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At a trade fair in Peyrole, France, the French technology company Greenshield presented a method in which only part of the vines in the vineyard are treated with pesticides and which is nevertheless supposed to offer full protection. This makes use of the principle of herd immunity. The basic idea behind this strategy is that not all vines need to be protected in order to prevent the spread of an epidemic, a technique known as pattern spraying. This involves treating a few metres of vines in a row at a time, staggering the vines in adjacent rows to do so, creating a kind of irregular checkerboard pattern. Trials by Greenshield in organically managed vineyards in Cognac showed encouraging results: On 5 July, the pattern method protected the vines just as well as conventional control methods, even though downy mildew pressure was high. In this way, the amount of pesticides used could be reduced by 25 percent with full effect.
(al / Source: vitisphere; Photo: Creative Commons)