Hop Growing For Beginners, Tips And Traps

[chillamacgilla73]

Cheers for the info Brauluver. I am basically an organic gardener that uses chems as a last resort. The little buggers(Tiny -smaller than a grain of sand) sat on the underside of the leaves and spun very fine loose, as in not many threads, webs. The upper leaf surface became speckled and died from the tip back to the petiole.

I might look into getting some predatory mites as the nasty mites also eat my raspberries canes at a similar time of the year. I will investigate further and post results.
Cheers

 

[Justin]

Ah, interesting info there Boots. Nice work. I might go look for that podcast just for interest to see what they say. I did only prune them from recommendation from a commercial hop farmer that gave me the hop rhizome, so obviously his advice was in regard to commercial practice but it obviously never hurt them.

I might let mine grow this year without pruning then and see what happens. It kind of scared me last time when I saw the amount of shoots and thought if they all grow like the normal 3 or 4 bines I stood a good chance to lose my garden to an over grown hop plant.

Cheers mate, and good advice. Let me know how they go.
Justin

 

[dickTed]

In it's first season it will only produce a few skinny vines, and not many flowers - if any at all. This is when it needs TLC.

Second season is a different matter.

 

[Batz]

I use lots of cow manure,compost and then mulch around it.
I am ready to plant next week,we plant by the moon here :blink:
Sorry Hinterlands showing through ..

Batz h34r:

 

[Justin]

A few snail pellets don't go astray either. They love the new shoots.

The irony is that their love for beer is also their undoing.

A plate of beer and they are done for if you don't like the idea of pellets.

 

[lochrockingbeers]

I had some minor probs with two spotted mite (look closely on their back and you will see the 2 dark spots) in my first growing season when they were in pots. The two spotted mites attacked only the hops and weren't interested in other available host plants growing in the garden nearby like tomatos, beans etc. I put it down to plant stress as pots are far from ideal for growing hops especially during a hot summer. Since the hops have moved from pots into the ground they have had no 2 spotted mite probs.

2 spotted mite and other spider mites are known to flare up after the use of insecticides that cause a broad spectrum kill (i.e. kill more or less everything) so that's another thing to avoid.

The easiest, cheapest and most effective method to kill mites is to spray wettable sulfur, which can be obtained from hardware or garden stores. Sulfur finely misted over the entire plant (esp. under the leaves) a few times should knock the mites back. Wettable sulfur is still an allowable control method for organic growers but this may change in the near future. Try to avoid using lime sulfur as it is highly toxic to beneficial predatory insects and mites. Don't use oils as they're likely to cause leaf burn in the middle of summer.

Hope this helps.
Lochy

 

[chillamacgilla73]

I had some minor probs with two spotted mite (look closely on their back and you will see the 2 dark spots) in my first growing season when they were in pots. The two spotted mites attacked only the hops and weren't interested in other available host plants growing in the garden nearby like tomatos, beans etc. I put it down to plant stress as pots are far from ideal for growing hops especially during a hot summer. Since the hops have moved from pots into the ground they have had no 2 spotted mite probs.

2 spotted mite and other spider mites are known to flare up after the use of insecticides that cause a broad spectrum kill (i.e. kill more or less everything) so that's another thing to avoid.

The easiest, cheapest and most effective method to kill mites is to spray wettable sulfur, which can be obtained from hardware or garden stores. Sulfur finely misted over the entire plant (esp. under the leaves) a few times should knock the mites back. Wettable sulfur is still an allowable control method for organic growers but this may change in the near future. Try to avoid using lime sulfur as it is highly toxic to beneficial predatory insects and mites. Don't use oils as they're likely to cause leaf burn in the middle of summer.

Hope this helps.
Lochy

Fantastic news there Lochy. I will try the wettable sulfur and have noticed increases in spider mite population on the raspberries after I spray for caterpillars with Success(Insecticide from a Bacterial toxin).

I have just received an email from an entomologist(Bug dude) at a bug supply company and the details are as follows:
* Typhlodromus occidentalis is a predatory mite that goes after spider mites, particularly two spotted mites.
* costs $55 for a half bucket and $95 for a full bucket + Shipping
* 1 bucket contains 10,000 mites
* Best to release the predators at first sign of spider mite infestation.

I am waiting for details regarding bucket coverage and if splitting a bucket would be feasible and also shipping costs to Perth.

Me thinks wettable sulfur will tie me over for now but will weigh up options if the critters attack.

Cheers

EDIT - dodgey grammar repairs.....

 

[lochrockingbeers]

Success is specific to caterpillars so it shouldn't lead to outbreaks in mites - more your fast knockdown general purpose insecticides are the problem. I guess you'll have to weigh up the costs of predatory mites and whether they'll stick around in numbers. A release one season may give control but will they give you repeat control in subsequent seasons? Not that I'm knocking any beneficial bug companies or entomologists as I'm one too. But if you have a mite problem on a small scale (i.e. a small area or number of plants), a couple of wettable sulfur sprays should do the trick. If you do try a natural enemy release don't also use sulfur as they're not compatible.

 

[Chris]

Wow thanks guys,

Wealth of info.

Was also thinking if all goes well I might strike some cuttings and see if any other sa hop growers wanna trade.

Any other tips?

Cheers

 

[bindi]

you could plant some flowers or tomatoes near your plant. These attract lady bugs/birds that eat mites/aphids and the likes.
[/quote]


Thanks for the tip as I know SFA about plants I put them in the ground near the Tomatoes and herbs my wife grows today, you never know I my fluke it with Goldings and Chinook .

 

[AngelTearsOnMyTongue]

Well I got My mt Hood and Chinook Rhizomes from Tassie today (Thanks Stewart. Great service). Sitting in a box on the doorstep when I got home from work.

Went out into the garden after dinner and the kids in bed and turned over the Veggie garden that I have been composting over winter.

Chucked one in at each end.

So thats good. Its now ready for some other plants as well, although I would like to give the hops a bit of a head start.

Now mites may or may not be a problem in melbourne, but I just spent the last couple of hours erected a buried base fence around the garden to keep my arch enemy "the bunny" out. <_<

Now my patience has been streched pretty thin over the last six months by that little %#@&$% but if he dares to lay one tooth on those hops he may go to the big farm up the country for a holiday.......and we may just have a lovely curry one night. Maybe a Butter.......lapin or lapin Vindaloo. I reckon I could enjoy that with a couple of cold brews following it down. http://www.bowhunting.net/susieq/rabbit.html

I think I may just add a little electric fence to this setup too. Now where could I get one of them.

Do Possums like hops. Reckon they probably do. :angry:

ATOMT