"In 2008, at Benzinger Family Winery, we took one of our best blocks—four acres of Cabernet Sauvignon—and sprayed for suppression of powdery mildew using compost tea. Mildew pressure, using the Doug Gubler model on an Adcon weather monitoring system, was rated as high (60–100) for 16 consecutive days in May, 22 days in June, and 17 days in July. On July 14 we noticed the beginning of powdery mildew on about 50 vines, less than one percent of the block (5,445 total vines). We cleaned the vines and had no further problem for the remainder of the season. I believe we achieved our goal due to a ‘systems’ approach—producing tea in our Growing Solutions System500, utilizing their Compost Tea Catalyst, and the use of high quality vermicompost from Sonoma Valley Worm Farm."
Alan York
Wholistic Estate Management
