help me ID this pest/nutrient problem

this following pic is of a leaf on my fuggles, they are growing very well and I havent had any problems yet but im a little worried about the leaves getting yellow and brown spots.

the closest match I could find online said its powdery mildew but Ive had that on other plants and it looks nothing like this, the next best match in description was a magnesium deficiency. anyway im not really sure what it is, so I need know if i should add nutrients or spray with baking soda?

It's not Powdery Mildew, you'll see sites of the White Fungus. Unless the rest of the plant looks like that, or it is becoming progressive from the bottom up, I'd say don't worry too much. It all matters as to how healthy the overall plant is.

After looking at the leaf some more, are those sites on the left top edge of the center portion of the leaf? I can't tell for sure from the photo.

Have you been using any kind of fertilizer? What have the weather conditions been like? How big are the plants?

yes the problem does seem progressive from the ground up. I've used mostly compost for fertilizer, it was cool and rainy through the first half of may but fairly warm and sunny since then. I have 3 plants fuggle, perle, chinook all second years. the fuggle and perle are both at the top of the trellis (10ft) the chinook got a late start but its making up for lost time. only the fuggle and perle show signs of this problem right now.

this pic is of the perle. hope it helps.

I'm far from an expert, but to me it looks more like chlorosis and some necrotic spots forming, rather than a fungus. I'm beginning to see similar symptoms on my plants, but not as bad. This also looks like some of the pictures in GilaMinumBeer's post:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=67397

I haven't been able to positively identify any pests on my plants, though maybe I'm just missing them. I'm really thinking it's a nutrient deficiency. From what I've read, such spotting could be a Potassium issue, but I've given my plants a little fertilizer and the spots seem like they might be getting worse. With all other things being equal, again I'm leaning toward magnesium. I've read that most fertilizers don't contain magnesium, and according to the info on the package, Miracle Grow is no exception. I put just shy of a 1/2 teaspoon of Epsom Salts and a quart of water in a spray bottle and gave the plants a foliar feeding with the mixture last night. I'll see how they're looking when I get home tonight.

If you used compost, I wouldn't suspect over nutrient burn. How did you apply the compost and how much did you use? If it is from the ground up, it may be the normal cycle of the plant, or it could be a nutrient deficiency/pH issue. A little quality nutrient might help. Your local hydroponics store will be the best place to shop. PureBlend Pro is a very good organic nutrient.

I've got the same thing going right now on my cascades and chinooks. Leaning towards it being a nutrient thing.

Odd thing is that once this started on the chinooks they started to flower so MAYBE it's PH. Don't know but it looks exactly like this pic.

I get the same thing from the ground up and believe it's just a way that the plant keeps moving more energy to the top.

yea for me at least it seems to be moving from the ground up. Ive tried adding epsom salts 1Tbsp in 1 gallon water since it looks closest to a magnesium deficiency but I havent seen any change yet (this was 3 days ago) I dont know if this means its not Mg, I didnt add enough, or it just needs more time.

I tend to remove the leaves from the bottom 2 feet of the plant anyway.

Check the undersides very closely for mites. They may appear as a tiny black speck. After you rub your finger over them, if they move you got mites.

I had a very similar situation and had thought I had inspected the leaves very closely. Later, towards the top of the plant I began to see webbings.

Apparently, a very small immature colony of mites can create a profound amount of damage to plants depending on air temps and can multiply to maturity very quickly.

All I am saying is look very closely under every leaf for even single specks. Once you have definitively ruled out mites start looking at soils issues.

I have seen similar spots on other plants and had been told to pour used coffee grounds on the soil around the plant, for some type of deficiency.

k1v1116 said:

yea for me at least it seems to be moving from the ground up. Ive tried adding epsom salts 1Tbsp in 1 gallon water since it looks closest to a magnesium deficiency but I havent seen any change yet (this was 3 days ago) I dont know if this means its not Mg, I didnt add enough, or it just needs more time.

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Do you water your plants? If so magnesium deficiency is all but out. Almost all well/city water has ample amounts of both calcium and magnesium (and most soils are also sufficiently loaded). Common soil deficiencies are potassium, iron, nitrogen, phosphorous. Most fertilizers supply the NPK and so a lot of people see iron deficiencies, but this doesn't look like chlorosis, rather it looks like potassium deficiency.

The problem with hops and other fast growing plants is they can very quickly sap local nutrient concentrations. So even if the soil surrounding has ample nutrients, with first year plants having poor root systems they just don't have the nutrients in close enough proximity. While its great to go organic (I myself use home-made compost for most of my fertilization), I've started to add a very dilute (1:10th recommended dosage) of miraclegro to a watering can, and use that for some of the watering directly over the rhizome area (say 6" diameter). This way I can be sure that even under the craziest growth spurt there shouldn't be a nutrient deficiency.

After this first year though, I plan to go back to strictly organic feedings.

Rust.

Don't worry, this plant will outgrow the problem.

Dig, can you elaborate on the rust thing? Is that a type of fungus? I think I might have the same issue (amongst others). It's been an insanely wet and humid spring, even for Illinois. I can't remember the last time we went 24 hours without rain, and when it's not raining, it's so humid that nothing dries out. Unless of course it's so windy the bines get pulled off their ropes. I had to remove the tip from my best growing Hallertauer after sustaining wind damage one day when I came home and most of my plants were on the ground. The tip quickly shriveled up and started turning gray, which left me even more concerned about mold and fungus. I've even had mushrooms start popping up on a daily basis. I picked up a fungicide, but other than testing on one plant, I haven't really used it yet. Does mulch help prevent some mold and fungus issues?
Thanks!

Chris