Hello! Russ here in Orlando. I've been growing hops in pots here for the last 3 years. My experience has been mixed so far. The first year growing them was by far the best, but now they are struggling. Hopefully my experience will help others who might run into the same problems.
Spider Mite Infestations: These tiny jerks come back every year. I've moved to a new house, and they seem to be less of a problem here. The first and second years were the worst infestations. The only thing I've found that consistently knocks them back is neem oil. I tried lady bugs and they didn't do much to help with spider mites. I also had a pepper plant with aphids, and the lady bugs took care of that in a few days. After that they must have lost interest in my yard and moved on. My advice for using neem oil is to dilute it per instructions, and spray it in the morning so that it has time to dry. Make sure you get all surfaces around the hops, especially ones that are hidden from the sun, since that's where the eggs will be. I also spray down the soil, sides of the pots, trellis, and anything else nearby.
Caterpillars: I've only had caterpillars attack once, and spinosad took care of them right away. Unfortunately spinosad didn't work for spider mites. I think it's because they suck the chlorophyll from the leaves instead of eating the surface, so they don't really ingest much of it.
Vernalization: This year I dug up all my rhizomes and kept them in my fermentation fridge at 55 degrees for 6 weeks in an attempt to vernalize them. At the end of February, I prepped the soil by mixing in decent amount of mushroom compost and re-planted them. They're growing, but just not very well. I think the soil is mostly to blame. I've started fertilizing them with 6-4-6 Citrus & Avocado fertilizer, so hopefully that will help. If they survive this year, I'll mix in fresh compost, and maybe get a soil test kit so I can make some informed adjustments.
Does anyone have recommendations on how often and how much to fertilize Hops?
