VitiSealTM
Vineyards world-wide are afflicted with ascopores, air-borne fungal pathogens. These fungi infect over 80 plant species around the world. While Eutypa has historically been the most predominant canker causing grapevine trunk diseases, in a recent survey of cankers found in vineyards in 21 California counties, Botryosphaeria spp.was the most commonly isolated fungus. (Urbez-Torres et al., 2006).
Bot cankers and Eutypa lata infect grapevines through pruning wounds during the dormant season by means of ascospores released from perithecia after rainfall. Canker diseases inhibit production and ultimately render the vine or tree useless. If cankers are not removed, the entire vine eventually dies.
Traditional synthetic fungicides typically used to treat Eutypa dieback and Bot canker must be reapplied every 10 to 14 days during the pruning season, as well as after rain. Labor
and product costs can thus be prohibitively
expensive for any vineyard. For large vineyards, which start early in the season to timely complete their pruning, 3 or more applications can be required in some blocks. Excessive fungicide use can negatively impact the land and lead ultimately to disease resistance. While approximately 70 percent of vineyards are treated with a topical pruning wound sealant or fungicides or both, some 30 percent don't treat at all. This is because of the mistaken supposition that the cost to treat is more than the cost to replant, retrain and lose five years of production yields. Safecoat VitiSealTM makes these concerns disappear.
VitiSealTM provides non-pesticidal, natural solutions to grapevine trunk and related crop diseases. Combining the latest plant science and coatings technology, VitiSeal's mission is to create sustainable, grower-and earth-friendly products that protect the health of the plant without endangering the land. VitiSeal is 25B FIFRA exempt from EPA registration.
Safecoat VitiSeal is an amazing material. It’s essential oils so it’s an organic product and right now it is registered not as a fungicide, but as a product to seal pruning wounds. It’s an incredible product. So, that product is now available and the good thing about VitiSeal is that we’ve also looked at it as a paste, it has to be painted on [but] if you put it in the tank at a 1:10 dilution you can actually spray it on. And a 1:10 dilution seems to be as effective as the paste itself."
Dr. Douglas Gubler
Professor of Plant Pathology
University of California, Davis