Home > Newsletters > June 2001

June 2001 Grapevine Notes



Stress Managment

Spring Drift

Summer Tours

Early Bunch Stem Necrosis

Stress Managment

Agriculture has always been a high stress occupation. The normal stress of farming is compounded this year by worries over the drought situation, low prices for crops and higher costs of operations.

Depression is very real and prevalent, especially this season. Recognizing the symptoms and dealing with them early is important. Over 20 million Americans suffer from depression and many more than that from stress which can also trigger depression.

Warning signs of depression include:

• Irritability
  
• Disrupted sleep (trouble getting to sleep or too much sleep) Sleep deprivation is
• extremely debiliating both emotionally and physically, and can set a person up for a severe stress or depressive problem.
• Despondency
  
• Feelings of Hopelessness
  
• Excessive Guilt or Helplessness.
  
• Severe Anxiety, Panic or Fear
  
• Substance Abuse
  
• Lack of Energy
  
• Lack of focus and inabilityto concentrate or stay on task.
  
• Overeating or undereating resulting in extreme weight gain or loss
  
• Losing interest in hobbies or pleasurable activities
  
• Crying often without knowing why
  
• Suicidal Thoughts

If you feel one or more of these symptoms for more than two weeks, please call your private physician to discuss the problem and explore ways to deal with it. Many counseling options and hotlines exist to aid any person in this situation. A list of these options can be easily obtained from most doctors' offices and hospitals.

It is important for friends and family to be able to recognize signs of depression in a loved one. The person suffering from depression may not know that they are depressed or that help is available.

Depression affects thinking. A person may not be able to think clearly or rationally, or may believe that he or she can't be helped. If the depression is severe, it can cause thoughts of hopelessness or helplessness. Researchers know that the number one cause of suicide is untreated depression. That's where being a friend becomes important. You may need to step in and get your friend the help they need.

Thank you to Mark Holtzinger, Dave Murray and Dr. Stephen Younker for providing this information to the Washington State Grape Society. The family of C.M. Holtzinger Company recently lost an employee and friend to suicide and covered the issue of depression at their annual meeting to help prevent future such tragedies.

Mark Holtzinger stated, "One of the things I promised myself in Richard's memory was that if we could help one person who was suffering from the disease.………his death would not be wasted."

Symptoms of 2,4-D are again wide spread in the grape growing areas of eastern Washington. Growers are urged to report these symptoms as they occur to the Washington State Department of Agriculture (509) 225-2647. The WSDA needs this information in order to gauge the magnitude of the problem and to do the detective work necessary to ascertain the source of the problem. While most of these symptoms are probably not injurious to vines, this is a growing problem and needs to be controlled before it becomes serious as it has been in the past.

Mark your calendar for two grape tours this summer. The Washington State Grape Society will hold its tour on July 26th at the Ervin Kilian vineyard on 440 W. Ray Rd., Sunnyside. The WAWGG Tour will be on August 9th. Both tours will feature water relations and irrigation efficiencies. More info will be sent to growers next month.

Wine grape growers are reporting wide spread incidences of a constriction and darkening at the base of the flower cluster stem or peduncle. The symptoms occur most frequently in Cabernet Sauvignon grapes but can be found in most other varieties. This symptom is typical of a physiological anomaly. In grape vines called Early Bunch Stem Necrosis (EBSN). This problem has been described in many parts of the grape growing world and can appear early or as Bunch Stem Necrosis (BSN) during veraison.

The following description comes from an article by Dr. David Jackson, a New Zealand researcher familiar with the problem:

• The first sign of the disorder is often flower-bud drop. At the base of the pedicel there is a shrivelled brown area rather than a clean abscission zone.
  
• Bunches so affected may then show the characteristic browning of sections of the bunch and often the whole bunch will be affected. It may or may not abscise.
• Flowers do not always drop and will often remain attached to branches.
  
• Various degrees of severity are observed but it can seriously reduce yield.
  
• There appear to be differences in cultivar susceptibility.
  
• Differences have been observed in various districts and some indications suggest it may be worse in cooler regions.
  
• Areas within the vine canopy which are most shaded seem to have more EBSN.

Unfortunately, there are no good control measures available to prevent EBSN. So far, our problem does not appear to be severe but deserves attention and perhaps some research in the future.