Another bug post

I'm not a beer brewer, but my friend Brian (known as Rook on these boards) brews. And I thought I'd contribute to the effort by growing some hops so we can brew a fresh-hop beer together. I've got Cascade, Centennial, and Chinook growing in my backyard right now, and they're all doing fairly well for a first effort. Starting about a month ago I noticed a lot of bugs on my hops. Thy don't appear to be eating the leaves, and they're fairly inactive in general, but there are A LOT of them, and I'm quite concerned that one day I'll come out and find all of my plants have been eaten overnight.

Interestingly these bugs seem to have no interest in the peas, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and apples growing very nearby.

How many is "A LOT?" See for yourself...



These photos are indicative of what every leaf is like. The most mature leaves tend to have less bugs, the youngest ones are completely covered.

Spray them with soapy water. The soap will kill them and leave the plant clean. It may take a few applications over the course of a week or 2 to get them all.

Thanks!

Do you have a recommendation as to what kind of soap to use specifically?

I am also curious about what kind of bug this is that likes hops so much. Is this a fairly normal issue?

It looks like aphids. There are insecticidal soaps that you can get at any garden store or home depot. OR you could just mix dish soap with water. It's important to spray the bodies of the the bugs. The soap will only work if you spray the bug.

Ah! The beautiful hop aphid. The ones with wings are the flying version, they lay eggs to make the wingless version. They say that over fertilizing with nitrogen will cause them to seek out the younger leaves. Leave them there and they'll start to make a sweet "honeydew" substance which attracts a mold or fungus (I forget which) which can mess up your cones. Like they said above, just spray them with water or soap and water. http://www.getridofthings.com/get-rid-of-aphids.htm

that is exactly what my leafs look like....I just used one drop of hand soap in a large spray bottle. need to do it about every three days until the problem is fixed. It will probably be a battle all summer.

HoppyDaze said:

that is exactly what my leafs look like....I just used one drop of hand soap in a large spray bottle. need to do it about every three days until the problem is fixed. It will probably be a battle all summer.

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I'd go a bit heavier on the soap.

I think I will the next time I spray...It is a ton of work since I have two plants that are 18ft plus.

Im going to try the vegetable oil and soap mix next round ....

I need lady bugs!

maida7 said:

I'd go a bit heavier on the soap.

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Yes. More like a tablespoon in 16 Ounces.

I heard that if you blend onion and mint together and get the juice from that and mix with soapy water it will kill and repel

not sure about onion and mint but I know farmers have been using tobacco as an insecticide for years.

Nicotine is a very powerful poison.

I have a fair bit of those bugs on my hops, too. The good news is I also have lady bugs all over my hops. Last year I used soap to keep bugs down, but I haven't done anything yet this year. I don't want to kill the lady bugs, but I suspect that the lady bugs can't fully control the aphids.

So should I hope the lady bugs take care of the aphids, or should I go to chemicals (tobacco, soap, etc.)?

A stiff stream of water from a garden hose can be fairly effective on aphids. Just knock em off everyday and they will eventually disappear.

I bought some incectsidal soap at Home Depot and have been using that whenever I see a problem. I had the little winged bastards on my plants for a week or so, but now the problem lies in very small ants. The soap kills them too, but there are many more of them than the other bugs. Problem is, I've gone through two bottles of the soap. It'd be nice to find a one application incectiside to take care of them.

The soap and water seems to be making an impact. We'll see how things are in a week's time.

Thanks.