Winery owners and gardeners alike can relate to the pains associated with grape production. While grapes are a wonderful crop to grow, they are also very vulnerable to disease. Without any type of pest management system, grape crops are likely to suffer severe damage. However, far too many growers incorrectly identify the disease present on the grape crop. In these cases, it is impossible for the growers to accurately treat the infection. Therefore, it is absolutely essential for winery owners and gardeners to maintain a thorough understanding of the most common types of grape diseases.

A variety of elements will determine the severity of the disease and the most advantageous path to treatment. Each year will bring new conditions and factors that will likely alter the best course of treatment for your grape crop. The following aspects will directly affect the pest management system in your vineyard:

• Weather conditions
• Quantity of the pathogen
• Variety of grapes

After understanding how the above elements will alter your treatment plan, growers must gain a basic understanding of the most likely diseases to penetrate your winery. The following are the most common types of diseases that attack grapes:

• Downy Mildew
• Powdery Mildew
• Black Rot
• Grey Mold
• Anthracnose
• Crown Gall

The mildews and molds are triggered by fungi that attacks the grape berries and thus reduces their quantity and yield. Crown gall, on the other hand, is initiated by a bacterium that can potentially kill the plant. As usual, recognizing these diseases early is paramount to effectively eliminating them. Monitoring seasonal fluctuations and specific populations of pests will prove to be beneficial to the success of the harvest.

As more and more medical and recreational marijuana dispensaries open across the United States, the ability to prevent plant diseases from attacking marijuana crops is becoming more important than ever before. States such Alaska, Colorado, California, Connecticut, Michigan, Washington, New York, Maine, and Massachusetts all allow for some degree of medical use of marijuana. From a grower’s perspective, preventing marijuana plant diseases is vital to production, business growth, and overall livelihood.

As a result, marijuana growers are constantly looking for new, innovative methods to protect their harvests from plant diseases. Infestations of diseases such as powdery mildew and spider mites have the potential to completely destroy a harvest. To deter the accumulation of cannabis plant disease, growers should adhere to the following prevention tips:

• Always keep the plantation clean 
• Get rid of all wastes, dried leaves, etc. on a regular basis 
• Molds, pests, and diseases are often repelled by clean grow rooms 
• Be extremely attentive to humidity levels, many molds thrive in excessively increased or decreased humidity 
• Ensure lighting is always appropriate 
• Pay close attention to ventilation in the grow room 
• Be sure to use pasteurized soil 
• Do not plant marijuana crops with other types of plants 
• Use nylon screening to keep pests out of the grow room 

Keeping these grow tips in mind will help to keep your cannabis plants healthy, thriving, and disease-free.

Preparing for the late spring frost is something that all gardeners and growers must keep in mind. While some plants can tolerate a light frost, such as lettuce and broccoli, other plants are unable to withstand such harsh conditions. Warm season crops like cucumber and squash will not survive the frost. Therefore, it is absolutely essential for all growers to maintain a solid knowledge of how to protect the plants that need protecting during the late spring freeze. 

Some seed packaging will display a warning such as “Plant after all frost hazards have passed”. However, it is important for gardeners and growers to maintain this information on their own, as different regions and different plants will require specific care. To find out the climate in your region and the date of the average last spring frost, we recommend going to the National Climate Data Center. This will help for growers and gardeners to gain a better understanding of typical climate changes where they are growing their crops.

Preparing for the late spring freeze is important. As such, all growers should loosely adhere to the following instructions:

• Be sure that you are planting at the appropriate time for your specific region 
• Keep a tab on the weather and weather predictions 
• Keep plants hydrated 
• Use mulch on your gardens 
• Ensure that your perennial plants are protected 
• Use a sheet or frost cloth to insulate your harvest 

While some late spring freezes are harsher than others, prepared growers are always placed in a better position to protect their precious crops. As such, it is critical to be aware of your regional climate conditions, zones, and the specific needs of your plants on an individual basis.

