Saturday, September 02, 2006

Brazen Theft of Berries in Broad Daylight



Yellow Jackets feast upon Viognier, later the Sangiovese

Connie's Post
our original proof of concept consists of seven vines--small enough to cover with netting to protect the grapes from birds. Unfortunately, the netting can't protect the grapes from yellow jackets. the yellow jackets are quite brazen about their theft, as you can see from this crime photo. they simply puncture the berry and gnaw at the pulp until they can hold no more and buzz slowly away, leaving the skins on the stems to shrivel and dry. remorseless. i thought the yellow jackets were only into the viognier, but found them later, snacking on the sangiovese. we don't remember their presence in the vineyard last year, so it will be interesting to keep tabs upon their effect on the harvest. i think they are solid perps in the mysterious case of the stripped down seyval, but my partner on the case is still investigating his leads on the miscreant birds.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Only you would have "wino flies" called hornets. The blog the is cool, keep it up.

Tony