Survey of insects in Iowa vineyards

Grape and wine production is one of the fastest growing industries in the state of Iowa valued at $240 million a year. Being able to effectively sample and manage insect pests in vineyards is important to producing healthy grapes and vines. Research on efficiently sampling vineyard insect pests has been completed in other states such as Michigan, California, and New York, but is lacking in Iowa. The objective of this survey was to find an efficient sampling method for insect pests in Iowa vineyards. Three Iowa commercial vineyards with the LaCrescent cultivar were selected for this survey in 2013. We sampled insect with visual counts, sticky traps, and plant vacuum. We sampled three rows at each location with four replications of each sampling method per row. Vines were sampled weekly beginning from eight-inch shoots through harvest. Over 4,800 insects were collected during 2013 season, representing 25 insect families; however, only three pest species were captured. Insect pests of grapes collected during this survey included Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica), grape phylloxera (Daktulosphaira vitifoliae), and spotted wing drosophila (Drosophila suzukii). Visual sampling was most effective for Japanese beetles and grape phylloxera, while sticky traps were most effective for sampling spotted wing drosophila. This survey provides a snapshot of the pest abundance that are found in Iowa vineyards and the most effective method for sampling them.