Hey There folks. Well a couple weeks ago I notice my beautiful lush green hops with lots of cones started to look not so good. Browning leaves and rusty looks. I was busy and just thought the plant was putting all its energy into the cones and leaves were just going to be fine. Well, now I think its too late..
Upon close inspection I notice all 8 of my plants had very small block dots and some white dots on underside of leaves. Most of these dots near leave veins. A little research uncovered it might be scale insects?
Can anyone please verify if this is scale or another insect? I also heard these insects secrete a substance called honeydew that promotes black sooty mold. I unfortunately now see a couple of my plants have a little dark mold on the tops of the cones which might be a result of this.
As for harvest. I am located in Wisconsin near Lake Michigan so I feel my hops have a little time yet, maybe 1 week before harvest. Some portions of the cones look ready but I can probably wait just a bit yet. They are not quite papery feeling yet or any brown starting at cone tips. I would guess variety pending, bout a week to harvest. Now I wonder, can I even harvest the cones?? Some look ok, with no insects so far present in the cones I picked, scale/whatever it is all appears just on the big leaves. I am concerned about some mold but not all cones have it. Maybe I can selectively harvest?
I made a decison to trim off nearly all the bigger leaves since they appear to really be doing the plant no good (not providing nutrients to plant as leave is dying and it has the insects) sooooo, I got some neem oil and sprayed the crap out of my plants after the trimming poor leaves in hopes of salvaging the cones and plants. the neem oil says I can use it up to one day prior to harvest but I dont like the thought of that. so, I think I will spray neem oil everyday and 3 days or so before harvest stop and rinse the plants very well with water. Does this sound like an idea to salvage some cones?
Any help in identifying the insects and what to do about harvesting would be great.
Here are some pics:
Upon close inspection I notice all 8 of my plants had very small block dots and some white dots on underside of leaves. Most of these dots near leave veins. A little research uncovered it might be scale insects?
Can anyone please verify if this is scale or another insect? I also heard these insects secrete a substance called honeydew that promotes black sooty mold. I unfortunately now see a couple of my plants have a little dark mold on the tops of the cones which might be a result of this.
As for harvest. I am located in Wisconsin near Lake Michigan so I feel my hops have a little time yet, maybe 1 week before harvest. Some portions of the cones look ready but I can probably wait just a bit yet. They are not quite papery feeling yet or any brown starting at cone tips. I would guess variety pending, bout a week to harvest. Now I wonder, can I even harvest the cones?? Some look ok, with no insects so far present in the cones I picked, scale/whatever it is all appears just on the big leaves. I am concerned about some mold but not all cones have it. Maybe I can selectively harvest?
I made a decison to trim off nearly all the bigger leaves since they appear to really be doing the plant no good (not providing nutrients to plant as leave is dying and it has the insects) sooooo, I got some neem oil and sprayed the crap out of my plants after the trimming poor leaves in hopes of salvaging the cones and plants. the neem oil says I can use it up to one day prior to harvest but I dont like the thought of that. so, I think I will spray neem oil everyday and 3 days or so before harvest stop and rinse the plants very well with water. Does this sound like an idea to salvage some cones?
Any help in identifying the insects and what to do about harvesting would be great.
Here are some pics: