Hop Plants Leaves not looking healthy - Help please...

[Shanta]

Hi fellow AHB's,

I've recently had a go at growing my own hops with success so far. I only planted them in the ground about a few months ago and are now well above my head in height!

I have 2 types growing; Pride of Ringwood & Goldings. The Pride of Ringwood is going well with no sign of illness apart from its not growing as fast as the Goldings.
However the Goldings have showed signed of insect activity on the leaves, Discoloration on some leaves, Some leaves are curling inwards and others are brown around the edges. So far I have only cut off the leaves that looked ill to stop the energy being wasted to that part of the plant.

Attached are some photos of what I have described, any advice would be great as the locals at Bunnings and Flower Power could only help me out with the insect activity side of things.

cheers

 

[Camo6]

They don't look too bad from my phone Shanta. Are they in pots or the ground? Have you fertilised? Where are you located? (on mobile).
I'm in melbourne and my goldings and cascade which get full sun have slowed up a bit with similar browning on older leaves but I'm not too stressed. My chinook however, which is in partial sun, is going gangbusters and is growing back up itself with still no laterals.

 

[law-of-ohms]

Could be weather related, take a pic of the other side of the leaf.

 

[Shanta]

Hi Camo6,

Thanks for the speedy reply. They are planted in the ground and used a mixture of blood and bone with potting mix to plant them. Im located in Sydney and thankfully the backyard get full sun.
I guess the last picture is the one of greater concern as the lady from Flower Power thought it might be a virus but she was very unsure as she hadn't seen anything like it before.

 

[Shanta]

Could be weather related, take a pic of the other side of the leaf.

Ok will do this evening and will post it up.

 

[Camo6]

If there's only a few leaves like that it wouldn't hurt to cut them off and dispose of them just in case. Can't really help with that one, sorry.

 

[Mr. No-Tip]

I've seen both of those markings on my hops. Doesn't seem to affect the harvest too much.

The spider mites which are all over mine at the moment are killing them, unfortunately. Would be worth checking you don't have them (look for webs under the leaves).

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I wouldn't worry about the browning on the outer edge of the leaves but the mottled leaf looks like Mosaic virus.

 

[Shanta]

I wouldn't worry about the browning on the outer edge of the leaves but the mottled leaf looks like Mosaic virus.

Any thoughts and options on how to combat this virus in a natural way?

 

[brad81]

Shanta, I had leaves similar to what you have pictured when I got back from a weeks camping just before Christmas (few hot days down here).

I removed the dead/dying leaves and bines, gave it some more fertiliser and been watering them daily since. New bines have appeared and all appears to be healthy. No re-occurrence so far. Mine are in pots, with thick straw mulch, a little bit of slow release fertiliser and blood and bone.

I hope to get a harvest this year, I got nothing last year. Good luck!

 

[Shanta]

Shanta, I had leaves similar to what you have pictured when I got back from a weeks camping just before Christmas (few hot days down here).

I removed the dead/dying leaves and bines, gave it some more fertiliser and been watering them daily since. New bines have appeared and all appears to be healthy. No re-occurrence so far. Mine are in pots, with thick straw mulch, a little bit of slow release fertiliser and blood and bone.

I hope to get a harvest this year, I got nothing last year. Good luck!

Thanks! Good to hear there is still hope. What type of fertiliser did you use?

 

[Sam England]

I thought mosaic virus only affected cucumbers, squash, melons etc, but I could be wrong. If hops do get it there's not much you can do about it except pull the affected ones out, but I'd do some research first. I get a similar edge issue on my hop leaves where they bang into each other in the wind. I also had the tops cooked out of 3 of my 5 varieties on a 43 deg day even with the soil moist and some of the less roasted leaves went a bit crinkly around the edges. I wouldn't worry about it too much and just keep them moist and relatively well fertilised.
Cheers,
BB

EDIT: Should have googled first - There is a hop mosaic virus as well as the mosaic virus that affects cucumbers etc. Not sure if what you've got looks exactly like the images, but I'll leave hop advice to the better informed from now on!!

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I'm a C/Sativa man myself but there is no remedy for Mosaic virus, I would leave it a while longer if it still growing see what happens, in C/Sativa the buds of the plant don't produce any resins making it useless.

 

[brad81]

Thanks! Good to hear there is still hope. What type of fertiliser did you use?

No worries.

There is an all purpose one at Bunnings, Osmocote - blue tub, it was a little more expensive than the others, but I couldn't match the descriptions to our collective purpose. So a sprinkle of that (once so far this year) and a light sprinkle of blood and bone once a month.

They look healthy, but as I said before, I haven't had any hops yet!!

 

[Aces High]

The yellowing leaves in citrus usually indicates lack of nitrogen. I would be guessing it was the same in the hops. My plant was looking a bit average in the early days and then I started using manure tea. Basically a bag of fresh horse poo in a 200L barrel filled up with water. I then mix this down to a 10 to 1 mix with water and put it on once a week.

The first week I did this I had about 5 new bines shoot up out of the ground (id previously cut down all of all except 3 main bines) its continued to thrive and throw up new bines and now is covered with cones and there is almost no bad looking leaves on it at all.

I would say yours is a nutrient problem. Maybe try something like a seasol & powerfeed mix and plenty of water