“Everything you can imagine, nature has already created.”
Albert Einstein
Grapevine protection tools and strategies to protect vines from pathogens and phytophages
Vitenova identifies virtuous strategies respecting agro-ecological balances in farms with different types of management (organic, biodynamic, integrated, etc.).
Our aim is to provide winegrowers with the skills they need to achieve quality production by adopting defence methods that disturb agricultural ecosystems as little as possible and promote natural phytosanitary control mechanisms.
Vineyard monitoring: the main activities
Vineyard monitoring is the basis of our activity. We check for the presence of individual pests, as well as useful organisms, through:
- frequent visual checks, to determine their spread in the different areas of the plot;
- frequent visual checks, to determine their spread in the different areas of the plot;
- microscopic observation of leaves and other plant tissue, for the identification of species and precise quantification of populations.
Based on the results of the monitoring, we check whether the intervention thresholds have been reached and propose different solutions according to the real risk found in the field. The company is followed at every stage of pest management planning, such as:
- the identification of alternative interventions to chemical control, if they allow adequate control of harmful organisms;
- the timing of intervention: careful evaluation of weather and vine disease forecast models, combined with the team’s experience and observation in the field, dictate the optimal positioning and frequency of treatments, thus optimising defence also from an economic point of view
- the choice of active substance: the most selective and least impactful molecules are favoured, with the aim of reducing or minimising risks to non-target organisms, human health and the environment
- the adoption of anti-resistance strategies, based on the strict rotation of products with different mechanisms of action, to preserve their effectiveness over time;
- verification of the degree of success of the phytosanitary measures applied, including through the drafting of reports summarising what has been observed during the season.
Vitenova deploys its professionalism to enable companies to comply with the obligations laid down by the main production specifications and Community regulations, as a guarantee for consumers. We therefore produce specific phytosanitary defence lines for wineries that have decided to enhance their grapes and wines through, among others, organic certification, the SQNPI mark (National Quality System Integrated Production) and Diversity Ark certification.
