Hop vine die off

I went away for a week and had a friend water my hops. This is the first year for these cascade hops and they are in large planters. The vine with about three dozen hops on it looks like it is dying off. I don't think the hops are ready yet because they still feel damp and springy. Is the die off normal?

Pictures would help... I don't think it's late enough in the year for hops to be going dormant. Are the leaves turning yellow/curling?

Die-off will vary, just as harvesting does. Normally, the bines die after the harvest, but mine are dying post-heatwave and I've kept them watered.

The leaves are dry and the hops look like they are turning yellow. Can they be saved? The drying starts half way up the plant. The bottom half is fine. The vine isn't cut or otherwise injured.

The top of the bine is drying out? Haven't seen that before. Normally, any water/nutrients are routed to the cones this time of year and the lower leaves sacrificed.

Well like I said yesterday the hops were tuning yellow. Today when I got home they looked like they were turning brown. I picked 125 hops and I am drying them right now. They swell a little "grassy" when you sniff them up close but when I open the petals and rub the yellow stuff it smells hoppy.

I let aphids get to my hops and where they hit my Willamette quickly turned brown and started to die off on the top half. Look for some tiny, green, football shaped bugs on top and under the leaves.

http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~games/aphid/gifs/aphids.gif

Do aphids only attack the leaves? or do they suck on portions of roots or rhizomes?

I am also having problems with bine and burr die off this year.

I think just the leaves and cones. Never heard of them attacking under ground.

It is normal for the lower leaves to yellow, then brown, then fall off. I have plants with only a browning bine left five feet up. Where the cones are formed it greens right back up with minimal problems. Also, the cones will lighten in color, almost appearing yellow, as they ripen. This is all completely normal and part of the plant's cycle as it puts all of it's resources into the cone and the (....oooohhh sooo succulent) lupulin glands.

Now, if you're seeing browning of the leaves and bine towards the top of the plant you have a different issue. How well do you trust this friend

I had planted a nice Sterling Rhizome around March and it took off in the 3 gallon pot. It grew to around 14' tall and had about 10 little cones. Then about a week ago I noticed that it started turning brown and looked as though it was dying. It had been getting plenty of water and fertilizer but what could be the problem? Well, I took a good look at the bine at the soil line and noticed that it looked like it was about to break. As I looked a little further and scraped some soil away from the bine I saw what the problem was. Termites! Yep! I doused those little bastards with some Indoor/Outdoor pest control liquid and so far it has done the trick. Who would've thought that those little pests would eat my babies. I have 5 other varieties all planted the same way and haven't noticed any problems. I did spray some pest control liquid underneath all of the pots. Beware of Termites!

Anyway, hopefully you don't have the same problem that I have had. Maybe this response won't be considered off topic either.