Can Downy mildew store itself in rope?

[jayrome2722]

Last year I was fairly certain I had a downy mildew infection of my hop plants. This year I took some steps to prevent that, including fungicide. Everything seemed to be going well, until sidearms started to appear and the bines reached the top of the lines. The leaves started turning brown from the top down ( opposite from last year) and worked their way 1/2 to 3/4 of the way down the bine. One plant lost all its leaves above 1/2. The other is working on it, and all the cones are brown. I have lines hanging from a large rope that I used last year to string all the smaller lines. Is it possible the Mildew stored itself in the rope? Also, should I be cutting back all these plants now as they aren't going to produce? Can I take some steps now to keep this from happening next year?

 

[Anyhowe]

Good question. I use a biodegradable, cheap and simple twine that I cut down and dispose of with the bine.

 

[B-Hoppy]

Everything I've learned over the years has stated that it needs living tissue to remain viable so technically, you can leave the strings up over the winter. This is not advisable though because nature has ways of taking advantage of just about any situation that comes along to enable her to come out on top. A pathology class I had long ago drummed into our heads the idea of being clean with your operation. Just like with brewing, you have to take the mindset that the organisms that will make our lives miserable are lurking everywhere so keep it clean and you'll reduce your chance for issues popping up next year. By 'keeping it clean' would entail removing any diseased or "suspect' plant material or things that they came in contact with (within reason) disposing of them properly, I usually just burn if I have any issues. https://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdisease/host-disease/hop-humulus-lupulus-downy-mildew

 

[jayrome2722]

Thanks> I'll cut everything back and use all new rope next year.