Birds eating hops

I am starting my first hop garden in St. Louis. I built a raised bed arbor/trellis with 3 foot walls, 10 feet long and 12 feet high. My Chinook was taking off very well, then, right as I strung up the lines and was patiently waiting a few more weeks to train them, they started to disappear. Last Saturday they were about 6 inches high and looking very healthy. After cutting the grass I returned to find them little stumps of their former selves. I scouted the yard from the upstairs bedroom and found birds poking around the area, but at that time there was nothing left for them to eat. There is no evidence mites, slugs, snails, etc. Anyone have experience with this? I have been told they eat young, tender plants and the damage should die down once they are big, if they get the chance to grow. I just want to grow these things and make a delicious beer in the fall. Is that too much to ask?

Here is a photo. Maybe it isn't from birds, but they sure look torn up to me.

Honestly it looks like deer browsing, ha. As for birds, I'm not sure what bird would simply eat a bine *shrug*

Deer might make sense, but there aren't many of them in the city that can jump a 6ft fence. Hmm... It is weird that I can't seem to find much on the web about this with hop plants.

Well, it could still be mammal browsing. Maybe not deer but there are plenty of other mammals that browse shoots. Just my .02, but I'm a molecular biologist not a wildlife expert

there are some cheap plants that you can get and plant around your hops to keep the deers away

It might be other mammals. Just strange because I didn't see any. I got some organic spray that the nursery claimed was okay for edible plants that should keep deer, rabbits, squirrels and other animals away. I've heard that marigolds work, as well. As for the birds, I guess I'll make some shiny, dangling 'scare crow' contraption to keep them at bay. Last step, and hopefully not necessary, would be to wrap my arbor in clear mesh until the plants are good and strong. Thanks for the replies, all.

Well, if I recall correctly, rabbits are diurnal, so you probably wouldn't have seen them. Good luck forb, and I pray that when my babies get as old as yours, birds won't be picking at them too

deer have no problems jumping 6 feet fences. I work at an airport with 12 foot deer proof fences but they still manage to get past them too!

Tim

For what's it worth, this is my worst of three and four year plants and i saw a raccoon in my garden late one night. I gave no idea what they eat.

Yeah I don't think it's birds. Mice, rats, rabbits and deer all would make more sense.

Put some chicken fencing around the area really tight and let the shoots grow up through it. By the time they reach through the fencing they'll be big enough that they'll probably be left alone.

Fellow Saint Louisian here. I know plenty of possums and coons that would take a nibble too.

Give the KMOX garden hotline a call on Saturday morning a call. I would love to hear a hops question for once instead of the usual calls from 90 year old Gurt who is worried about her petunias.

last year, my hop shoots looked similar.
i actually caught a rabbit in the act one night.

sprayed the hops with a capsaicin based mammal deterrent every couple days for 2 weeks or so, until the shoots were over two foot tall and trained to the twine.

after the shoots were trained and growing, i had a week or so of japanese beetles on the cascades, but nothing touched the chinooks

Thanks for all of the help, guys. I have taken a plan of action and hopefully it will allow them to bounce back. All things considered, they will bounce back, right? I figure with an ivy, as long as you don't pull out the root they will keep coming back. They look pretty pathetic at the moment. Anyway, here are my current lines of defense. The chicken wire could be tighter but something would have to struggle to get in there.

Edit: Lost more leaves tonight from a tiny little plant. Leaves me to guess birds or bugs. I sprayed more of the organic insecticide. That stuff never works as well as the factory stuff, but I refuse to use the latter. I will now hang some tin pie plates for noise and motion. At least the roots are growing... This won't hinder me from making good beer. Just better beer to look forward to.

I suggest in such a decently closed environment, DE for insect control and two aluminum pie pans for bird control, although I tend to doubt the bird angle.

Nonetheless, I have had problems with birds in my garden, (more with tomatoes), for years I struggled with the bastards. Finally I did what my dad did on his farm when he was a kid and tied up two pie pans. You hang them on a string so the wind will beat them together, the intermittent noise keeps the birds at bay.

Just a quick update:

My plants bounced back completely. I put up chicken wire, aluminum foil and planted marigolds. The marigolds are gigantic, the foil is down and the hops are growing fast. I am pruning the bottom 6" of each plant due to overcrowding and am trying to fight back new bines. The third Chinook rotted in the soil, which I replaced for this year with Hibiscus (another great beer ingredient). Side arms are shooting off like crazy. I supposed I will just let them do what they do and keep the bottoms of the plants clear for air flow. The tallest is now about 8'. No cones yet, but I assume they will be here in the next few weeks. Pruning and dumping compost tea with water seems to kick-start them.

Any other advice? Do I keep the sidearms from reaching the other twine? They are really getting long but only about 4 to 5 feet above the soil. I feel like I should only let them get big once they reach the top. I understand about letting the roots develop, but I don't want to choke out the other bines. What do you think?

Birds eat seeds then left it on your yard?

kevin009 said:

Birds eat seeds then left it on your yard?

Click to expand...

What?

I have squirrels eating mine. 1 is dead. I have 2 to go.

Yeah. I agree with damdaman...