Control freaks can be annoying at a party, at a business meeting, or, especially, in a relationship (that wasn’t aimed at you, Honey 🙂 ). But when it comes to dining at a great restaurant, staying at a luxurious hotel or enjoying a nice glass of wine in a beautiful outdoor setting, you want a control freak at the helm of your service. Here at Ponte we pride ourselves on pulling out all the stops to make sure guests have a relaxing and memorable day in the country. It’s that “Country” thing that has thrown us a curveball lately, prompting our Sustainability Team (think Ghostbusters in tan shirts) to launch a full frontal attack on the most annoying of unwanted visitors… you guessed it, the flies.
Excessive mulching on a neighbor’s property caused these pesky buggers to make themselves known this year. While our guests and Wine Club members have been great about it, we have been working on solutions. As a Sustainable Property, we must be careful with the products we use, but here’s what we are doing:
- Taking active measures to draw the pesky insects away from dining and other guest areas. Pheromone based traps are working. We are experimenting with positioning for best results.
- Spraying organic insecticides in key areas of the property, away from guests. This controls the adult population.
- Laying down organic material (a compost tea rich with beneficial bacteria and fungi) in the vineyards and across the street in the orange grove.
- UV traps in inconspicuous places to zap any intruders.
- Making sure we do not have any standing water. The pond has enough circulation and small fish to not be a problem.
Innovation and sustainable practices are at the heart of our core values at Ponte, and so is the safety and comfort of our guests. You can rest knowing we will continue to be a leader in devising environmentally-friendly ways to live in harmony with Wine Country, while doing our best to keep those winged invaders at bay.
—Monica Rigali, Ponte Winery & Ponte Vineyard Inn
No comments yet. You should be kind and add one!
By submitting a comment you grant Ponte Winery Blog a perpetual license to reproduce your words and name/web site in attribution. Inappropriate and irrelevant comments will be removed at an admin’s discretion. Your email is used for verification purposes only, it will never be shared.