first years with a rash (pictures)

My cascades have been developing a copper/yellow colored "rash" here are some pictures.









Here is a picture of the centennial with a




Any idea whats going on? Should i be worried?

Well, I would probably suggest pruning the leafs (if they really are indeed infected) other then that, I'm not exactly an expert. I've read (on here a lot) that you can basically prune all the leafs off the first couple of feet, because they tend to get eaten/infected the most, which is what looks like is the case for you. It looks like your first years have buds on the cascades, I'm jealous. Mine don't have any yet

mine have looked like that for as long as i've been growing them. i just reckon it's just a normal weathering process as it usually occurs on the oldest leaves. as long as the actively growing portions look healthy, go have a beer and enjoy life!

I think you might be lacking in a nutrient, but I lent all my books to a friend.
Freshhops has pictures of common issues, could this be a Potassium Deficiency?

I'm not an expert by any means. My leaves looked liked yours last years and I adjusted my soil and none of my plants have this issue this year.

Hope it helps and hope someone with more experience than me chimes in.

I've been having the same problem. You can read the thread here. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f92/nutrient-deficiency-183811/

General consensus was to hit it with fertilizer.

Thanks for the replies.

Bosox - they are budding pretty well! I have two cascade plants, both are about 9-10ft in length and have a fair amount of buds. My chinook and centennial plants are only about 4-5ft tall and have no buds as of now. Both the chinook and centennial took about 2 weeks longer to pop out of the ground than the cascades, so im still hopeful.

I am looking in to nutrient deficiency. I hit them with some miracle grow about 2 weeks ago. Think this should be applied every week? I use the granules and mixed 1.5 scoops for 2 gallons of water.

nootay said:

I am looking in to nutrient deficiency. I hit them with some miracle grow about 2 weeks ago. Think this should be applied every week? I use the granules and mixed 1.5 scoops for 2 gallons of water.

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You shouldn't have to add fert every 2 weeks but 1.5 scoops in 2 gal of water seems to be pretty diluted. Maybe your scoop is bigger than the one in my miracle grow but I typically do half a scoop for 1 quart. The water has a blue tint to it (pink last year...maybe I have different stuff this year). Also, I have read it is best taken in when applied to the leaves and not the soil. I put mine in a spray bottle and spray the crap out of the leaves early in the morning.

I would do another application and see what happens.

I think a scoop is 1 tablespoon, so 1.5 tablespoon to 2 gallons of water. I can up it next time, and will also apply to all the leaves. Thanks for the advice

Yeah, I think you're right on the 1 scoop = 1 Tbsp. I guess just follow the directions on the box. Some people like to go a little under the recommended amount which I dont exactly understand. Hops are more fert hogs than a 'mater plant is gonna be so why go less than that?

Some of that looks like spider mite dmg - have you checked the underside of those leaves? I would prune them and then prune on up the bine quite a ways...at least a foot or two.

Cheers

SOB said:

Yeah, I think you're right on the 1 scoop = 1 Tbsp. I guess just follow the directions on the box. Some people like to go a little under the recommended amount which I dont exactly understand. Hops are more fert hogs than a 'mater plant is gonna be so why go less than that?

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Hops are nitrogen hogs for roughly a 2 month period only. Potassium is taken up in mild amounts and phosphorous is almost irrelevant. While you may have a deficiency in one nutrient type, broadcasting additional nutrients is not necessary.

If it turns out to be potassium (you can ask around in the region or e-mail someone in an extension program of the nearest Ag University to see if your area has been known to have this issue)... you can apply potash (basic hardwood ash from your fireplace or fire pit) once or twice a year in modest amounts. Best to do it before a modest rain or water it into the soil. You can burn plants with it if over-applied, so you need to be careful.

That's not nutrient deficiency. You can see dead spots on the leaf where the insects have eaten it. They look like red spider mites but it could be a fungus. Prune the leaves and dispose of them (burn them) away from hops. If you aren't opposed to pesticides, I believe Sevin will take care of them, but check the label of course.

I wouldn't use pesticides unless you are going to wash the hops before brewing-which will probably reduce the lupulin. There are organic solutions if its spider mites. Try 1/2 cup wheat flour, 1 tablespoon buttermilk and 2 quarts water. Put it in a spray bottle and hose those suckers down. It will suffocate the spider mites and you can hose off the paste later once they are history.

If its aphids, plant some basil and/or marigolds near them; aphids hate them. You can always go to the local nursery and buy some lady bugs. They feast on the suckers.

My guess is spder mites or Aphid damages.

Just a note on the Sevin - according to this article - Sevin has the potential to flare Spider Mites.

Article Quote below:

As effective as carbaryl is for Japanese beetle, this material has the potential to flare spider mites, which can be an important and difficult to manage pest of hops. If Japanese beetles are present, scout carefully for mites before choosing which material to treat with. We have been monitoring spider mites at 2 western NC hops farms and have found very low populations to date. The populations at Lake Wheeler are higher, and Rob plans to follow up with a mite treatment this week.

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Cheers

i checked my leaves and found little tiny spider webs and small little green spiders under them. im guessing these are the spider mites. I actually sprayed eight on my plants a few weeks ago, so that could be what has aggravated the situation. Ive read several remedies, including 1:1 alcohol:water mixture. Has anyone tried this? I worry the alcohol would be harmful to the plant. I may try the flour, buttermilk, water mixture , but i will be out of town for 4 days and will not be able to spray it off. id rather get something on them tomorrow before i leave. If anything i guess i can get a miticide. has anyone tried anything with success?

