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Oregon is the third largest viniferous grape growing region in the U.S., with 463 wineries

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2023 Oregon Wine Symposium | VITICULTURE TRACK | Seasonal Impacts on Vineyard Pests & Diseases

| Education, Oregon Wine Symposium, Viticulture + Enology |

Seasonal Impacts on Vineyard Pests & Diseases

Oregon’s premier epidemiologists provide the latest research and practical management techniques for the vineyard pests that are on the rise in Oregon. This session features the latest data on the spread of vine mealy bug and what this could mean for your vineyards.

Seasonal weather variations each vintage contribute strongly to accelerated disease pressure in the vineyard. 2022 was no exception with an epidemic of powdery mildew throughout many regions in Oregon. Dr. Walt Mahafee delivers a review of the season and the necessities for optimizing vineyard health in 2023

Speaker Bio

Kelli Gregory graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Plant Science from the University of Missouri, then moved west to attend Oregon State University where she earned her Masters of Agriculture degree in Viticulture studying under Dr. Patty Skinkis. Upon graduating in 2012, she joined Adelsheim Vineyard as their Grower Relations and Viticulture Technician. Soon thereafter she became Adelsheim’s Assistant Vineyard Manager, and in 2017 Gregory was promoted to Vineyard Manager. Kelli oversees all aspects of vineyard operations & viticulture and has also continued in her role as the Grower Relations. Gregory is passionate about sustainable agriculture and has successfully converted all 175 acres of Adelsheim’s vineyards to be farmed without the use of herbicides. She has recently been honored with the LIVE Excellence in Sustainability Award, featured in Good Grower Magazine, and presented at the US Sustainable Winegrowers Summit. Gregory currently sits on several wine organization advisory committees, including the OWB Education Committee, the LIVE Technical Committee, and the Ahi Voy Recruitment Committee. In the past she has served on the Oregon Pinot Camp Committee, The Chardonnay Technical Tasting Committee, and the Oregon Wine Board Research Committee.

Dr. Walt Mahaffee is a research plant pathologist with USDA-Agriculture Research Service. His team’s research spans numerous disciplines to develop sustainable methods for managing diseases of horticulture crops and has resulted in the commercial implementation of several biological control agents, disease forecasting models, and cultural practices for disease management in horticulture crops. Current projects include inoculum monitoring as a decision aid, fungicide resistance, disease forecasting and epidemiology, turbulent airflow modeling and pathogen dispersion, and pathogen ecology.
Josh Vlach is an entomologist with the Oregon Department of Agriculture. He oversees the activities of the Insect Pest Prevention and Management program laboratory. The primary work of the Insect Pest Prevention and Management program is to anticipate, detect, prevent, and mitigate the establishment of invasive invertebrate pests. These pests represent significant threats to our agricultural systems, and new pests arrive every year.
Vaughn Walton serves as a leader in OSU’s Horticultural Pest Management team in diverse integrated pest management programmatic areas. He has established a strong local and internationally recognized extramurally funded program. Vaughn works closely with industry and stakeholders to provide economical and sustainable solutions to economically important pests in perennial specialty crops. His laboratory specializes on Integrated Pest Management within a whole-system approach to obtain sustainable means of production. Much the work from his laboratory has resulted in patented technologies that has been implemented in industry, both here in Oregon and other parts of the world.

Session Recording

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