Support for grapegrowers in the palm of their hand
Grapegrowers have an advantage for the upcoming season in the form of a new smart phone application and a vital update to an existing app.
The improved powdery mildew assessment application, PMapp, and a new application, Grape Assess, are now available on Android and Apple devices.
School of Agriculture, Food and Wine’s Professor Eileen Scott said that while PMapp had been growing in popularity since its release in the 2015–16 growing season, the feedback from vignerons was that its GPS system did not provide enough capability for some assessors.
"Improving the accuracy was a priority for us and we worked with Lemur software to deliver GPS accuracy to about 10 meters," Professor Scott said.
In the past, the absence of widely available objective measures meant that assessments were based on subjective visual inspections in the vineyard and there was room for disagreement. The drive behind the development of PMapp was to introduce a more systematic visual assessment tool.
A new app – Grape Assess
"The other feedback was that growers really wanted to have a digital tool that could help assess some of the other factors that could lead to downgrades at the winery, such as bunch rot and sunburn,” Professor Scott said.
The new app, Grape Assess, facilitates assessment of multiple grapevine diseases and disorders including bunch rot, downy mildew, insect damage, sunburn and powdery mildew.
The apps have been developed by University of Adelaide researchers and collaborators with the support of Wine Australia.
Download the apps
| Smart Phone application | Apple | Android |
|---|---|---|
| PMApp Assisting the grape and wine industry assess the disease powdery mildew on the surface of grape bunches. |
PMApp - Google Play | |
| Grape Assess A tool to facilitate assessment of grape diseases and disorders |
Grape Assess - App Store | Grape Assess - Google Play |