Burned holes on older leaves

[Alexy]

Hi.

I need an expert eye to tell what troubles my older leaves on Mt.Hood, Perle, Saaz and Fuggle. I have also Chinook and Centennial but the two look clean.

The problem I've spotted are necrosis spots turning into holes on older leaves. New ones and side arms look good. I had recently plenty of heat in my area and maybe this is a sun burn? I also have ants raging through my garden (and walking on my hops) but I don't think ants are in the hop eating business?

Most likely this is some sort of deficiency but I had my soil fertilized using manure last year.

Thanks for any help for the first time hop grower!

 

[Kent88]

This maybe sort of look like mine as well. Early growth leaves are getting some brown to them while new growth looks fine, recently started getting hot out, ants are close by (in my case, in the containers with them). Not many of mine are showing holes, though, mostly just some browning.

With mine I doubt that the ants are doing much. I rarely see them on the leaves themselves, but I think I would rather not have them. I think that ants like to hang out with aphids, but again I'm not seeing them on the leaves much, and if they were attacking the lower stem then wouldn't the whole plant suffer?

How long have you had the hops growing there? What kind of fertilizer are you using and how much and how often are you applying? How much water are they receiving?

 

[Alexy]

Hi Kent88 - thanks a lot for you response.

There are no aphids on the plants (I've checked carefully especially on young shoots). Ants are indeed just passing by my plants.

I've got 7 rooted rhizomes and planted them March this year. Last year on autumn I've fertilized planting spots with some granulated manure. For watering I have a drip system. If my calculations are correct each plant is getting daily ~1/2 gal of water.

My guess is the holes could be a result of physical damage due to wind? After recent storm I've spotted even more leaves with holes/breaks/scratches. Is it possible?