All 200 hectares of Bodegas
Fundador’s El Majuelo vineyard will be controlled by “sexual confusion” in an attempt to control Lobesia
Botrana or vine moth, starting now. This moth is one of the major vineyard pests
especially in southern Europe, and was first detected in Jerez in the early
1960s. Lobesia is capable of four generation in a year, but usually three in
Andalucía. Eggs are laid in spring among the fine flower leaves of the vine, and
the larvae damage the nascent grapes, then as the surviving grapes ripen, caterpillars
feed on them, which is bad enough but these lesions leave the grapes open to
the fungus Botrytis Cinerea which rots them, rendering the bunch useless.
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| Lobesia Botrana moth (foto:vitivinicultura.net) |
The sexual confusion technique works by using nature.
At breeding time, the female moths emit pheromones to attract males, so the
vine growers put little female pheromone diffusers all over the vineyard (350-500
per hectare) saturating the air and confusing the males. Some vineyards even
have traps which consist of little glue lined boxes charged with pheromones. This
process only attacks the Lobesia and dramatically reduces fertilisation without
the use of insecticides, which attack all insects good and bad, and is permitted
in organic vineyards. It has been in use in Jerez since 1993 but not
particularly widely due to the cost.
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| Lobesia caterpillar (foto:vitivinicultura.net) |
Since 2004 Fundador has held the ISO 14001 environmental
certification which insists on constant environmental control and improvement,
and the company has already ceased the burning of vine prunings, reduced herbicide
use and introduced sexual confusion techniques to reduce environmental impact and
manage the vineyards organically.
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| Pheromone dispenser (foto:rawwine.com) |
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