Insect Pests of Grapevines

Fall is rapidly arriving, actually some might say that it arrived soon after Labor Day, when like a light switch, the evening temperatures dropped to 50 degrees and the daytime high was hovering around the high 70s. But I preferred to think that it was still summer until the fall equinox, which occurred on September 22, 2013 at 4:44 P.M EDT.
Today is October 1st and it's a top ten fall day. We were out working in the vineyard. We are seeing less and less insects so I thought I would review some of the insect pests that we saw this first year in our vineyard. Some of the pests like the Japanese beetles were really destructive, actually they were all pretty destructive, but some like the Pandorus sphinx moth were quite beautiful. I have to admit that I took one home and tried to raise until it pupated, sacrificing some Vitis vinifera leaves in the process. It grew huge and morphed into it's last instar where the little horn disappeared then I read that the caterpillar likes to dig a hole in the soil to pupate. I knew my husband wasn't going to allow me to bring in soil in a jar so I let the caterpillar go. It was only too happy to find itself on solid ground and made fast work of putting distance between me and freedom.

Beetlemania	Eight Spotted ForesterAlypia octomaculata
Grape Flea BeetleAltica chalybea	Grape Leaf SkeletonizerHarrisina americana
Large Yellow UnderwingNoctua pronuba	Pandorus Sphinx MothEumorpha pandorus