Cover Crops for the Control of Vineyard Pests

Vineyard pests come in many sizes and forms. However, if you try to eliminate any one of the pests, you can affect a larger ecosystem. Researchers at the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre, in Summerland, British Columbia, are working closely with the wine industry to address pest management issues. And, surprisingly, they are increasing the biodiversity of the vineyards in order to manage pests.

View this video to learn more about this fascinating approach.

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Full Video Transcript:


Narrator: Vineyard pests come in many sizes and forms. From mould, to insects birds and animals. However, if you try to eliminate any one of the pests you can often affect a larger ecosystem. Researchers at the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre in Summerland, British Columbia are working closely with the wine industry to address pest management issues. They have come up with a creative solution to invasive insects. It involves increasing the biodiversity of the vineyards by adding beneficial plants between the vine rows.
Tom Lowery: The team that I'm leading is working on a number of novel ways to manage vineyard pests including management of climbing cutworm and the new invasive yellow lesser underwing moth. We are currently evaluating the beneficial properties a number of native and non-native plants as cover crops. Cover crops are planted between the vine rows for a variety of reasons. In this case we are working on using these plants to help manage populations of grape vine pests.
Narrator: The research team has found that two winter annual mustards Shepard's Purse and Spring Draba, provide almost complete control of cutworm damage to grape buds. Cutworm larvae find these mustards very attractive. But they cannot survive solely on them. Increasing plant diversity leads to an increase in predatory and parasitic insect populations that naturally control cutworms and other pests.
Mike Watson: Vineyards are very complicated to manage and we're constantly looking for more tools that allow us to be more sustainable and allow us to use softer products which helps with maintaining a healthy ecosystem as well as maintaining productivity and long-term sustainability. By getting this research done we can look at finding better tools that make it easier to manage.
Narrator: They still have more work to do to better understand how these plants control cutworm populations and to determine if they will provide the same level of control for the new invasive lesser underwing moth. So far, the results are promising. we know that the results will work under real world conditions and will be more rapidly taken up by industry.
Narrator: The challenges for growing grapes in Canada are always changing. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada researchers in collaboration with the industry are helping to nip these challenges in the bud before they become too costly and too difficult to manage. For Canadian vinters, smart science is balanced and full-bodied.