Spider mites I'm afraid

[dilbone]

My 2nd year Cascade plant took off like gang busters this spring. The past week and a half or so I've noticed leaves shriveling and turning yellow.

I was reading about all sorts of stuff, nitrogen/potassium deficiencies, aphids, spider mites, mildew...seems these hop plants are delicate...

I decided to give a really thorough looking over of the plant and found some tiny little webs here and there. I saw one little black spider and one larger brown/tan spider. Neither one seemed to fit the description or pictures I saw of spider mites. I ended up going back out and checking under nearly every leaf and ended up finding what I would consider a spider mite...but only one. I ended up mixing up some water and alcohol to spray on it and I just went to the store and picked up some neem spray I'll put on it tomorrow.

I guess the question is it too late to recover from this? The bottom few feet the leaves were pretty well decimated and I pinched most of those off already. It is definitely spreading to the upper portions of the bines now. However there are new leaf shoots coming off of the older leaves lower on the plant now.

Any additional advice or thoughts on this. Is there a time of day the mites are more active than another that I wouldn't see more than one this evening?

 

[day_trippr]

I've found over 4+ years of growing that the two-spotted spider mites want to proliferate once the really hot weather arrives. We're not there here, yet, but it's coming.

Only finding one, though, is hardly indicative of an infestation. They're so friggin' tiny, though, and their webs are so fine, that at my age I have to have my readers on to have a prayer of seeing them. So if you think you have mite damage I suggest finding a magnifier of some kind and take another look around. When I got hit hard a couple years ago the leaves were crawling with tens to hundreds of the li'l bastids...

Castile soap and water is what I use, and spray the heck out of the undersides of the leaves once the sun is in the trees towards dusk. Supposedly it causes the mites to self-destruct one way or the other, and it does seem to work, without leaving a chemical residue...

Cheers!

 

[dilbone]

I've found over 4+ years of growing that the two-spotted spider mites want to proliferate once the really hot weather arrives. We're not there here, yet, but it's coming.

Only finding one, though, is hardly indicative of an infestation. They're so friggin' tiny, though, and their webs are so fine, that at my age I have to have my readers on to have a prayer of seeing them. So if you think you have mite damage I suggest finding a magnifier of some kind and take another look around. When I got hit hard a couple years ago the leaves were crawling with tens to hundreds of the li'l bastids...

Castile soap and water is what I use, and spray the heck out of the undersides of the leaves once the sun is in the trees towards dusk. Supposedly it causes the mites to self-destruct one way or the other, and it does seem to work, without leaving a chemical residue...

Cheers!

Thanks day_trippr,

We have had a couple of weeks of hotter than usual temps that preceded this little outbreak. I'm going to hit it with some miracle gro and see if a nitrogen boost helps and also use the Neem oil spray while hoping I can head any more damage off at the pass. The past month we've had alternating weeks of 10 degrees above normal then 10 degrees below normal.

 

[B-Hoppy]

It looks like you trained two vines per string and it also looks like one of the vines (growing up the left string) has been mainly affected by whatever it is that's causing the problem. I would check from the crown upward on the one that's got the yellowing leaves to look for any signs of physical damage. It doesn't look like mite damage as they usually start from the bottom and work their damage up the vines creating what's termed 'bronzing' https://www.google.com/search?q=mit...cK8TDggSFuoPwBw&ved=0CCYQsAQ&biw=1427&bih=824 which will generally create an 'off' color on the leaves which tends to become a bronze color compared to the unaffected ones higher on the vine. Sorry, but it's really hard to determine things like this without actually being on site to see first hand.

 

[unionrdr]

It could be a fungal infection causing the yellowing. If it is spider mites, You could do as I used to with aphids & mites. I went to the local garden center & bought some lady bugs. They love eating aphids & spider mites. Just pour them onto the affected plants, & they'll gorge themselves on the lil suckers. They also have chemicals to spray on the plants for various fungal infections. I'd show them the pics & find out what they think it could be.

 

[dilbone]

It looks like you trained two vines per string and it also looks like one of the vines (growing up the left string) has been mainly affected by whatever it is that's causing the problem. I would check from the crown upward on the one that's got the yellowing leaves to look for any signs of physical damage. It doesn't look like mite damage as they usually start from the bottom and work their damage up the vines creating what's termed 'bronzing' https://www.google.com/search?q=mit...cK8TDggSFuoPwBw&ved=0CCYQsAQ&biw=1427&bih=824 which will generally create an 'off' color on the leaves which tends to become a bronze color compared to the unaffected ones higher on the vine. Sorry, but it's really hard to determine things like this without actually being on site to see first hand.

Thanks B-Hoppy, I didn't see any issues at the base of the bines...everything seems normal. I haven't seen but a few mites and I haven't seen any aphids or japanese beatles yet.

It could be a fungal infection causing the yellowing. If it is spider mites, You could do as I used to with aphids & mites. I went to the local garden center & bought some lady bugs. They love eating aphids & spider mites. Just pour them onto the affected plants, & they'll gorge themselves on the lil suckers. They also have chemicals to spray on the plants for various fungal infections. I'd show them the pics & find out what they think it could be.

Thanks unionrdr,

I did start using Neem oil spray in case of pests or fungus. I've used it twice now and have also added some miracle gro to see if there's a deficiency of some kind.


I'm getting new leaves coming in and some laterals coming off, so the vines aren't in complete decline...they are definitely still growing, maybe another 6" the past couple of days with more leaf starts.

 

[dilbone]

I've been checking over my hops every day and several times a day...such is the life of a teacher off for the summer...I digress...

I went out today to check them over and lo and behold what do I see????


There were 2 of them that I saw. I had to go inside and look them up because they don't look like the traditional 7 spotted lady bug most of us picture in our minds but they are indeed a "spotted lady beetle" as they're called. They were literally walking around on every leaf underside and topside from the bottom and moving up the plant. I was stoked to see them, but I don't know how long they'll stick around.

The plants are looking better. The leaves that were already yellowing and brown are slowly continuing down that course, but the the new growth, side shoots, and new lower leaves are all looking good. We'll see, I'll keep up with the Neem oil, miracle grow, and checking for pests and see where it goes.

 

[dilbone]

After a couple treatments of Neem oil and a couple applications of miracle gro It seemed the discoloration and drying up of leaves quit. I've since used a little urine as a natural nitrogen source as I'm a little uneasy about using miracle gro...some probably think that sounds sick but urine is a fine fertilizer...just make sure you water it down plenty so as not to burn it out. Anyway... It's been growing leaves back on the bottom few feet of the vines and sending out laterals in the same area that I've been chopping off like crazy.


I've still been going out and checking it regularly. I did see 2 japanese beetles the other day that I knocked off with only some minor damage done. There are spider webs in several spots but decided I'd leave those for now and that maybe they'll catch other bugs that are "issues." The flowers are even starting to look like cones...I'm pretty stoked to see my 2nd year plant looking so good. I was probably a bit too paranoid before, but I think I'll know what to look for and make sure I get the nitrogen and Neem oil going earlier next year.

 

[B-Hoppy]

I've been 'side-dressing' at full strength for . . . ever. One of the best slow release forms of N around! Recycled hops?

 

[dilbone]

I've been 'side-dressing' at full strength for . . . ever. One of the best slow release forms of N around! Recycled hops?

"side-dressing" I love it...

recycled hops