Pests, fungicides, organic treatments for Hops?

As I was checking on my hops I think I have some powdery mildew on one of my hops. I got online to try and decide what is best for treatment. This lead me to remember all the threads I have read about treating pests, mildews, etc. I thought I would put together a spreadsheet with a section for problem, treatments, pro's/cons, organic or not etc. I thought it might help with some of the disease and pest questions for people. If you don't mind feel free to add away and I'll continue to update the spreadsheet. Thanks.

Potassium bicarbonate has very low toxicity and is found as a preservative in food. I don't know if the USDA approves its use for organic, however they do approve much more toxic things like copper sprays. Its excellent for powdery mildew; washes that stuff away. I've heard (according to word of mouth and the label) it works for alternaria leaf spot and some of the other leaf blights/spots but I have not used it for that purpose. It might work best as a preventative spray during weather favoring disease establishment.

For most soft shelled insects like hop aphids and spider mites you can use a 1 - 2 % solution of insecticidal soap. I only use horticultural soap made for this purpose. Espoma sells a good one. Other wise you can use dish soap but make sure it is not detergent and does not contain phosphates. Ivory is a good one. Careful, that soap is phytotoxic if stronger than 1 or 2% solution.

One other thing I've learned is that it is proven that japanese beetle traps attract more beetles. They may ultimately head to the trap, but they stop by your hops for a some take-out on the way. I've read of a nematode that works. You apply it in the fall and it eats the grubs dwelling in the soil in the spring. There is also milky spore but that can take 1 to 5 years to establish.

Hope that helps.

I made my own insecticidal soap this year from about 1 oz Dr. Bronners 1 Qt water. Worked pretty darn well. I used it about once a week until they leaf hoppers were cut back to a manageable population.

two_hearted said:

I made my own insecticidal soap this year from about 1 oz Dr. Bronners 1 Qt water. Worked pretty darn well. I used it about once a week until they leaf hoppers were cut back to a manageable population.

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I have been wondering about Dr. Bronners for a while I was going to ask if anyone else had tried it. THanks!

allynlyon said:

I have been wondering about Dr. Bronners for a while I was going to ask if anyone else had tried it. THanks!

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No problem. I used the lavender scent FWIW. It smelled nice when I sprayed it.