Practising Sexual Confusion

One day in April we arrived at the Chateau Gaudrelle winery and were met as usual by their intern Cristina. We asked where Alexandre was, as it is always nice to catch up with the owner if he is around.
'Oh', said Cristina. 'He is out in the vineyard practising sexual confusion.'

I'm afraid we just fell about the place.

Photo courtesy of Chateau Gaudrelle.

What Alexandre was doing was hanging plastic dispensers of a product called RAK® (developed by BASF Crop Protection) on the vines. It allows him to combat the damage caused by Vine Moth caterpillars without resorting to insecticides. By broadcasting a pheromone that matches the chemical attractant produced by the female moths when they want to mate, the males don't know where turn and in their confusion fail to mate. Failure to mate means failure to produce caterpillars. Alexandre says the product is extremely well regarded in the industry.

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Lecture: As part of the Archaeology Festival de la trace aux gestes there will be a lecture on the Paleolithique population of the southern Touraine. Friday 2 August at the Salle des Fêtes in Preuilly, 6 pm, free (in French).

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Disconnected!: All the internet connected to Preuilly-sur-Claise's interchange died at 11am on Sunday. Antoinette in Charnizay rang Orange and was told 'Wednesday at the latest'. Yesterday at 17.00 our internet connected but with no access to the world wide web or email. At that stage we had Skype only but hopefully by the time you read this we will be back online properly. Thanks to Alex and Nicole for the access to their wifi over the last couple of days.