Insect control requires the utmost vigilance to minimize the use of insecticides. Only emergency applications at critical times are ever contemplated at Goosecross. The viticulturist has very little practical defense against the toll taken by birds. Noise cannon and distress tapes are soon ignored. Poisons and chemicals are dangerous and inappropriate.
Bird netting is effective but extremely expensive.
Resigned to the loss, the farmer can only hope that his crop comes to harvest before the migrant flocks arrive. Probably the most important aspect of high quality viticulture is crop management by pruning and environmental control by canopy management. Both of these activities are highly time intensive. In the Goosecross program, each vine is individually judged for maturity and vigor and permitted to bear only a calculated number of new buds each year. With pruning, the vines are also shaped, trained, and tied for a balanced configuration.