Need advice - yellow and falling leaves

[abellote]

Hi there.

I just came back yesterday from a bussiness trip to find my plants with a lot of bright yellow and falling leaves. Also there are some leaves that are curvy and not growing at all. I think its worth mention that the top shoots are still growing very rapidly, something like 3 in a day. I also have two plants and in one the symptoms are more evident. On the other they are starting now.

Since I'm new to planting hops I need some advice to figure out what's wrong. Please see the pictures.

I may have some ideas to what's may be the problem.

1. Fall is coming to the south hemisphere (I'm in Brazil) and although temperatures are not that cold (60-80F) the days are starting to get shorter. Maybe it's the plant getting ready for the winter??

2. Can it be some sort of nutrient deficiency?? I was thinking maybe nitrogen or magnesium? I'm using the book "The Homebrewers Garden" as a guide. Today I used some garden fertilizer just in case.

3. Any root damage? Fungal? It's been raining a lot here for the past days. And I have no idea what a root damage may look like in the plant.

4. Damage from the Neem oil I used last Sunday to fight a spider mite infection. The mites have reduced in numbers but you can still find some. I may need to spray the plant again.

Thanks again for the help and sorry for any newbie question.

 

[JohnSand]

I recently read an article in Brew Your Own magazine about hop growing. One of the professionals interviewed stated that lower leaf yellowing indicated a need to fertilize. Especially during a period of high growth the plant will sacrifice lower leaves to feed the upper.

 

[thaymond]

Are these first year plants from rhizomes? Typically the summer growth is so rapid that lower leaves will start to yellow as nutrients are sent to new growth. If you're just moving into fall, the lower leaves tend to yellow and drop off, like shown in the picture. It also could be nutrient deficiency too. If they're rhizomes, a lot of nutrient is also required for root growth and development. What is the variety? Some perform better than others in certain areas.

My Nugget plant did something similar with the malformed leaves curling under like this. I made a blood meal slurry and fertilized with it. It never corrected the Leaves, but the new growth did fill out normally. When fall rolls around and I start seeing cone development, I start using bone meal in the same way to promote cone growth and development.

Good luck! I hope that it all works out.

 

[abellote]

Are these first year plants from rhizomes?

Actually they came from another plant that was grown directly from seeds. A friend of mine got some UK seed, got them to germinate, cut off a bine, somehow made it produce a rootlet and got it on a small planter. After it was some 1-2 foot high I got them to the ground. So I really don't know what hop it is and even if it's a male or female plant. It's very hard to find rhizomes here in Brazil..

So my best guess this far is that it's absorbing nutrients to grown its root system in order to face the upcoming season.

I fertilized yesterday so I'll keep updates here on how it goes.

Thanks for the help.