Sick Magnum

What is wrong with this magnum?

I have this magnum growing at my office. I planted it near the air conditioner so it is automatically watered by the water from the AC unit. As you can see it is doing well at the top but there is a definite line where something is not right.





Initially I thought this was a potassium problem but the veins of the leaves remain dark green. I added 1 tbs of 0-0-60 fertilizer two weeks ago and there has been no change.

There is a large street lamp mounted to the corner of the building just to the right of the bine. Everything (plants, building...) are covered with spider webs from all the insects attracted at night. Two weeks ago I also started spraying the bottom of the leaves in the affected area with Sevin Ready-To-Use bug killer.



There has been no change in the plants condition except the continuation of the problem, slowly moving it's way up the bine.

Have you been getting a lot of rain on top of the a/c drip? I'm in GA and I had a couple weeks of heavy rain and my lower leaves started yellowing and browning from the outside in. After that heavy couple weeks its gotten better and the yellow hasn't moved further up the plant.

One of my first thoughts was too much water but the plant is doing well up top and it is sending out healthy new growth at ground level & a few arms in the sick area that look great. But, in addition to the AC condensate it also gets the water that runs off the porch roof. In the lower left is a black diverter I built that sends the heaviest downpors off to the side but normal rain waters dump onto the bine.

I have a nugget planted on the other side of the porch, not receiving the roof runoff nor AC water and it is doing much better. There are a few leaves in the core (older leaves shaded by newer growth) that have died but nothing to be concerned about.

There are fine spider webs under many of the leaves though I have not spotted the insects. I am not sure if this is an infestation or normal spiders catching the bugs attracted by the light at night.

If you have heavy rain in the near forecast you might want to divert the porch runoff away from the plant for a little while. On the basicbrewing podcast they interviewed someone from BYO who said the surface should be dry but you can fell moisture about a finger depth into the ground...I did a lot of research before planting but this is my first year as well.

I extended the AC drain line to bring the water over to the hops. It is easy to remove so I'll give that a try. The area where the line waters the hops never dries out so even though some of the roots my get proper water, this area 10" from the core rhizome stays saturated.

Does your AC unit give off heat to the outside? Or does it pull air across the hops-thus drying the leaves? Does it push water vapor towards the hops? Anyway, those leaves look fried to me. Same thing on a small scale happened to mine when I top watered on a very hot day.

By the look of the pics, I can't help but think the AC or watering method has something to do with your issue. The top part of the plant is so healthy.

At least you will get some good cones from the top of this one and your other plant.

Good luck, Tim

The AC unit sucks in on the sides and blows straight up. The AC does not seem to have any affect on the sick part but the healthy part of the plant at the top gets blow about by the warm air.

My Nugget bines get a similar condition on the mature leaves on the lower part of the plants. I described it to a local hop grower - he told me it is most likely a virus. It does not seem affect the yield of the plants - so I let it be.

My first-year nugget looks identical to yours, except a little fuller in the lower section. But the top is WAY fuller than the bottom, and the bottom half has leaves exactly like your second pic.

FWIW, there is no air conditioner near mine, and the other varieties' bines in the vacinity are doing fine.

I have a willamette that looks just like that. It has new growth that is on the top that looks great but the lower half has leafs just like yours.

I will be interested if you can pin point what this is.

As an fyi, mine is no where near a condensation run off and gets plenty of water but the leafs are colored like yours and brital and crunch if you grab them.

If it helps I had the same problem with my hops. Started great and then after a month of so I had the same browning. I thought bugs and other pests but after soap and harsher pesticides it turn out fertilizer was the trick. I put some plant bloom fertilizer on them and Tons of new growth and cones. 18-36-18 was the mix.

I read on freshops that it was low Potash (Potassium) in soil, I had that problem with my Williamette but added some tomato fertilizer high in potash and it fixed it right up in about a month or a little less.