Hops - post harvest

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Mac_rancher

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Year two on my 3 wine barrel cascade hops and I’m happy with the yield. Exceeded my expectations considering I’ve heard to not expect a lot when growing in a half barrel. I had a couple questions.
1) To make it easier I cut my plants down like they do in the hop yards. Should I still water the root bed for a while or do I just leave it be now?
2) I’m including a picture of a hop cone that had some white on it. Hard to get a picture where it shows up so this is the best I could do. Is this a fungus and if so should I be careful not to include any of these when I bag them up?
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1) They are very drought resistant, so don't worry too much. In fact, with their restricted growing space, it would probably be best to hold back on the watering.

2) That white on the hops seems normal in a few cones, from my experience. How many of your cones are exhibiting it? If there is just a few here and there, make sure they go into the boil instead of dry hopping, or just toss them out all together.
 
1) They are very drought resistant, so don't worry too much. In fact, with their restricted growing space, it would probably be best to hold back on the watering.

2) That white on the hops seems normal in a few cones, from my experience. How many of your cones are exhibiting it? If there is just a few here and there, make sure they go into the boil instead of dry hopping, or just toss them out all together.
Thank you. With how hearty they are I figured it wouldn’t be a big issue. Last year I waited until they turned off irrigation since I knew they wouldn’t be watering in the hop yards here. I’ve always wondered though. With the hops with the white on them I just ended up tossing them, though there might still be some mixed in. When I divide them up I’ll look for the white ones and label them for boil. I had some bunches where there were a dozen or so like that, but most were spread out here and there.
 
I'm growing only Cascade right now. Experimenting to see what kind of yield I can get year to year. They get full sunlight and the weather here in the summer is over 90 into the 100's for 2-3 months so they need to be hearty. I'm guessing I could try maybe Centennial as well this spring.
 
Have you been getting any of that white or brown on the leaves and bines?
 
There was some browning on the leaves, especially the plant where a window reflected the hot sun on it. There was also some of the white coloring as well, though it was not on a lot of the leaves.
Here‘a a picture of a few examples.
 

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It's seems you might have a deficiency in your soil. Is your issues all over the plants, the bottom, middle, or top? Could I get a few other photos of more and less affected leaves and cones?
 
Here’s a couple examples in pictures I took recently. The hops on the table were from when I picked them all the other picture was two weeks ago. It was mainly the middle of the plant to the right of the window.
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Looks like powdery mildew in the cone photo and downy mildew in the other. Everything seems to be well nourished. Next season use a light dilution of vinegar on them in a spray bottle periodically. 3 parts water to 1 part vinegar. Up the concentration as needed.

Edit: Start spraying when you train the bines.
 
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Thank you for the info. This year I fertilized with miracle grow tomato formula to compensate for the soil I’m sure was stripped out pretty good. I think you are right when it comes to the mildew. I’ll work on that next year and find a mixture that helps out.
In your opinion, would it be worth digging up and cutting back on the root system this spring to prevent it from choking itself out this next year?
 
Downy mildew can get into the root system, so just keep an eye on your moisture. Clay soils will aggrevate that. Make sure you're adding a healthy amount of compost to the top of your soil. Miracle grow is good for nutrient, but not soil composition. A good composition is lomy soil, comprised of both sand and clay elements. Proper compost will balance it well.
 
Sounds good, I'll probably add some compost this fall and let that settle in with follow up in the spring when I trim roots back.
I'll add the vinegar spray to the routine too. does it matter what time of day you spray it? This year earwigs were eating my leaves at a pretty rapid rate. Fortunately a local lawn and garden company has some great non burning formula I used and it wiped them out in one treatment.
 
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