Let’s talk about spraying #1!

And by that… I do not mean body spray, although, after planting all those vines, a long hot shower was definitely suggested to me by my vigneron partner.

I am actually referring to the spray programme we need to have in place for the first 2 years of the vinyard (year 3 changes as we let the vine fruit). It is, possibly, the part of viticulture that I am most anxious about. For a number of reasons…

1. We are in France, so I do not know, or have ready access to a knowledge base (aka farmer friends, aka George Gidlow farming savant!).
2. We want to be BIO (aka organic aka a requirement for membership of the Association des vignerons Bretons), and being organic means that you have to take a “preventative” not responsive approach to spraying.
3. We need a formal spray licence to be able to access the higher quality products at the farm stores.
4. This is our first set of vines, and we have to learn while not destroying.
5. Spraying is affected by the weather i.e. wind and rain. So, when to spray makes a difference on the vines and the other aspects of our ecosystem (aka other farmers and more importantly…. bees).

All in all, this feels like a very important step, fraught with potential challenges.

As of 07:00am (French time), Jayne (aka partner vigneron aka the big boss), confirmed that each of our vines were now growing happily in their new terroir.

Indeed, like this Italian Pinot Gris, they are starting to leaf! Which means, the first spray of the season is due. Rather unusually, it was not spraying the vines, it was to spray the surrounding vegetation. Like most gardeners, we are keenly aware of caterpillars, and as such our fruit trees and more, all need a treatment. We have 2 main types, small green caterpillars and the more dangerous chenille processionaire. We need to get on top of these (and box moth) to make sure that our vines have the best chance of not picking up any secondary problems.

Fortunately, we are forecast 2 weeks of sunshine on the vines, so that will give us time to install a weather station, which will help us manage rain and potential mildew related issues.

🌱 Core principles (BIO viticulture in France)

• Our programme will be built around copper (mildiou) + sulphur (oïdium), I believe these are some of the consistently effective fungicides allowed in organic viticulture

Some of the key products we need to try and source are…

• Copper (anti-mildew)

• Bouillie bordelaise (classic)
• Copper hydroxide / oxychloride (e.g. Bordoflow which is AB approved, I think), this is used against mildiou + bacterial diseases

Sulphur (anti-oïdium)

We may need to get either a Wettable sulphur (soufre mouillable) or a Powder sulphur (soufre poudrage) to help control oïdium (powdery mildew).

It is at this point, I am hoping that (new) colleagues at the Association, may be able to offer some advice. Like a lot of places, Brittany had a very wet winter and spring, indeed at times, you could almost see the neighbours’ cows surfing across the fields. Last year, we had a mini canicule (heatwave) and temperatures hit 42 degrees, which meant we had a lot of growth accompanied by challenges. Hopefully, other vignerons will share their best practice and thoughts on timings. I will certainly remember to #payitforward, if ever asked!

Biocontrol/supplements…

which I think, are insecticides/fungicides, is very important in young vines. We must work out which of these products work the best with our vines…

📅 SPRAY PROGRAMME (NEWLY PLANTED VINES)

Year 1–2 priorities:

👉 Protect leaves 👉 Build plant strength 👉 Avoid overloading with copper

🌿 Early season (budburst → 3–5 leaves)

Timing: April–May

• 🔹 Copper (low dose)
• 🔹 Add biostimulant such as seaweed / laminarine
• Interval: every 10–14 days if wet in order to prevent primary mildiou infections

🌿 Rapid growth (shoots 10–30 cm)

Timing: May–June

• 🔹 Copper + sulphur (tank mix possible)
• 🔹 Add Bacillus
• Repeat every 7–10 days in pressure periods

🌿 Pre-flowering → flowering

HIGH RISK PERIOD especially as we are not allowing them to flower!!!

👉 Spray rhythm:

• Every 7 days (or more if heavy rain)

⚠️ Newly planted vines are sensitive so we need to avoid high sulphur in hot weather (>28°C)

🌿 Summer (July–August)

• Reduce copper significantly
• Maintain sulphur if oïdium pressure remains…
• Canopy airflow
• Disease monitoring

🍂 Late season

• Usually no treatment needed for young vines
• Only intervene if strong late mildiou pressure remains…

⚖️ BE AWARE OF DOSING RULES (France BIO/Organic)

• Maximum copper ≈ 4 kg Cu/ha/year (rolling average)
• Copper accumulates in soil → use minimal effective dose
• Sulphur can be safer but can affect beneficial insects (ah… how do we balance all this???)

How do we process and manage all of this information? Well, it’s time for the spreadsheet of all spreadsheets. This tracks, weather, dates, products and effects and will build up a vision/plan for year 3. Whilst we want to spray in regular intervals because it is easier to follow these dates in the diary, realistically we cannot do this as the weather will not allow us to. Therefore we need to adopt a…

🧠 Practical “real grower” strategy

Instead of fixed spraying: 👉 Think weather-driven

• Rain = trigger mildiou → copper before/after rain (this means when it rains 2 centimetres!!!)
• Warm + humid = oïdium → sulphur regularly
• Growth flush = re-protect new leaves

I think much of the success of these vines will depend on the airflow and canopy management. It’s a good job we have bought some electric secateurs!

All of that and Jayne wants to plant another 6000 vines!!!!

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