The grapes are pressed, the leaves are yellowing and falling to the floor and attention is now switching towards pruning and the year to come. It seems strange now to look back at the year we have had with the summer’s prolonged high temperatures (and the challenges it brought) making ‘the Beast from the East’ a distant memory. This year illustrates just how influential temperature is on good cropping in grapes, following a prolonged winter. Continue reading “A year in review” →

2018 will be remembered as a surprisingly good growing season. In reality, it was full of challenges, but despite the weather, summer pests and nutrient deficiencies, the harvested crop has been of excellent quality with very high sugars. Continue reading “To feed or not to feed?” →

This year has been good for grape production, but as temperatures soared above 25ºC over the summer months, powdery mildew and botrytis pressure also increased. Continue reading “Resistance management in disease control” →

Well known in the agricultural industry for developing cost-effective solutions to help growers of smaller acreage crops such as fruit and vegetables, BASF is now providing some of its key and new actives to the expanding group of grape growers in the UK. Continue reading “Tools for a high yielding crop” →

At Agrii we often find ourselves saying to people we are more than a distributor. This is especially true for the fruit sectors because the challenges of dealing with a high value crop that’s also a minority one are so much greater, causing frustration and enjoyment in equal measure. Continue reading “Commercial challenges” →

Traditionally the crop protection focus in vines grown in the UK has been to control disease. In our climate the big three, botrytis, downy and powdery mildew, all have the capability to destroy the crop if given the chance. Continue reading “Protecting the vineyard” →