Help! - hops are sick

[phlip]

I've read everything I can find on the interweb trying to identify what's attacking my hops. But mine don't look quite like any of the pictures I can find. There's a discoloration on the leaves, but I wouldn't describe it as yellow or brown. It's more like white, not bright white, but a a dull kind of off-white. And most pics I see show blotchy or spotty discoloring. This is more uniform across the whole leaf. The edges are curling upwards too. Eventually the leaf dies and turns brown.

I would greatly appreciate any help I can get. To show my appreciation. I will drink one beer for each response I get to honor the adviser. In fact, I'm drinking one now in advance.

If it matters, it's Cascade. They're over 20ft now, this is about 4 ft from bottom. Most of this is still towards the bottom, but headed up. Neomex nearby doesn't have this.

Thanks!

 

[AJinJacksonville]

I see you're paying it forward with the drinks...haha. I've got three Cascade plants now...some of the leaves are yellowing/wilting, and something is eating the first couple of feet or so of leaves...but then there's new growth, and it is green and flourishing.

Anyway, I can only think it might be some kind of powdery mildew perhaps? I have been spraying mine with insecticidal soap and neem oil to discourage bugs/fungi; they appear to be responding well to that treatment.

I'm sure someone here will have the answer. But trying those approaches won't hurt the plants if you want to try it.

 

[myndflyte]

Yeah kind of looks like powdery mildew

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KEY2ZgYbcsEDLZLTNWstVNXqzltW-jLc/view?usp=drivesdk

 

[Beerisgud]

It helps to clean up the bottom couple feet now that they have reached that height. Usually mildew develops in this area where it’s damp and less airflow. It might be powdery mildew but usually it’s more splotchy and well powdery this looks in the leaf, not on the surface. Sucks it’s moving up! Maybe nutrient deficiency? Almost looks like sunscald but that usually happens to transplants not yet adjusted to sunlight. Unfortunately idk much about hops yet I just started growing this year I’d like to know what this is also.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Mites? Spider Mite Management on Hops - Pest Prophet Blog

 

[cubalz]

I do not grow hops but I was having a similar issue with my tomato plants. Found out it was due to too much direct sunlight and not enough water. The plants were cutting off water supply to the older, lower leaves to divert the water and nutrients to growth of new foliage.

 

[phlip]

Much thanks everyone. I owe drinking 5 beers as show of gratitude.

Oh, and thanks for the advice too. I'll take a look more closely at each of the suggestions, try to zero in on the problem.

 

[Dgallo]

That’s powdery mildew. Has it been wet and humid?

you can trim up the heavily effected areas. You can use an organic copper for the affected area and then the next few feet Up. This will not allow the mildew to spread.

you could also mix some hydrogen peroxide with water and use that but that won’t prevent the spread but it will help if itwill be hot and dry for the next week

 

[phlip]

Central Florida, so yes, hot, humid, lots of rain.

I will treat for this, just to be sure. But I've looked at dozens of pictures of powdery mildew and they all show it as spotted, which mine don't resemble. Typical examples here...

But I will try treating for this anyway.

Thank you.

 

[Dgallo]

Central Florida, so yes, hot, humid, lots of rain.

I will treat for this, just to be sure. But I've looked at dozens of pictures of powdery mildew and they all show it as spotted, which mine don't resemble. Typical examples here...

View attachment 688668
View attachment 688669
But I will try treating for this anyway.

Thank you.

Well is it powdery? Because your picture and the top look very similar. The other culprit is Downey mildew. But both are similar and caused by it being too wet. Cascade is susceptible to both mildews

 

[phlip]

Is it powdery? If you mean does it have a powder-like substance on the surface of the leaf, then no. There doesn't appear to be anything on the surface of the leaf. The discoloration is coming from within the leaf, it's not something on the surface. It's like the leaves are turning into albino leaves. It's not spotty, but more uniform across the whole leaf. @Beerisgud had it right.

I am going to treat for mildew though. I have to try something.

Thanks again.

 

[bracconiere]

I will drink one beer for each response I get

 

[bracconiere]

(sorry i didn't have anything useful about the hops, lol...just want to know i had some company! )

edit: guess to me, it looks like mold? whats the humidity run there? don't people use sulphur for mold problems?

 

[Dgallo]

Is it powdery? If you mean does it have a powder-like substance on the surface of the leaf, then no. There doesn't appear to be anything on the surface of the leaf. The discoloration is coming from within the leaf, it's not something on the surface. It's like the leaves are turning into albino leaves. It's not spotty, but more uniform across the whole leaf. @Beerisgud had it right.

I am going to treat for mildew though. I have to try something.

Thanks again.

I didn’t zoom in originally on your picture and assumed it was fuzzy. Flip the leaf over and take a look at it. Also look at the underside of leafs that don’t have that much damage. Thrip can cause similar damage but Ive never seen it look that bad. Thrip is a leaf insect and they literally suck from the underside. It usually only effects plants in the Greenhouses in NY BUT with FLA Climate being like a greenhouse, it’s very possible it can effect plants outside. This is what a bad case looks like but if you have it, it’s a really bad case. On the underside of the leaf you are looking for white papery thin specs, which is their old exoskeletons they shed which is easier to see than the bug. If you have good eyes or a jewelers loop you’d be looking for really small greenish yellow bugs.

 

[phlip]

That does resemble more what I'm seeing. I'll read up on thrip and find what I need to do to treat it. Other than caterpillars, I haven't seen many bugs. But maybe I'm missing the smaller ones. Will get a thorough inspection later today.

 

[Dgallo]

That does resemble more what I'm seeing. I'll read up on thrip and find what I need to do to treat it. Other than caterpillars, I haven't seen many bugs. But maybe I'm missing the smaller ones. Will get a thorough inspection later today.

If you do see some bugs, Neem oil is organic and works great for thrip. we occasionally get it in our greenhouses and neem always does the trick. If you do have to spray, Make sure you hit the underside of the leafs

 

[phlip]

edit: guess to me, it looks like mold? whats the humidity run there? don't people use sulphur for mold problems?

It runs like 50-100% humidity through the summer, lots of days 90-100%. And it's like the bug capital of the world here, so I think @Dgallo is onto something with the thrips. Mold or mildew problems in this climate wouldn't be a surprise though. Thanks.

 

[phlip]

If you do see some bugs, Neem oil is organic and works great for thrip. we occasionally get it in our greenhouses and neem always does the trick. If you do have to spray, Make sure you hit the underside of the leafs

roger.

Will try this starting today. Read up on thrips a bit and I think this is my lead suspect at this point.

 

[phlip]

Super special bonus thanks to @Dgallo. Learn something new every day, on a good day at least. Turns out those dust particles on my hops, when I looked at them closely, they're moving!!! Definitely some sort of thrips, dark ones. Hard to get a good picture because they're so small. Sprayed them all down with neem oil, fingers crossed.

I've just cracked open a cold one to celebrate.

 

[AJinJacksonville]

I'm in NE FL, and we have been getting alot of rain recently (and heat, obviously). For good measure, I took some time out while 'teleworking' and pruned my Cascades...and sprayed them down with neem oil. I use neem oil on the yard (we have bees so I do not use any chemical fertilizers, etc.) for pests/fungi, and although it smells a little 'orangey,' like Dgallo said, it does the trick.