Effects of application of fungicide during the dormant period on phomopsis cane and leaf spot of grape disease intensity and inoculum production

Efficacy of application of the fungicides calcium polysuffide or fixed copper during the dormant period on control of Phomopsis cane and leaf spot of grape (Vitis spp.), caused by Phomopsis viticola, was examined under field conditions during the 2003 and 2004 growing seasons in Ohio. Dormant-period fungicide applications were made either in the fall (after leaf drop and periderm tissue formation on the first-year canes, mid-November), or spring (at bud-swell, mid-April), or both. Disease incidence and severity on leaves and internodes were examined. In addition, effects of dormant-period application on sporulation of P. viticola were determined by examining the number of conidia in rain-splashed water in the spring and formation of mature pycnidia on cane sections in the winter. Fall-and-spring and spring applications of calcium polysulfide provided 12 to 88% reduction in disease intensity (incidence or severity), whereas calendar-based protectant mancozeb applications reduced overall disease intensity by 47 to 100%. Fixed-copper applications did not provide a consistent reduction of the disease. Fall applications of dormant-period fungicide provided little or no effect by itself. There was a significantly lower number of conidia observed in collected splashed rain water from vines treated with fall-and-spring applications of calcium polysuffide than in rain water from nonsprayed vines. Fall-and-spring and spring applications of calcium polysuffide provided a significant reduction in the number of mature pycnidia formed on incubated cane sections compared with the nonsprayed control (5 versus 10 pycnidia/cm(2)), whereas fixed copper did not provide a significant reduction.