University of Georgia

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Viticulture

Phil Brannen

Phil Brannen

Phil Brannen is a Professor in the Plant Pathology Department at the University of Georgia. He attended the University of Georgia for his undergraduate degree in Plant Protection and Pest Management, where he also received an M.S. in Plant Pathology, followed by a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from Auburn University. He has extensive experience with disease management programs in numerous cropping systems. He serves as the extension fruit pathologist for Georgia – conducting research and technology transfer for multiple fruit commodities. His efforts are directed towards developing IPM practices to solve disease issues and technology transfer of disease-management methods to commercial fruit producers. He also teaches the graduate level Field Pathology Course, the History of Plant Diseases and their Impact on Human Societies Course, team-teaches the IPM Course, coordinates the Viticulture and Enology in the Mediterranean Region Course (Cortona, Italy), and guest lectures in numerous other courses throughout the year.

  • Newly formed Georgia Agriculture Commodity Commission for Wine and Grapes

    Phil Brannen

    I hope you will get this information in a variety of ways. John Scaduto (Rabun County Agent) sent this out this morning, so I am simply copying and pasting his information for this blog. “In case you were not aware of it, I wanted to forward this information about the newly established Georgia Agriculture Commodity…

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  • New UGA Sour Rot Fact Sheet

    Phil Brannen

    The attached fact sheet was authored by Annie Vogel, a recent graduate student in the Horticulture Department at the University of Georgia. It is a great synopsis of our current knowledge of sour rot, which continues to be a difficult disease to address in our climate. It is well written and informative.

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  • Powdery Mildew Resistance Survey

    Phil Brannen

    Are you seeing powdery mildew in your vineyard this season? If so, we would love to sample it, as it could mean that your fungicide program is breaking down due to resistance development in the powdery mildew fungus. One of our graduate students in the University of Georgia Plant Pathology Department, Brooke Warres, is working…

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  • End-of-season grape disease levels on Pierce’s disease resistant Camminare Noir and selection 07370-84 cultivars

    Phil Brannen

    You may find this YouTube video to be of interest. With the amount of Pierce’s disease (PD) we are observing lately, we need to consider alternatives to Vitis vinifera and susceptible hybrid cultivars, especially at lower elevations and latitudes throughout Georgia. In light of our need for production of quality grapes in the presence of…

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  • North Carolina 2020 Grape Harvest Webinar Online

    Phil Brannen

    Mark Hoffman (North Carolina State) has developed another webinar that may be of interest to many of you. Please see the link below to find this webinar and related PowerPoints. Enjoy. Link to the webinar: https://grapes.ces.ncsu.edu/grape-diary/webinars-2020/#Harvest

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  • Muscadine Disease Presentation

    Phil Brannen

    Mark Hoffman (North Carolina State) conducted a webinar on muscadine disease management yesterday. It included extension personnel and producers. If you are interested in a review of muscadine diseases and their management, please go to the link below. I cover all the major diseases of muscadine in my talk, and there is a helpful question…

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  • Pierce’s Disease Training

    Phil Brannen

    We will soon be observing symptoms of Pierce’s disease in susceptible grape varieties — Vitis vinifera and some hybrids such as Chambourcin. Unfortunately, winter temperatures have now been mild for several years, so we are seeing an uptick in Pierce’s disease at higher and higher elevations in Georgia and throughout the Southeast. Symptoms normally show…

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  • Downy Mildew Leaf Symptoms and Signs

    Phil Brannen

    Disease identification in wine grapes can be confusing, even for the “experts,” so it is good to continually reinforce your knowledge of diseases and their symptoms (spots or discoloration on a leaf for example) and signs (actual pathogen fruiting structures and other tissues you can see with the naked eye or a hand lens) —…

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  • Wine Grape Pathology Podcast Episode

    Phil Brannen

    If you listen to podcasts, you might be interested in listening to the podcast found in the link below. This is from a new University of Arkansas podcast site that is sponsored by the Southern Region Small Fruit Consortium, the same group that funds much of the training of county agents on wine grape production,…

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  • Botrytis Sampling in Wine Grapes for Fungicide Resistance Development

    Phil Brannen

    Many of the fungicides utilized for Botrytis management are no longer efficacious due to resistance development in this fungus.  Now is a great time to collect Botrytis samples for fungicide-resistance testing.  While the funds last, Botrytis resistance testing is free for wine grape producers in most of the Southeast (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina,…

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