We have establishing grape pest monitoring locations and completed our first weeks of pest counts at three of our planned eight sites, and here we are reporting our observations for the past three weeks. As the temperature increases, the numbers of insect are slowly increasing over the first weeks of scouting. At this time in the field, the canopy is filling in and grapevines are starting to bud.
The glassy winged sharpshooter, Phera insolita sharpshooter, and Oncometopia orbona sharpshooter are known vectors of Pierce's disease, as well as the leafhopper, Graphocephala versuta. For additional information on the pest we are scouting, you can check out our first post on the 2019 Grape Survey methods.
This week, we established four more sites located in Perquimans Co., Currituck Co., Johnston Co., and New Hanover Co.