WTF is eating my hops?

So, I went out to check on my vines today, and I see this crap:



First off, anyone know what this might be? Secondly, is spraying them with Sevin okay? My mom, who is a master gardener, says Sevin is safe up until 2 weeks prior to harvest, and she also recommended trying something called Organicide first. Does anyone have any experience using either of those on your hop vines? Or do you have a better recommendation? Thanky!

Could be slug or snail damage. Check closely for the tell-tale sign of the slime trail on the leaves. If it is snails or slugs, simply make a ring of copper foil around the base of the vines.

Also if it is indeed slug or snails, this is a minor setback and your hops will easily recover. Once the plant gets established the damage will be proportionally less.

I have the same problem and I dusted mine with Diatomaceous earth Sunday evening and it seems to be working. Give that a try or here's a recipe a friend gave me.

EdWort said:

I have the same problem and I dusted mine with Diatomaceous earth Sunday evening and it seems to be working. Give that a try or here's a recipe a friend gave me.

Buy some cheap cigars or chewing tobacco and steep in warm water with cayenne powder in a 5 gallon covered bucket. Let the tobacco settle and run through a sieve and coffee filter. Add a few drops of liquid dish soap and spray your plants weekly with it. This is a good general purpose (non toxic to humans) but has a short half life so that you can discontinue shortly before harvest and will not affect your hops (aroma or flavor). Do not make more than you can use in 2 weeks as it will lose its potency, store out of sunlight.

1 oz. Tobacco

1/3 oz. cayenne powder or any super hot pepper extract (Boil some Habaneras)

1 good squirt of Dawn Dish Soap.

3 gallons warm water​

Click to expand...

I was going to suggest the same thing. My grandfather, who was an excellent gardener, swore by this method. He never grew hops to my knowledge, but used this on all of his vegetables.

Once the bines are 2-3 feet long and climbing the twine, remove the leaves from the first foot. This is also good for controlling mildew.

[Time to water, but NO water. Water company had a major main break.]

I'll 2nd the Diatomaceous Earth!!!!!! Great stuff. Also throw some around your doors and window sills. Kills cockroaches, ants, weevils.... Completely Non Toxic!!

You may not want to sacrifice a home brew for this, but it will work....

We use to have a bad slug problem on our hastas (sp?). Take a plastic cup and pour some beer in it. Place a couple of these around your plants. The slugs are attracted to the sweetness of the beer. They crawl right in and they either drown or get completely intoxicated until they die. Either way...dead slugs/happy plants.

Drunkensatyr said:

I'll 2nd the Diatomaceous Earth!!!!!! Great stuff. Also throw some around your doors and window sills. Kills cockroaches, ants, weevils.... Completely Non Toxic!!

Click to expand...

So, how do you use it? Just sprinkle it on the leaves?

It is a fine white powder. Just sprinkle it all over the ground around your plants.

Evan, it doesn't look like slug damage to me. Appears to be a worm of some kind. Can you see any debris left behind (waste from worms)? It would appear on the tops of leaves and resemble funny looking dirt.

In the off chance that it is slugs the beer method works well as does slug bait (which I use). It is just pellets that get sprinkled around which kills the slugs. My slugs have a fetish with my daylillies.

Good luck.

Eric

Those look like mine have in the past and I am pretty sure it is worms. Mine were on the occasional group of leaves here and there. Other than removing the leaves that were less than a foot from the ground, I did nothing. No pesticides, homemade or store bought - nada! And my hops have been just fine.

spray plants with lightly soapy and put some garlic oil in it.

insect loath soap and garlic. I've used this misture before and it did real good.

Yea, something is eating your hops but it doesn't look to be too damaging. I think if you did nothing the hops would grow just fine. If the damage gets much worse such that you are losing 20% or more of the total leaf area of the bine then I might consider insecticides but the current damage will have almost no affect on the bine.
Craig

other thing to do is plant garlic every 3' around your plants. insects hate that smell.

it will help a bit.

Midwest offers a great product http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=7122