Grapevine Fanleaf Virus

Grapevine Fanleaf Virus. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

Grape growers in the northwest have a lot of things to content with and one of them is the possibility of contaminating their own crops by introducing new plants. According to WSU’s Naidu Rayapati, growers need to be aware of the consequences. Two similar problems are leaf roll disease and fanleaf disease.

RAYAPATI: And of course just like leaf roll disease, fanleaf is also spread through vegetative cuttings.

Both have a devastating effect on grapes but they are transmitted in totally different ways.

RAYAPATI: Grapevine fanleaf disease is a soil borne disease in the sense that it’s transmitted by nematode vector whereas leaf roll disease is transmitted by insect vectors like mealy bugs.

Rayapati urges all growers to be very careful when selecting new plants or in taking cuttings from other areas. So far the nematode vector for fanleaf has not been detected in Washington State but that is where extra caution is needed.

RAYAPATI: So once you have this fanleaf disease in a particular piece of land, it means it will be there so that’s the challenge in dealing with fanleaf disease as opposed to insect transmitted virus disease like grapevine leaf roll disease.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.