Philip Lujan
Appearances
Short Wave
Grape Growers' Next Collaborators? Robots
These are two of the most devastating, I guess, diseases found in grapes.
Short Wave
Grape Growers' Next Collaborators? Robots
The name is very descriptive of powdery mildew. It just looks like some white powder on the top of the leaves. And if you look at downy mildew infected leaves, on the top of the leaves, you're going to get sort of a yellowing color, sort of like an oil spot.
Short Wave
Grape Growers' Next Collaborators? Robots
It reduces photosynthesis. It also reduces like crop yields as well. It can also affect grape quality.
Short Wave
Grape Growers' Next Collaborators? Robots
When you get that rainfall, that rain splash, they sort of start the growing process of the fungus on the leaf. It develops spores and then those spores splash onto the new leaf, you know, in the spring. So that's sort of that disease cycle.
Short Wave
Grape Growers' Next Collaborators? Robots
Growers often spray 10 to 15 times fungicides per year. And so that's very concerning because, you know, these pathogens are always evolving. And so they're becoming more and more resistant to these sprays because they're spraying so often.
Short Wave
Grape Growers' Next Collaborators? Robots
So it takes a really, really long time for a new fungicide to come out into the market. And so it could take 10, 15, 20 years to develop that. And so these fungi are becoming resistant at a much quicker rate.