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Throughout the state of Washington, and in certain pockets of California, grape mealybug (GMB) has gained key pest status among grape growers. In addition to direct feeding damage impacting crop quality, GMB is a primary vector of devastating grapevine leafroll viruses.
Within the industry, there was a clear need for more sustainable and effective GMB management solutions. Over the the past five years, multiple teams across Suterra have taken grape mealybug mating disruption from concept to large scale areawide demonstrations.
The Industry’s Most Comprehensive GMB Trials
In partnership with commercial wine grape growers across Washington and California, we have conducted multi-year, multi-site trials with our new CheckMate® Grape Mealybug dispenser. From the Yakima Valley to the Central Coast, we have tested this product in high pest pressure areas, under different management approaches, and across a variety of environmental conditions.
The trial results speak for themselves. Across the board, vineyards treated with our new GMB dispenser have shown consistent trap suppression and damage reduction. What sets these trials apart isn’t just the significant results, it’s the scale and rigor of the data. Suterra is currently the only pheromone mating disruption company with five years of large-scale GMB efficacy trials across two states. Our internal research and development teams partnered with major industry stakeholders to ensure robust trial design and consistent, repeatable data collection.
Bringing Grower-Driven Innovation to the Vineyard
Grape mealybug is a primary concern among viticulturalists in the Pacific North West and California, especially those growing in Washington’s most historic and productive AVAs. Because of GMBs’s ability to rapidly spread throughout vineyards and vector leafroll viruses, traditional insecticide programs alone have not offered growers adequate control of this persistent pest.
Suterra’s CheckMate GMB mating disruption dispensers offer a sustainable, and season-long new IPM strategy. Backed by years of extensive trial data and close industry collaboration, enthusiasm for CheckMate GMB is high, and growers are eager to adopt the technology on a wide scale. Suterra is working diligently to bring this new solution to market as quickly as possible, pending EPA registration. We are grateful to growers and other industry partners for collaborating on this important work.
Interested in learning more about Suterra’s grape mealybug research and development process? Connect with a member of our technical team here and keep an eye on our events page.