Vine status
Our Chardonnay vines have grown quickly and are now about ~2 inches in shoot length. We lost about 10-15% due to the frost event that happened on 4/8/2026.
Grape disease risks from the NEWA
NEWA is an Agricultural Weather Station Network, and we are part of the team. Here is a snapshot from the last week, showing the number of days with the risk of each disease: Ph = Phomopsis, PW = Powdery mildew, BR = Black rot, and DM = Downy mildew. N/A means there is no data or issues with the NEWA. I am waiting to hear back from the weather station company about fixing the one in Stafford.
As expected, dry weather is not favoring disease development, which is good news. 🙂 However, we could need some rain since we have been under drought conditions for a while. Here’s a snapshot from the US drought monitor.
If you are planning to install a weather station for your vineyard, please email me so we can discuss options for connecting to the NEWA. We are missing participants in the southern part of Shenandoah Valley!
Downy mildew risk forecast
Since it has been very dry, I was not expecting to see downy mildew risks, but it looks like some places may experience risks in the next few days. As usual, prevention is the best approach. Please refer to my previous post about downy mildew management.
The downy mildew forecasting effort is supported by the Virginia Wine Board.
