The Pierce’s Disease/Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter Board voted to recommend funding 16 new projects, for a total of $2,699,292 over three years, and $566,562 for five continuing projects for fiscal year 2022-23. The Board’s funding recommendations were approved by California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross.
The Board has invested over $51.8 million since 2001 in research and outreach to protect vineyards, prevent the spread of pests and diseases, and deliver practical and sustainable solutions. The consistent, reliable funding made possible by the winegrape grower assessment means that California’s wine industry supports leading scientists dedicated to finding solutions to PD and other serious pests and diseases of winegrapes. Click to learn more about Board-funded research.
Insects Deployed for GWSS Eradication in Solano County
Eradication efforts are in full force against the GWSS infestation in Vacaville’s Browns Valley neighborhood in Solano County, including the release in April of over 900 tiny, stingless wasps. The wasps are natural enemies of GWSS, destroying GWSS eggs while not harming humans or other insects, and are a sustainable and non-chemical pest management tool for suppressing GWSS populations. Click to learn more about Pierce’s Disease Control Program (PDCP) biological control.
The Solano County Agriculture Department and the PDCP are working to eradicate this infestation with visual surveying, trapping, insecticide treatments, and biocontrol. Approximately 95% of residential properties in the area have been treated since October 2021 and additional biocontrol wasps will be released every few months. In addition, 140 sticky traps set up in the area will be checked every two weeks through this fall to monitor the GWSS population.
