Pierce S Disease

Second Pest Threatens State Vineyards: California's wine industry, still hurting from the root-eating pest phylloxera, now faces a threat from the sharpshooter, a quarter-inch-long insect that is attacking vineyards in the wine country north of San Francisco. The insect feeds on many different plants, including young grapevines, sucking the sap. It does not kill the plants directly but carries xylella fastidiosa, a bacterium that causes many maladies, including the fatal Pierce's disease.

After devastating the Temecula wine region, the dreaded vineyard scourge of Pierce's disease appears to be spreading across the southern half of the state's second-largest grape growing area, Kern County. In one corner east of Bakersfield alone, the vine-shriveling disease has been confirmed in a dozen vineyards, and farmers and government officials are pulling out more than 600 infected vines, according to UC farm advisor Jennifer Hashim.

Two important points in "Table-Grape Dispute Could Sour Australia-Calif. Trade Relations" [March 3] need clarification. Australia is free of many of the most destructive pests and diseases affecting other agricultural economies. Our [Australian] agricultural exports are of paramount importance to our economy. Australian wine and table grapes are important exports. Grapes are grown in all states of Australia. Australia, in contrast to many of the countries that import Californian table grapes, does not have Pierce's disease nor its troublesome insect carrier, the glassy-winged sharpshooter.

As he awaits the coming spring, organic farmer Shepherd Bliss wonders which prospect poses a bigger threat to his county's wholesome way of life: a pesky insect that endangers the local wine industry or what he calls the state's draconian effort to eradicate it. Like Bliss, anxious agricultural officials are watching for signs of the glassy-winged sharpshooter, a hardy half-inch bug that carries Pierce's disease--an incurable virus that is plaguing California grapevines.

After devastating the Temecula wine region, the dreaded vineyard scourge of Pierce's disease appears to be spreading across the southern half of the state's second-largest grape growing area, Kern County. In one corner east of Bakersfield alone, the vine-shriveling disease has been confirmed in a dozen vineyards, and farmers and government officials are pulling out more than 600 infected vines, according to UC farm advisor Jennifer Hashim.

As he awaits the coming spring, organic farmer Shepherd Bliss wonders which prospect poses a bigger threat to his county's wholesome way of life: a pesky insect that endangers the local wine industry or what he calls the state's draconian effort to eradicate it. Like Bliss, anxious agricultural officials are watching for signs of the glassy-winged sharpshooter, a hardy half-inch bug that carries Pierce's disease--an incurable virus that is plaguing California grapevines.

CALLUSED palms and bandaged fingers; broken fingernails stained black with dirt -- Hollywood actor and director Emilio Estevez proudly shows off his vineyard worker hands as he walks the vine rows. Four years ago, Estevez planted this half-acre Pinot Noir vineyard around his Malibu home.

Two important points in "Table-Grape Dispute Could Sour Australia-Calif. Trade Relations" [March 3] need clarification. Australia is free of many of the most destructive pests and diseases affecting other agricultural economies. Our [Australian] agricultural exports are of paramount importance to our economy. Australian wine and table grapes are important exports. Grapes are grown in all states of Australia. Australia, in contrast to many of the countries that import Californian table grapes, does not have Pierce's disease nor its troublesome insect carrier, the glassy-winged sharpshooter.

Second Pest Threatens State Vineyards: California's wine industry, still hurting from the root-eating pest phylloxera, now faces a threat from the sharpshooter, a quarter-inch-long insect that is attacking vineyards in the wine country north of San Francisco. The insect feeds on many different plants, including young grapevines, sucking the sap. It does not kill the plants directly but carries xylella fastidiosa, a bacterium that causes many maladies, including the fatal Pierce's disease.