Vine treatments: how to save it from flavescence dorée?

Do you know what flavescence dorée consists of and what repercussions it can have on your vineyard? Choose the right machine to carry out quality vine treatments to combat the spread of the disease.

Follow us in this article to learn more!

What is flavescence dorée?

Flavescence dorée is a serious epidemic disease affecting vines. The cause lies in a phytoplasma, belonging to the grapevine yellows, which penetrates the plant's lymphatic system and leads to the occlusion of vessels, causing the vine to dry out.

The disease is spread from one vine to another by a vector insect, the so-called Scaphoideus titanus, a cicada that survives at the expense of the vine.

First recognised in the 1950s in France, the disease then appeared in Italy in the late 1960s. Initially widespread in Veneto, Lombardy and Piedmont, today other regions of the Peninsula are also affected by flavescence dorée.

But where does the name flavescence dorée come from? From the golden yellow colour that spreads across the entire surface of the affected vines. The first symptoms of the disease normally occur in July (in some cases even earlier if the weather is particularly hot and dry) and affect the leaves, shoots, shoots and bunches of vines.

It is crucial to know the symptoms of this disease so as to intervene immediately with ad hoc vine treatments, thus avoiding repercussions on the quality and quantity of production.

When to proceed with vine treatments to combat flavescence dorée?

The purpose of monitoring the insect vector of flavescence dorée is to understand when to carry out insecticide treatments of the vine at the ideal time. Normally, the most suitable time is between June and July, when the juveniles of Scaphoideus titanus start to move and feed.

However, insecticide is not always sufficient. Given the dwindling number of active substances available today, it is essential to also treat the vine with equipment that can make a difference, thus preventing the appearance and spread of the disease.

How to carry out a truly effective screw treatment?

It is well known that timely intervention is the decisive element in guaranteeing an effective phytosanitary defence of vines. However, to carry out an adequate treatment, it is not enough to use just any sprayer.

To prevent flavescence dorée, the product molecules must be evenly distributed over the entire leaf surface. The choice of the most suitable sprayer/nebuliser for your vineyard therefore becomes strategic.

So, is it better to prefer an overhead sprayer with downdrafts or a sprayer with recovery panels? We explain in this video ↓

What are the parameters that condition the quality of a vine treatment?

Let's briefly look at the five main ones:

Wind speed during treatment: the wind should not exceed 5m/sec. If it does not, it will be necessary to reduce the forward speed and use anti-drift nozzles, which increase the coverage area.
Working speed of the sprayer, which depends on the machine chosen to treat the vines and the leaf density.
Volume and speed of the air produced by the fan: this must be well calibrated to arrive straight at the target, i.e. neither insufficient nor excessive.
Direction of the air produced by the fan, which should be diagonal with respect to the vegetation, so that the droplets can deposit evenly on all the leaves - even the innermost ones - and on the bunch.
Droplet size. In this case, the general rule to follow is: the smaller and more numerous the droplets, the larger the surface area we will be able to treat.

So which sprayer guarantees the best quality of vine treatment? It depends on the form of vine training. Watch this short video and follow all the advice from the Caffini team ↓

Are you still undecided on which machine to choose and would you like to know in detail what Caffini has to offer? Contact us, we will be happy to tell you in detail how the mist-blower sprayers and pneumatic sprayers work.