What's eating my vitis vinifera?

Grapevines face a wide range of pests. Vine weevil, grape berry moth, spotted wing drosophila, and phylloxera are all serious. Birds steal ripe fruit and wasps hollow out bunches. Deer and rabbits damage young wood in winter. Careful netting, monitoring, and variety selection are the key defences.

Root-feeding form causes sudden vine decline and death over years; leaf-galling form creates puckered distorted leaves (less common on European vines). Plant vines on phylloxera-resistant rootstock (standard practice in commercial viticulture); no cure once roots are infested — prevention is the only reliable control.

Larvae bore into developing berries causing premature drop or rot entry points; webbing visible around clusters. Use pheromone traps to monitor adult flight; apply Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) or spinosad targeting young larvae; remove fallen mummified berries.

Wasps hollow out ripe berries; birds peck and remove whole grapes; damage accelerates fungal rots in remaining fruit. Net bunches individually or drape whole vine with fine mesh netting as harvest approaches; wasp traps placed away from the plant to draw them off.

Adults notch leaf edges at night; grubs in soil eat roots, causing sudden unexplained wilt especially in container-grown vines. Apply pathogenic nematodes (Steinernema kraussei) to moist soil in late summer; use vine weevil-specific nematode drenches in containers; hand-pick adults after dark.