Vineyard Design, Cultural Practices and Physical Methods for Controlling Grapevine Pests and Disease Vectors in Europe: A Review

TL;DR

This paper reviews eco-friendly methods like vineyard design and cultural practices to control grapevine pests in Europe, reducing reliance on insecticides.

Contribution

The paper systematically reviews neglected cultural and physical pest control methods for grapevines, emphasizing their integration with biological tools.

Findings

Vineyard design and cultural practices can significantly influence pest populations.

Cultural and physical methods can serve as effective, eco-friendly alternatives to synthetic insecticides.

Agronomic practices such as pruning and fertilization impact pest dynamics.

Abstract

In Europe, grapevine pest control requires alternative tools to synthetic insecticides due to the withdrawal of many active ingredients and the development of pest resistance. Against certain pests, biological control and mating disruption can be effectively used. However, the probability that pests exceed the economic injury levels also depends on decisions made when planting the vineyard and on the agronomic practices adopted each year. Moreover, specific cultural and physical methods may be adopted to control certain pests. This paper aims to review information on these tools, which, neglected for many years as unnecessary, can represent eco-friendly alternatives to insecticides for controlling grapevine pests.

In Europe, due to reduced availability and efficacy of active ingredients, strategies against grapevine pests based on alternative tools to synthetic pesticides need to be developed. So far, attention has been mainly focused on biological control (arthropod natural enemies and entomopathogens) and mating disruption, but other means can also help keep pests below economic injury levels. This paper aims to review information on the direct effects of farmers’ choices on grapevine pest populations, ranging from vineyard design (e.g., growing habitat, grapevine cultivar, and training system) to annual agronomic practices (e.g., fertilization, irrigation, and pruning), and specific cultural and physical methods. Information was based on the CABI Digital Library, websites and books on grapevine pests. The data presentation is based on control strategies rather than pests, as it was considered more important to focus on the mode of action of different practices and to know which pests they affect simultaneously. The widespread availability of insecticides has long led to the neglect of the potential of cultural practices, which can effectively integrate other pest control tools.