 Differentiating between the most common plant diseases is often a difficult task, even for the most seasoned of gardeners and growers. The majority, if not all, of the most common plant diseases are caused by fungi, viruses, and bacteria. Once a disease formulates it tends to quickly spread across a crop or garden, moving from one plant to another. While most diseases are able to be destroyed through a combination of proper care and the right product, prevent is most certainly the best means of protecting your harvests. 

Location plays a significant role in determining which diseases are most likely to thrive in that region. Fungi remove the energy from the plants that they are living on, often to blame for the enormous damage that the plants receive. The ability to identify the most common plant diseases when they first begin to form is instrumental in protecting your crop and keeping your harvest healthy and flourishing. 

The following are some of the most common plant diseases: 

• Anthracnose 
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• Apple Scab 
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• Bacterial Canker 
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• Bacterial Leaf Spot 
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• Blossom End Rot 
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• Brown Rot 
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• Cedar Apple Rust 
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• Club Root 
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• Common Rust 
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• Corn Smut 
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• Crown Gall 
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• Damping Off 
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• Downy Mildew 
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• Early Blight 
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• Fire Blight 
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• Fusarium Wilt 
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• Gray Mold 
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• Late Blight 
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• Leaf Curl 
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• Mosaic Virus 
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• Potato Scab 
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• Powdery Mildew 
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• Verticillium Wilt 

To restate, prevention is essential to keeping your plants safe. However, some diseases are simply impossible to prevent, especially in situations where a grower is responsible for a large plot of land. Therefore, the ability to recognize the above diseases will prove to be beneficial to the overall health of your harvest.

As we ring in the 2013 Valentine’s Day tomorrow, many growers are finding their concern shifting from their loved ones to the state of their roses. Powdery mildew is one of the most damaging infections that plague rose bushes today. Often appearing as a dusty, grayish-white powder on the leaves of your rose bushes, powdery mildew is a serious threat to the overall health of your roses. Ignoring the onset of these spots can lead to complete destruction of all rose bushes in your garden. 

A wide range of gardeners today have pinpointed powdery mildew as one of the most consistent, steadfast issues that they encounter. The fungal growth that covers your rose bush leaves grows quickly, covering the surfaces of leaves and turning them yellow. These leaves eventually become distorted and fall off of the rose bush. While there is technically no “cure” for these infestations, a variety of products have scientifically proven to both kill current outbreaks and prevent future infestations from occurring.

The following are some tips for what to treat roses with powdery mildew:

· Try to wash the roses at least two morning each week, these washes must be thorough to raise humidity and block powdery mildew spores from maturing

· Ensure that the rose bushes are dry prior to nightfall, residual moisture provides a place for spore germination

· Some gardeners choose to plant only disease-resistant rose cultivars

· Place rose bushes in an area with substantial air circulation and sunlight

· Help the rose buds by opening them in the center to enhance air circulation

· When watering, do not pour from overhead but rather from below to reduce humidity levels

· Avoid planting rose bushes in close proximity to structures such as walls

Keeping these tips in mind will place your rose garden in the best position to deter powdery mildew outbreaks. While there is no specific cure for these infestations, following the above tips is a surefire way to treat roses with powdery mildew and prevent future outbreaks from arising.

The majority of growers, gardeners, and anyone with a green thumb is familiar with the dreaded spider mites. Often responsible for destroying patches of valuable crops, fruits, plants, and vegetables, spider mites have become a serious problem for growers across the United States and worldwide. Understanding the lifecycle of spider mites is beneficial for those attempting to eliminate infestations. 

Spider mite eggs are the root of all plants and crop growth problems and understanding how to kill spider mite eggs is the key to destroying infestations and, more importantly, permanently eliminating them. Far too many gardeners and growers approach spider mite infestation by focusing on the current mites ruining crops. However, focusing on the destruction of the spider mite eggs is the optimal way to tackle the infestation.