There are several insecticidal soaps for spider mites ...however you need to spray often (follow directions on label) and remove heavily infected leaves. Took me about a week and a half to get rid of mine.

Cheers

nootay said:

i checked my leaves and found little tiny spider webs and small little green spiders under them. im guessing these are the spider mites. I actually sprayed eight on my plants a few weeks ago, so that could be what has aggravated the situation. Ive read several remedies, including 1:1 alcohol:water mixture. Has anyone tried this? I worry the alcohol would be harmful to the plant. I may try the flour, buttermilk, water mixture , but i will be out of town for 4 days and will not be able to spray it off. id rather get something on them tomorrow before i leave. If anything i guess i can get a miticide. has anyone tried anything with success?

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You can leave the mixture I recommended on there for awhile if you are going out of town, it won't hurt the plants at all. I just posted the spraying off option so you knew that you could remove it later if it bothers you. As the other posters mentioned, I would remove the most infected leaves too. Good luck!

Randar said:

Hops are nitrogen hogs for roughly a 2 month period only. Potassium is taken up in mild amounts and phosphorous is almost irrelevant. While you may have a deficiency in one nutrient type, broadcasting additional nutrients is not necessary.

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Just curious...sorry for being a little OT.

Additional nutrients may not be necessary but is it harmful? I typically only fert 2-3 times a year so is adding the extra P and K (when all it really needs is the N) a problem if the plant doesn't necessarily need it?

I can attest to this. I used Sevin on Japanese beetles a couple of years ago. Worked great on the beetles, but it resulted in a spider mite outbreak. Beetles might cause some damage, but spider mites will plain destroy a plant. Wound up getting the spider mites under control by simply spraying the plants with the hose twice a day. I now seem to have a pretty good population of ladyugs/asian beetles and (I think) "spider mite destroyers".

ctheis said:

Just a note on the Sevin - according to this article - Sevin has the potential to flare Spider Mites.

Article Quote below:


Cheers

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SOB said:

Just curious...sorry for being a little OT.

Additional nutrients may not be necessary but is it harmful? I typically only fert 2-3 times a year so is adding the extra P and K (when all it really needs is the N) a problem if the plant doesn't necessarily need it?

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When I took Agriculture in University, they explained the fertilizer situation farily simple. Immagine a wine barrel, with the staves all different heights. Each stave represents one fertilizer (N, P, K, S, etc). Now fill it up with water, and the N is the shortest stave. The water is showing what the plant needs, and N being the shorteset stave, when the water gets to the to of the N, that is all that it will take up. The other taller staves are there, but the are not being used, the N is the limiting factor in the situation.

It would not be a problem to have the extra fertilizers in the ground, as long as they do not get too out of balance, as some of the fertilizers can turn to salts and cause problems, but most garden stuff is nitrogen loaded, and if that is what you are going for, there will only be a little of the other stuff left over.

Boy it looks a lot like powdery mildew. Hopefully it is just a nutrient deficiency

well i ended up going with a 1:1 alcohol:water mixture for simplicty. i have sprayed this on 3 times now and the webs keep appearing. I have pruned quite a few leaves and even the hops themselves are turning brown on the tips. im probably just going to find a insecticidal soap to put on them and wipe them out before theyve completely destroyed my plants.

well the spider mites are finally gone. that was just plain awful. I ended up removing all side shoots and leaves within 12 inches of the ground. As i was doing this little spider mites were running everywhere. It seems this is where they were staying. One of my cascade plants looks almost bare i had to remove so many leaves. All the hops look great that are on the plants, except one. It has brown edges on the hops themselves. Ill try to get a picture up, but is this normal?

The spider mites will get in the cones and cause them to go brown. You may want to break a few open to see if you have any in the cones. I have a pretty bad infestation of them now and since I have cones I am not going to use any insecticide but a 6% soultion of H2O2 and heavily spray the cones and the leaves every other day till harvest. Ill also be making another 6% solution to "dip" the hops in before I dry them to make sure there are no residual mites.

The insecticidal soap I used earlier in the season..while somewhat effective...is pricy...and unless you constantly spray the plants with them isnt the greatest of methods. The recent rains have done more to help than anything and I have also took a hose and held every leaf (200 plants) and sprayed off the webs and mites. This was very effective as well...but only for a short time. Given the dmg they can do and have done I may be looking at stuff like Zeal next year to preventatively spray for them before I have burrs.

i read some info on zeal and it looks pretty awesome. I cant find any information on pricing though, which makes me think it is quite expensive. ill that mixing up some hydrogen peroxide and will check the cones as well

old thread, but the season is just around the corner and i was wondering if anyone has tried zeal? i tried to find some to buy, and the least i could find was 12oz at $270! the suggest application rate is 2-3 oz per acre. I dont need near this much since i just have 4 plants. anyone know a place to get a very small amount of this? maybe some of you guys with a larger operation might sell a small amount?

nootay said:

old thread, but the season is just around the corner and i was wondering if anyone has tried zeal? i tried to find some to buy, and the least i could find was 12oz at $270! the suggest application rate is 2-3 oz per acre. I dont need near this much since i just have 4 plants. anyone know a place to get a very small amount of this? maybe some of you guys with a larger operation might sell a small amount?

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I was told not to use Zeal by NC state ag people as it does not kill the mite eggs. They instead tell me to use Acrimite.