorting to nasty stuff.



Grapes need helping to fight mildew. Some organic folk use milk diluted with water to fight mildew, sulphur is also organic and is used by most growers. My sister recommended using cooking oil (sunflower) and washing up liquid diluted with water to kill black fly, on my citrus trees. This works by suffocating the insects that get sprayed, and does not harm the bees, unless you spray them directly. 

Some of my fruit trees I have been told are being damaged by a fungal infection called "Gomose" in Portuguese. My trees also had cochineel on them, which I assumed incorrectly might have been the cause of one of my trees dying and another losing lots of leaves. I sprayed and exterminated all the blackfly and any cochineel, but my trees didnt improve so I got the local agricultural advisor to come and have a look, he advised using Aliette fungicide, which I used yesterday. I will wait and see if the trees get better. 

I notice across my vines on wires and trellices. The vines on trellices dont appear to have a problem with mildew, I assume this is because they are raised further from the ground giving better airflow. The vines need good airflow around them. 

Some vines have better resistance to mildew than others, I have a Verdello tinto which is very susceptible, and an Alverino branco which doesnt seem to be affected by Mildew too much, both are on wires. My American tinte is starting to show signs of Mildew on the leaves even though it is being sprayed every 10 days. We have just come through a rainy patch, so I attribute this to to the weather.


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## treesaver (Jul 5, 2021)

I have been fertilizing with sea salt this year. Before everyone piles on, and tells me that salt will kill my vines, I need to explain. Sea salt has the most complete make up of micro nutrients of anything on earth, but must be used sparingly, because of the salt! With the correct nutrition, many of the pests, diseases and problems go away. I started this this spring, and my vines look the best they have ever looked. Stay tuned!


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## Handy Andy (Jul 6, 2021)

treesaver said:


> I have been fertilizing with sea salt this year. Before everyone piles on, and tells me that salt will kill my vines, I need to explain. Sea salt has the most complete make up of micro nutrients of anything on earth, but must be used sparingly, because of the salt! With the correct nutrition, many of the pests, diseases and problems go away. I started this this spring, and my vines look the best they have ever looked. Stay tuned!



I live on an island, with sea spray at times in the air from storms, the vines dont appear to be adversely affected by it. Some leaf burn perhaps!

Roundup is the isopropylamine _salt_ of _glyphosate_ . What dose of sea salt are you using on your vines? Large doses of salt are used here occasionally to kill tree stumps, instead of using other chemicals. I find roundup cheaper and more effective against the more tenatious plants than salt. The stumps that did come back to life were not very vigorous, and I finished them with roundup. 

Sea salt tuned? alarmed  I dont know, Im just learning.


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## treesaver (Jul 6, 2021)

Andy, I used a small dose, about a trird of a cup, and hoed it in in a circle about at the drip line of the plants. This is sea salt that is collected for this purpose, not what you would buy to salt food with. The sea has a marvelous echosystem, that balances way over a hundred micro and macro nutrients that can replace what has been used up in the soil from generations of growing. Check out the book, "Fertility of the Deep", it is a story of a doctor that was looking for a cure for cancer, but ended up finding a source to make all lives better and more healthy!


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## balatonwine (Jul 6, 2021)

Handy Andy said:


> I will spray everything with insecticide and hope it does not get a hold. I am going to trust the advisory service recognized the problem correctly. It might be serious !



Spraying will not do much. Mainly because of the complex life cycle of Phylloxera. The galls you see on the leaves are not the only reproductive form. If you see galls on your vines you also have Phylloxera in your soil, on your vines roots, reproducing. So spraying your leaves or even pulling them off will not remove this pest. It is there, and you can not do much about it but plant grafted vines. The galls on the leaves do not really harm the vine much unless you get a super infection were vine leaf area is more gall than leaf.....

For more details of the reproductive biology of Phylloxera and why it is impossible to get rid of see:









Phylloxera - Wikipedia







en.wikipedia.org







Handy Andy said:


> Edit is there a easy way of recognizing the difference between leaf Mites such as Eriophyes vitis and Phylloxera. they both produce grape blisters that look similar??



It is actually simple and usually follows a simple rule. Simply look on which side of the leaf has the raised bump.

The Mites create smooth(ish) raised bumps on the top of the leaf, with a white depression on the underside of the leaf. Looks like this:




Phylloxera creates a small, often sunken spot on the top of the leaf, and a large raised gall (often with tiny spikes) on the underside of the leaf. Looks like this:




So raised bump on top: Mites. Raised bump underneath: Phylloxera.


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## Handy Andy (Jul 6, 2021)

Thanks for the explanation, it makes it clear how the agricultural advisor looked at one leaf and said europhyes, and then when I showed him another from another vine it was phylloxoria. This advisor was the boss advisor as opposed to the office junior I spoke to earlier, he is recommended not spraying against phylloxeria or europhyes vitis, as it is not a big problem amongst my vines.

He had a walk around my red wine vineyards, but only glanced at my whites. I have also identified Anthracnose, I think, on a couple of my Alverino vines, on the clusters. All of these problems might have existed last year but were hidden in the devastation caused by the powdery mildew(oidium) and downy mildew(mildeu). I should I think have used some other sprays during the dormant period to suppress some of the issues I am seeing now.

I have a farmaceutical course in november, in which I hope the various chemicals and diseases present on the island will be explained in detail.

I am getting some resistant root stocks via the agricultural advisory service to replace some vines. 

Despite the issues I still hope for a bumper crop compared to last year. Thanks for the input.


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