Are my hops dying?

[peavis]

2nd year chinooks, grown in container. For the last month the bottom 3 feet of plant have been browning and leaves are curling. In the past week the browning of the leaves have reached higher towards the top. Side shoots near ugly leaves look normal. Have'nt had alot of rain the past couple months and i water every few days or so. I've used fertilizer a few times but dont think i over did it. Any help would be appreciated.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=63457&stc=1&d=1338688491
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=63458&stc=1&d=1338688491

 

[B-Hoppy]

When you use the term "side shoots", if you actually mean sidearms, and they look good I wouldn't worry too much about the older leaves. I've had this problem here in Ohio for the last 25 years. Maybe it's something, maybe it's not, I just don't know. But if the rest of the plant, including the sidearms (where the hops are borne) are looking good, I'd just forget about it and go have a beer. Growing outside of an ideal climate creates problems with all plants and I'm assuming that we're outside of an optimal range as I've seen hops growing in Washington and Oregon that have none of these types of problems. Just take what you get and do the best you can with it. I like beer!!

 

[damdaman]

Depending on the type of potting soil you've used in your containers, it can take a lot of water to thoroughly soak the medium. Watering the surface every few days if you aren't getting a lot of rain will be just enough to barely keep them alive. This is particularly a problem with peat moss based potting soils that tend to clump and crust when dry.

I would suggest really soaking the soil. The best way to ensure this is to put the pot in a container that will hold water around the edges of the pot. Water the pot really well in this container and let the water drain out and fill the container. Then leave it for 24 hours, the soil in the pot will slowly soak up the water in the container through the drainage holes and saturate the medium.

 

[seanybubbles]

Just curious if you've tried mulching your pots? This way you don't need to water as intensively and hops will retain moisture. This also helps preventing over watering. I've noticed that even though y leaves might look terrible I still get a good crop. good luck!

 

[peavis]

Thanks for the input guys. I've picked all the dead leaves off and i guess i'll just wait and see if anymore leaves start to brown. Last year, after babying them for the first couple months, i just let them do their thing without messing with them and they were bright green all year, so it kinda freaked me out. Maybe thats my problem.