Female spider mites lay perfectly spherical, round eggs which often appear in a range of colors from clear to amber. Because spider mites go through what is referred to as a gradual metamorphosis, it is absolutely essential to target infestations at the root of the problem, killing the spider mite eggs. Determining how to kill spider mite eggs in the most efficient manner possible has been the focus of foliar research for many years.

Unfortunately, many of the most popular spider mite pesticides strictly target the mites, not the eggs, thus leaving serious room for infestations to continue. When searching for a product address your spider mite infiltration, it is important to understand exactly what the product’s capabilities are and how they relate to your current problem. Destroying infestations starts with knowing how to kill spider mite eggs. Spider Mite Killer, formulated by Growers Trust, is amongst the only few products on the market today that target spider mite eggs.

Growers and gardeners hoping to eliminate an infestation forever must take into account the importance of egg destruction. Contact Growers Trust today to speak with a foliar expert and learn more about what Spider Mite Killer can do for you and your harvest!

Spider mite infestations continue to plague gardeners and growers across the United States. From winery owners to medical marijuana grow houses, from farmers to organic growers, and from landscapers to hydroponic gardeners, spider mites consistently limit crop production and harvest productivity. As one of the most common agricultural pests, spider mite infestations are directly linked to lost crop, destroyed harvests, and most importantly, lost profits due to massive invasions.

Understanding the spider mites life cycle will help those growers and gardeners suffering from infestations to address the serious problem. For instance, gaining an understanding of the conditions in which spider mites thrive will help growers to recognize when the use of organic products is necessary. Spider mite infestations are often recognized by the speckled yellowish marks that they leave in their path when feeding on plants cells.

As the first sign of a spider mite invasion, these speckled yellow-white marks must be recognized immediately. If left unaddressed, the infestations will quickly kill the plants cells entirely. Those slow to come across a spider mite infestation may be too late. The following chart of spider mites life cycle provides an excellent look into the importance of immediately addressing an invasion.

Temperature (Fahrenheit)	Number of Days (from Egg to Adult)
60°	30
64°	21
70°	14.5
90°	3.5

Powdery mildew on grapes is one of the most common issues that gardeners, growers, and winery owners across the country must deal with. When a crop is attacked by powdery mildew the lifecycle of the plant is greatly threatened. With the ability to reduce vine growth, overall yield, fruit production and quality, and hardiness in the winter time, powdery mildew quickly becomes a financial threat for serious growers and gardeners. Winery owners will agree that a method to stop powdery mildew attacks before they start would provide a direct path to greater productivity, and thus, financial gain. 

Unfortunately, however, many of the elements critical to properly growing healthy grapes lend themselves to temperatures and seasonal factors that help powdery mildew to thrive. When temperatures reach anywhere from 68 to 77 degrees, this creates an optimal situation for powdery mildew diseases to develop. In addition, moisture and humidity from rainfall allow the fungal spores to flourish. As such, creating a method to remove powdery mildew on grapevines and prevent infestations from forming again is absolutely imperative, especially for winery owners looking to maintain a profitable business.

All of the green tissues of the grapevine are susceptible to powdery mildew attacks. Often appearing as grayish-white patches of fungal growth, the powdery mildew typically spreads to the grapes which become covered with white powdery mildew. As a result, the grapes are unable to color properly. When the fungal spores surface on the green shoots and leaves, the grapevine harvest is greatly compromised. When this occurs, winery owners have begun to turn to the product that Growers Trust, Powdery Mildew Killer.

Powdery Mildew Killer not only kills and destroys current outbreaks, but works to prevent future infestations from forming. As Powdery Mildew Killer destroys the fungal spores’ lifecycle, the plant cells are given nutrients from the organic composition of the product. In turn, the grapevines are able to flourish while having the power to fight back against powdery mildew attacks. Contact Growers Trust today to learn more!