What am I doing wrong?

I want to state first off I do not have a green thumb. I planted these hops and they seem to be growing well. The problem I am having is I don't know what is wrong with the plant. All the leaves are in poor condition but I don't think there is any kind of fungus or bug problem. I live in western Wisconsin and I have decent soil that I added 1/3 potting soil to and 1/3 composted manure to. I have tried watering a couple of times with Miracle-Gro but nothing seems to help. Help please!

Ummm, what is wrong with them? They look fine to me.

Looks like you may have gotten a bit of the mracle grow on the leaves. Back off on fertalizing for a while, they look fine to me.

Looks like you might have some minor damage from insects, or from the leaves rubbing against the chicken wire, but I really can't see anything to worry about. I wish mine looked that good!

Looks like a fairly healthy plant. Uniform color on the leaves (veins & leaf consistent). A little bug chewed, but I've never grown anything that didn't get munched a bit.

What david said. All my vines have something munching on them...but they're still healthy. If you're really concerned, get an organic bug spray like Organicide.

Thanks for the replies. The part that is concerning to me is that there are rips in the leaves. The rips are in almost all the leaves the new and the old. These rips were not caused by wind damage or damage from contacting anything. This is the worst looking of my five hop plants. Thanks again.

T-Hops said:

Thanks for the replies. The part that is concerning to me is that there are rips in the leaves. The rips are in almost all the leaves the new and the old. These rips were not caused by wind damage or damage from contacting anything. This is the worst looking of my five hop plants. Thanks again.

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I would put a mild insecticide, one approved for garden use on the leaves. Expecially the lower portion. I do the same with my garden veggies and it will stop whatever it is from eating them. I am not sure the effect of insecticides on hop plants however as I am a first year grower myself. But if anything I would only spray the lower growth and avoid cones when they pop out at all costs.

You can also go the "soap / water" route too, some gardeners here using a mix of ivory soap and water and coat all their plants.

Wow, those look great, nothing to complain about. I have a serious green thumb, and my rhizomes are dead.

I finally took some insecticide to my plants tonight. I held off as long as I could, but there were way too many nefarious types and the spiders and ladybugs just weren't doing the job. The hard part is getting the spray on the bottoms of the lower leaves. Hope it does some good.

ChrisS68 said:

I finally took some insecticide to my plants tonight. I held off as long as I could, but there were way too many nefarious types and the spiders and ladybugs just weren't doing the job. The hard part is getting the spray on the bottoms of the lower leaves. Hope it does some good.

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Leaves dont have to be 100% soaked. I just hit everything when I notice an influx of leaf chomping. Most of the tiny bugs will land on the plant and crawl around, dieing before they can find a safe area to eat anyhow. Plus there is no way to get rid of 100% of insects, you just wanna knock down some of the damage.

Hops are very vigorous plants. Unless you are loosing more than 50% of the leaf area the insects are not doing any real damage. A number of studies have shown that some foliage loss is a good thing especially during the hot summer days and it can increase production.

As for the OP, your plants look healthy and vigorous. RDWHAHB!!!
I think that applies nearly as much to hops growing as to brewing. As long as your leaves are a nice consistent green then the plant is under no stress.

Its probably a good thing my hops plants are 30miles away, it keeps me from messing with them.

Craig