Disastrous Hop Year

[Uzannesay]

I'm not sure what to do so I'm posting here. I have about 20 hops plants, all different varieties. This is my second growing year for some and 1st for the others. Last year I did so well. This year not so much. First, I had a slug infestation. Next japanese beetles(I think) now aphids and all the while I was having issues with my hops browning on the bine before it was ripe. Now I'm harvesting what little can be harvested and after googling, I think my hops have a fungal infection some with Alternaria alternata and some with Podosphaera macularis. Can I use the hops that have the fungal infections? I've read that there is nothing you can do about Alternata? What about Podosphaera? Lastly... the aphids. Obviously, since I'm harvesting what I can it's too late for Lady bugs.. but what the heck do I do!? So frustrating. Any guidance or experiences would be appreciated.

 

[khannon]

Subscribing to the thread because I had some of the same here in Western MA.

 

[Ruint]

I would agree that this year was not a stellar year for hops growing, at least where I am in the North East. It's not evident where you are located. It was a year that was favorable for downy mildew, leaf hoppers, and definitely Japanese beetles. Altarneria showed up also. All of those can be com-batted, if caught early enough in the season. Being that this is now considered to be late season, if you are leaving your plants up to let them gather and store more energy in the crown for next growing season, you should probably apply some chemicals to stop the predators from destroying more of your plants. Obviously, don't apply to plants that you have not harvested yet and intend on harvesting. Wet-able copper for fungicide and wet-able sulfur for insecticide/fungicide, but care is needed for this because it can burn your plants as well.

 

[Uzannesay]

Thanks so much for the advice. I'm located in Northern Virginia just east of West Virginia in the Shenandoahs. I used beer traps for the slugs and that seemed to cut them down but I had nothing for the rest of the problems. I plan on ordering some lady bugs for the aphids right now. Do you have any suggestions for use for the fungicide? Should I use something like Dr. Bronner's or should I use something more hardcore? Or should I skip that and just go to the wet-able copper or wet-able sulfur? A few websites say there is nothing you can do for the Alternaria. Are these hops still usable? or is this crop a wash? I've already cut the bines that are even remotely usable from the second year and I had very little production from the first years due to a rookie mistake with my armature. I have a very small yield from them.

 

[Brizzo]

Agreed terrible hop growing year. Not a lot of sun- I had leaf hoppers like you can't even begin to imagine and even spraying them couldn't touch them. I still ended up with 2.3 lbs between 10 plants.

It's part of the fun of gardening is waiting until next year and trying again

 

[bleme]

Thanks so much for the advice. I'm located in Northern Virginia just east of West Virginia in the Shenandoahs. I used beer traps for the slugs

Off topic, but I read "I used bear traps for the slugs" and thought 'that seems like over-kill...'

 

[HomeDrewBrew]

I harvested about 1 1/2lbs of wet Centennial hops from i guess a 4yr well established plant and with having no problems at all with last years harvest of cones this year's looked off.
They had bad mildew on them (dark grey/black) and tons of ants on them as well which ive never noticed in the past but i also noticed since harvested and drying them on a clothes drying rack which is an awesome way to dry if i must say so,this is the aftermath of it.

Im in Southern Ontario Canada.

Thanks

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[Jonas217]

This was also a disastrous year for me in Massachusetts. I have a couple dozen Cascade plants that have produced pounds of cones every year with out fail. Thanks to the miserable weather this year there are only 6 undersized cones total.

 

[NothingRhymesWithCurtiss]

Good to hear that others had crap yields this year.

My two Cascade plants are on their third year and I got just under 2.5oz of hops.

My three Chinook plants, that came from rhizomes that I planted this spring, produced a single cone each.

 

[bucketnative]

They had bad mildew on them (dark grey/black) and tons of ants on them as well

Those aren't ants...

aphids.

 

[HomeDrewBrew]

No their was ants on the outside of them cause their was mildew on them and the aphids were deep inside.

 

[HopHeavy]

No their was ants on the outside of them cause their was mildew on them and the aphids were deep inside.

I look hard for aphids if I see ants climbing anything like tomatoes or squash. If the ants are more than a few inches from the ground, they probably aren't lost. They might be farming... aphids. If this is the case you could find lady bugs aren't much help. Insecticidal soap, every week, should get it under control.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43id_NRajDo[/ame]

 

[ba-brewer]

Ants will sometime protect aphids so they can harvest the sap that comes from aphid damage.