3rd year plants

[Looper]

I have 8 plants (2x Centennial, 2x Cascade, 2x Chinook, a Willamette, and a Sterling).

All of this growth happened since May 1 (just under 6 weeks).

Does anyone know what the deal is with the yellowing and browning of the bottom leaves on a few of the plants?

I laid down some mulch and manure in the spring, and recently applied some fish emulsion. We have, however, been getting record-setting rains here in Chicago. I feel like this might be part of the reason for the discoloration.

Overall, I'm not too worried about the color of the leaves on the bottom of the plant. Should I be?

Everything else looks great. Sidearms are starting to grow like crazy.

Thanks for the help in advance!

 

[MoPhunk]

I had the same. I went through and pruned them to make sure the bottoms were getting enough airflow and it seemed to help

 

[HydroGeologist]

Your plants look good! The yellowing at the bottom is normal for when the bines reach the top and start growing sidearms. The plant is paying more attention to sidearm growth and starting cones. The yellow leaves will eventually fall off or you can prune them.

 

[Looper]

Good to know! That yellowish brown color kind of scared me at first, but I wasn't really too worried since the rest of the plants had huge dark green leaves.

Ill try pruning the bottoms!

Thanks

 

[dudasaj]

Once my bines are established I always prune back the bottom 4-6"... It makes weeding, watering and pruning new bines easier too

 

[Looper]

Hops are in their 7th (gasp) year now - holy cow! Have had some great harvests in the last several years. Last year I preened a lot of the network underground, and gave a ton of rhizomes away.

This year I decided to let the hops do their thing again.

Picture taken yesterday 4/25 in the suburbs of Chicago. Weather has been extremely mild all winter, with temperatures reaching into the 70's abnormally early in the year.

 

[thaymond]

Hops are in their 7th (gasp) year now - holy cow! Have had some great harvests in the last several years. Last year I preened a lot of the network underground, and gave a ton of rhizomes away.

This year I decided to let the hops do their thing again.

Picture taken yesterday 4/25 in the suburbs of Chicago. Weather has been extremely mild all winter, with temperatures reaching into the 70's abnormally early in the year.

Where are you in the burbs? Chicagoland has some interesting microclimates, so growing in the north burbs may give different outcomes that one would get in the city or south burbs. Weather and rain patterns also vary dramatically from Noth to south, and it seems I-88/90 corridors are the dividing lines. I'm southwest, near Plainfield, so it seems were aways hammered by rain and severe weather. I'm also getting great harvests and have a crop that outputs about a lb per plant each year. This will be year 4 for me.

View attachment 1493291505816.jpg

That's what I end up with from year to year. Any plans for expansion of your yard?

 

[ChicagoCharles]

Where are you in the burbs? Chicagoland has some interesting microclimates, so growing in the north burbs may give different outcomes that one would get in the city or south burbs. /QUOTE]

I live in Arlington Heights. I think a lot of it comes from soil - ours here is about half clay, which sucks for just about everything. They love water but with the clay drainage is problematic.


I pulled 12oz of Cascade (after drying) off of my six plants in year 3, after pretty much ignoring them. And my home-grown Cascade SMaSH ale is bottle-conditioning now .

 

[Looper]

Mine garden is in Glenview, less than 6 miles from the lake.

I don't have the room to expand, and I don't really have much reason to, to be honest - the yields are pretty plentiful as-is!

I basically started fresh with the soil - adding a bunch or different types of compost/manure and ground cover every year to replenish nutrients and volumes in the bed.

Not sure why my pictures are turning sideways when I upload them, but here goes nothing! These pictures were from like, 2013 or 2014.

 

[Looper]

Little update for those interested - all of the bines have reached the top of the 12' trellis and are putting out sidearms nicely. Trying to keep up with watering in this scorching weather in the Chicagoland area!