Wineries using bats to keep down pesticides and costs

March 14, 2023 1:34 AM

Wineries using bats to keep down pesticides and costs. Researchers say moth-eating bats may be the key to dramatically reducing the use of pesticides in wineries, potentially saving the industry $50 million a year.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (15 comments total)

And you don’t have to worry about any risk to the product because they never drink… wine.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 5:26 AM on March 14, 2023 [24 favorites]

How much do the bats cost, though?
posted by Jon_Evil at 5:39 AM on March 14, 2023

Unless I missed something, it isn't about wineries using bats, it's about exploring the possibility that bats could be useful for wineries.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 6:05 AM on March 14, 2023

Reading the headline, I immediately imagined winery owners wildly swinging a baseball bat at their moths. Does that story exist anywhere?
posted by Paul Slade at 6:38 AM on March 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

but how are they going to get rid of the bats
posted by logicpunk at 6:58 AM on March 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

but how are they going to get rid of the bats

Bats are great for the ecosystem - they eat mosquitoes and other insects; and some species of bat also have an essential role pollinating plants.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 7:07 AM on March 14, 2023 [6 favorites]

Thanks to What We Do in the Shadows I now read any instance of the word "bat" in Matt Berry's voice.
posted by snwod at 7:09 AM on March 14, 2023 [7 favorites]

Reading the headline, I immediately imagined winery owners wildly swinging a baseball bat at their moths. Does that story exist anywhere?

It turns out that swinging around baseball bats near wine bottles is... not primarily useful as an insect control strategy.

Ask me how I learned this.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:45 AM on March 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

ok ricochet winecork do tell
posted by seanmpuckett at 8:59 AM on March 14, 2023

Wood or aluminum?
posted by Sphinx at 9:09 AM on March 14, 2023

That’s really early in the research cycle to get an article, but hey, maybe they’ll get more sites from the publicity.

Related: there was a study and then a little public funding to add owl habitat in the California Central Valley to save money on irrigation. Worked well enough that farmers kept it up after the funding ran out.
posted by clew at 9:33 AM on March 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

Australian moths: "We can't stop here, this is bat country!"
posted by Chuffy at 10:58 AM on March 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

Reminds me of the way cranberry growers use wolf spiders.

(no pics of spiders in linked article-- safe for arachnophobes)
posted by Pallas Athena at 12:13 PM on March 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

It’s more efficient if the bats are corked.
posted by badbobbycase at 12:56 PM on March 14, 2023

Whenever I see plans to introduce one species to control another, I can't help but think of cane toads.
'There is unlikely to ever be a broadscale method available to control cane toads across Australia'
To be fair, at least they're looking to existing native species and I'd like to think we're a little more careful about introducing species these days.

There is another similar approach that seems just as promising. Also, planting more native trees is rarely a bad thing.
posted by dg at 10:36 PM on March 14, 2023