Ozonated Water: Vineyard Pest Control Without Chemicals

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7 Responses

  1. Chris Lattak says:

    Glad to see such an in-depth article. I had heard of these uses before in wineries and vineyards in CA, and ozone in wineries is common place here in southwest MI. With a 25 to 37 minute half life, that does not give much time to load up, get out to the vineyard and spray. I thought I read about having the ozone machine as part of the sprayer itself. Is there any further information in this area? I am part of the effort to develop a Solid Set Canopy Delivery System for use in high density apples and dwarfing sweet cherries where all pesticides, growth regulators, phermones, evaporative cooling, thinning agents, growth regulators, etc are applied via a sprinkler system similar to that found in greenhouses, with the elimination of the need for tractor and speed sprayer. Ozonated water could be delivered in mere minutes. I will pass this along to the MSU, Cornell and WSU team members.

  2. Mark Ganchiff says:

    Thanks for your comment Chris. Yes that’s right, the ozone machine is part of the sprayer. For further information I suggest you contact Ernie Wilmink. This is his website with contact details and there’s also more information on the ozonators there too: http://www.agriozein.com/Home.aspx

    all the best
    Danny Wood
    Midwest Wine Press

  3. I was not allowed into this domain that Danny recommended. http://www.agriozein.com/Home.aspx Can you help get to that domain? I am interested on how much the ozoninator machine costs.. I would love to use it and get rid of chemicals. The gobvernment bickering over whether it is a pesticide is the result of too many government agencties and rules. Lets take care of that in the next election and get most of the regulations repealed. Calling ozone something that disappears after 30 minutes is absurd.

  4. C T Banks says:

    Hmm, I’ve never thought of pure water or pure oxygen as chemicals to be regulated. I have an ozone generator in my home which I’ve used for health reasons for 17 years. I’ve ozonated water and experimented on mildewed plants and tree cankers with seeming success. I admit that I never considered that I was also killing insects. I’ve been the owner/operator of a commercial grape vineyard for 32 years and have often considered using ozone in the vineyard. At one time a grower in CA put up a website touting his use of ozonated water in the vineyard and, I think, was trying to sell tractor mounted generators. Last time I looked his website was gone. Also, I know that UC Davis has done some experimenting with this but I think that the problem was that it didn’t discriminate when it came to killing insects, taking out both pests and beneficials. I would bet that the chemical industry is out there working hard to debunk or buy out people like Ernie (and possibly even UC Davis), just as the oil and gas industry did for years with alternate energy cars.
    The price of chemicals used in vineyards has skyrocketed in recent years. Fortunately, the development of soaps and oils to subdue pests and diseases make for a much less toxic environment. For us, the most expensive and toxic chemicals are systemic fungicides. We use as little as possible and would love to not have to use them at all. I’m extremely interested in using ozonated water as a fungicide but not interested in killing all of the insects in the vineyard. Despite the soaps and the oils, we seem to maintain a lot of beneficial insects such as preying mantis, lady bugs, bees, and we want to keep it that way. I know from my own use that the concentration of ozone is adjustable. I wonder if there isn’t a tipping point between killing mildew and killing insects?
    CT

    • Based on the fact that AgriOzein’s Customers are growing different Varieties and are located in different Climates and in different Countries such as the USA, Germany, The Netherlands and France, extended Research performed by Professors
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      A whole new line of Ozone Generators called THE “OZERO” LINE.

      AIR CONDITIONED AND VARIABLE OUTPUT OZONE GENERATORS TO MEET EVERY DEMAND AND RESTORES
      THE ALL SO NEEDED ECO SYSTEM.

  5. Yadkin Vally Yard and Vineyard says:

    I would like to know at what intervals do you need to spray to get control of Downey and powery mildews also is it also controls sour rot ect Thanks Bob