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Grape phylloxera? Need help please ...

17 years ago

Hello,

I never have posted on this forum, but today we just noticed this disturbing phenomenon on some of the leaves of a grape vine that has been growing in our yard. We're not absolutely sure what kind of grape vine this is, so please pardon our complete ignorance of Vitus.

I actually have never paid much attention to this vine before, so have yet to ID it. I don't even really know what color or shape the grapes are, if any.

However, the appearance of these blister-type white pustule things has us concerned. Could this be damage from a Grape Phylloxera, or are these blisters some kind of Grape Blister Gall?

Also, is this is something that could spread to other plants in our garden? We have a Monarda and some Eupatorium purpureum that we are fond of in the immediate vicinity of this grape vine, but aren't sure if the problem is something that could "jump species" like that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, and thanks in advance.

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Comments (4)

Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
17 years ago
Well, I have grape vines, and that doesn't look like a grape leaf to me. It might be some other kind of vine.
topie
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks desertdance, I agree the leaf in the photo does not look all that grape-like. We did not plan this vine and there's a possibility this may be a wild grape called riverbank grape (Vitis riparia). I believe the leaves on the riverbank grape can vary a lot in shape, even on the same vine. This vine does have long curling tendrils at the ends, similar to other grape vines I have seen.

Also, the edges of the leaf in the photo are slightly deformed and curling inward due to the pustules of this pest/disease, so it's difficult to tell what the leaf would look like without the pustules.

Here are a couple of more photos, that include some leaves without the pustules on them. Please disregard the hosta leaves below the vine leaves in the second photo.

{{gwi:277472}}

I'll take some more photos of the leaves, tendrils, etc. and upload them here if that would help.

Thanks.
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I have been anticipating this problem eventually finding my vineyard, so I bought some C 3309 rootstock several years ago, let it grow a couple seasons, took lots of cuttings, and planted rooted cuttings right by each of my unprotected vines. I plan on "approach grafting" the two together, so that when the root bugs hit, at least one of the root systems will be resistant. Does that make sense? A bolder person might drill a hole clear through the infected grape stem, insert the top of a 3309 cutting into the hole so that a 3309 bud comes out the other side of said hole, while the proximal end of the 3309 cutting (including another bud) goes into the dirt to root. Theoretically, the cutting would root, the distal bud would develop into a vine, the 3309 vine would start closing the hole made in original infected grape, to go on and eventually start supplying it needed nutrients. This is hard to explain in one dimension! Here is a link that might be useful: C 3309 rootstock
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Okay I just looked at the vine and here it goes. There is one cane or arm I think it is and it goes from older wood to younger thinner wood it is in the pic of where it splits into a Y shape and the top one is the younger one that is producing grape clusters all along the cane. Now the older and thicker wood has a young cane growing out of it that is about five or six feet long and it has some grape clusters and down along the older vine I left two buds per node and they have a few clusters of grapes. Older with young cane coming out Older with Grape cluster Young cane with grape clusters Top one is the younger cane, the bottom one is the older cordon.
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Nancy: As grapes bloom and the small fruit form the changes come quickly. Before bloom there is a little green bud, hundreds of them on each flower cluster. After flowering most of the fruit aborts and falls off. The little grapes then grow rapidly. So just be patient, things will settle down and you will have clusters of small grapes, quickly changing to large grapes. That's one thing I like about grapes, they change quickly. Your observations sound normal to me. The Fruitnut
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I'm not sure that you need any corrective action. More info would be helpful. On the surface it looks like you have a fairly nice cluster of grapes to me. I had a great crop of 'Crimson Seedless' grapes this year, but the vine is looking pretty shabby right now (as it should) in late October. Here's a cluster from my vine from 9/14:
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topie
Original Author
17 years ago
P.S. Could also be Frost grape (Vitis vulpina), or Fox grape (Vitis labrusca). These are two other native grape vines that grow wild in our area as far as I know.

I've also noticed this same pustule issue on other similar-looking vines in our region.
topie
Original Author
17 years ago
Here are some more photos of the vine. It looks like a grape vine to me (Vitis vulpina? Vitis riparia?), but let me know what else you think it might be.
Thanks in advance.

Overall foliage:
{{gwi:277471}}

Close-up of tendrils (please disregard leaves of Yellow Birch (Betula alleghaniensis) in photo:
{{gwi:277474}}

Close-up of fruit:
{{gwi:277475}}

Close-up of stems (and pustules):
{{gwi:277476}}

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