Hops Yellowing from the Ground Up

[Duncan83865]

I've noticed that my 2nd year Centennial hop leaves have been slowly yellowing from the ground up for the last 3-4 weeks or so. The pictures below don't show it the best, but I've been cutting off the leaves when they get a very light or pale yellow. I believe my watering is fine, so is this just a case where I'm not doing the best job on nutrients during the growing season? Maybe if I did a better job on nitrogen during the growth stage, the older leaves would still be a healthy green and wouldn't be turning yellow this soon, or does it look like there is something else going on? Cone production looks decent to me, so the plant seems healthy otherwise. Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[day_trippr]

Can't really see what might be going on, but if it's any consolation I strip the leaves off the bottom four feet or so once the bines have crested my ~24' structure, to slow down the buggy and biologic critters.

I'll also add it's pretty common for the bottom-most leaves to run out of gas while the tops are growing like mad...

Cheers!

 

[B-Hoppy]

Like you said, it's hard to tell from that distance but I'm going to say you're just fine. Once the cones begin to form, the plants seem to pull nourishment from where ever they can to feed them. This sometimes means that they'll pull the goodness out of the lower leaves and send it to the top. It's happened with mine every year since I've been growing with certain varieties being affected more than others. So, if all else looks good you're most likely in good shape!

 

[Duncan83865]

Yeah sorry the pictures aren't the best-I was more trying to show the different shades of colors as you look up the plant. Thanks for these suggestions though!

 

[DarkCoder]

Have you check the underside of the leaves ? Just to make sure that it is not caused by spider mites. If it's the case, you should see fine webbing and really small critters crawling. So small, that you should use a magnifying glass just to make sure not to miss them.

 

[1fast636]

Have you check the underside of the leaves ? Just to make sure that it is not caused by spider mites. If it's the case, you should see fine webbing and really small critters crawling. So small, that you should use a magnifying glass just to make sure not to miss them.

I just noticed some spider mites on my Columbus that has had a ruff year, any tips on getting rid of them, I'm training them four feet down so most will be gone but any other things to prevent them from moving up

Sorry to thread jack

 

[feinbera]

Duncan, how often do you water, and, how often do the bines get rained on?

If you're in a wet area, or watering every couple days (or more), you might be over-watering; this is something I'd been doing for years and only really got a handle on this year. You can let the soil dry out to about three inches down before watering.

If you're in a dry area, spider mites can very much be a problem. We generally get almost no rain in San Francisco in the summer, which is ideal spider mite conditions – giving the undersides of the leaves a hard spray every couple of weeks seems to really help, it gets them wet, which the mites don't like, and the physical water pressure power-washes a lot of the suckers right off.

 

[Duncan83865]

I don't believe that I have spider mites -I've checked for those. Overwatering could be a possibility. I struggle with that because some places you read to use up to a gallon a day and other places I read to wait for the ground to dry out. There's a pretty big difference between the two so I never know which is the right answer? I've been watering around a gallon every 2-3 days but the ground is normally a little damp yet when I water.

 

[olotti]

I'm growing hops for the first time this year and their really hearty plants. From what I see the most important thing is the bushing and cones you have going on at the top of your trellis, they're doing just fine. Also if the total length isn't that tall, these things can grow up to 30' if you let em, than all the nutrients are going to the top where the burrs and cones are forming. I'm noticing the same with mine right now and they're about 16' total length. So I say doesn't matter what happens at the bottom as long as the cones are getting what they need. Sure you could b over watering but I water almost every day since our weather here has been upper 80's and sunny it seems to dry out the soil faster so I've been watering at least 2 gal per pot every day so far.