Grey Mould Damage and Control in Hungary 1

Grey mould is one of the most important fungal diseases of grapevine, and for this reason the successful control of Botrytis cinerea determines the result of grape growing. As far as damage is concerned, the most important infection occurs at the end of flowering and just before ripening. The conidia of the fungus infect the berries through wounds, which may be caused by hail or storms, or by chewing insects, or also, most importantly, by physiological berry splitting. This occurs when a long dry period in summer is followed by a rainy autumn at ripening time. The prevention of wounds is one of the most important aspects of control. For the first half of the year, we propose using the traditional contact fungicides against grey mould. The use of benzimidazole‐type systemic fungicides is proposed only for the last two treatments, because they have a low persistence and because in this way we avoid the development of resistance to these systemic fungicides.