Extreme Leaf Curl

[ChrisS68]

I seem to recall having this issue last year, and I think the plants eventually outgrew it. I'm just wondering what would cause the leaves to curl under so severely. Most of my plants have the issue to some extent. Aside from the curling leaves, the plants seem relatively healthy. The leaves don't show any odd colors or anything, just that they are curled under with a puckered texture.

I don't remember the plants having any problems before we had some pretty heavy storms blow through a week or two ago where I lost a few bines. Most of the plants took a pretty good beating from the wind, with many leaves damaged or shredded. Could this simply be some sort of stress as a result? Like I said, this happened last year, but then I thought it might have been due to overwatering as we had a few weeks of heavy rain. We've gotten some decent rains this year, but not anything I'd think would be too extreme. Any ideas are appreciated.

Chris

 

[chase]

Wow. that's bizarre. I live in central illinois, we probably got the same storms you did, and my hops look fine. They suffered some damage from the winds, but they are kind of protected by surrounding trees, but they got tons of rain. that suggests to me that it could be caused by the wind, assuming we got similar amounts of rain.

 

[enderwig]

On most plants, leaf curl like that comes from inconsistent watering. Do you water daily?

 

[Zulu]

look for mites UNDER the leaves, spray with some soapy water

 

[Ølbart]

On most plants, leaf curl like that comes from inconsistent watering. Do you water daily?

I got quite a bit of leaf curl after a week of hail and loads and loads of rain followed by a dry period, and some yellow leaves as well. After watering them well for some time, they went back to normal.

 

[ChrisS68]

look for mites UNDER the leaves, spray with some soapy water

I actually looked for evidence of pests, but didn't see any. After using Sevin on Japanese beetles last year, I almost got myself into a full-blown spider mite infestation, so I'm quite familiar with the little buggers. BTW, got things under control by giving the plants a good spray with the hose twice a day. Word to the wise: though you may be tempted come Japanese beetle time, keep the Sevin away from your hops. Works great on Japanese beetles (and about everything else), but it's like a fertility drug for spider mites. I'd rather have the beetles than mites. Beetles can certainly do some damage, but mites will plain kill your plants.
But I digress...

I got quite a bit of leaf curl after a week of hail and loads and loads of rain followed by a dry period, and some yellow leaves as well. After watering them well for some time, they went back to normal.

This kind of ties into my experience, as well as what enderwig suggested. I started this year letting Mother Nature handle things, and she did a great job until the storms hit. Been dry since, so maybe the change has them a bit confused. Last year we also had a few weeks of heavy rain, followed by a relatively dry spell. Some plants did not do well with the excessive rain (I thought the Sterlings might not make it) so I've been a bit leery of overwatering this year - perhaps too leery. I waited about a week before starting to water them every other day. I check to make sure the ground isn't too dry before watering again. Like I said, they seem to be doing OK otherwise. Maybe I'll try upping the watering some.
Thanks a bunch folks!

Chris