My Hops Arrived!

[boingy]

I have to say those Prima Donna plants from tomatoseedsuk look and sound like unhealthy plants to me. I think I'd be demanding a replacement or a refund sooner rather than later.

[L2wis]

I've now wrapped my first gold around one of my strings and it doesn't seem to have deteriorated any further. We some sort of plant expert to tell us what is wrong with them.

[L2wis]

it gets worse... I googled hops diseases and found this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hop_diseases

No pics but it sounds like our plants might be suffering from: Powdery mildew -phaerotheca macularis = Sphaerotheca humuli

I'll keep researching but it doesn't look good.

Found a pic of this disease on a strawberry plant:


It certainly looks like what was on the leaves of my plant.

Found a paper on the disease written specifically for hops here: http://ddr.nal.usda.gov/bitstream/10113 ... 806030.pdf
The following is a snippet from the paper:

Secondary spread (conidial infection that occurs after pruning but before
training) appears to be strongly correlated to the quality of pruning (5). Pruning
is a practice Washington growers use to coordinate harvest dates. Pruning
involves the removal of early spring shoot growth, either by chemical or
mechanical means, in order to favor later shoot growth. Field observations and
preliminary studies suggest that if all green plant material is removed with
pruning and a fungicide program is initiated when 15 to 30 cm of regrowth in
50% of the hills is present, then fall or early spring crowning in Washington was
not needed. Demonstration plots in 2002 indicate that this practice results in
reduced secondary spread with a potential savings of $148 to $296/ha
depending on the method of pruning and irrigation.

Another shorter page: http://www.lanfruit.co.uk/diagnostics/pm/hop/

My plants today -
Golden tassles:

Prima Donna:


This pic is the plants on the day I received them - 6th of April.


Useful snippet from another website here: http://www.brewsreporter.com/hop-growing-at-home/

4. Powdery mildew has been a big problem for hop producers in the Northeast. What does it look like and how can it be controlled?
Powdery mildew is the primary reason that hops production moved west! This disease thrives in high-humidity, low light areas with minimal circulation. Early signs of powdery mildew include white powdery patches on the surface of the leaf. Burrs that become infected do not produce cones and cones infections may have a red tinge. The disease spores spreads easily from plant to plant through rain and wind.

The key to controlling powdery mildew is good sanitation practices in the hopyard. Remove and destroy severely infected plants. Make sure that the yard has good air circulation. Removing leaves from the bottom of the bines can help removed diseased leaves and improve air movement in the yard. Planting resistant varieties will also help minimize disease infection and spread. Resistant varieties include Cascade, Fungicides can also be used control powdery mildew. Application of fungicides should occur when the first powdery mildew spots are observed. Significant yield and quality losses can be observed if powdery mildew is able to infect burrs and cones.

[L2wis]

Last update for tonight, bbc says: http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/advice/p ... ery_mildew

Don't give susceptible plants too much nitrogen-rich fertiliser because this encourages sappy growth which is more susceptible to fungi.

I know I gave my hops a nice dose of miracle grow after i potted them in the raised bed, i'll check my pics to see if there were any signs before as it may highlight what has caused this (for me atleast)

On the BBC site it says you can treat powdery mildew with certain chemicals. Check out the link for more info.#

UPDATE: Checked my pics, Golden Tassles used to be 100% fine, but the Prima Donna was already looking ropey at the bottom when planted into the raised border, so the fertilizer didnt effect it but it certainly looks like the prima donna infected the golden tassles.

Just hope my Clematis near by is safe!

[boingy]

The thing is, that hop on the left in you "day they arrived" pic is already showing the symptoms. So they sent you a duff plant.
The hops have to cope with our inexperienced gardening hands but we should at least get the chance to start with a healthy plant.

[L2wis]

Fair comment boingy, I've had a useful email from TomatoSeedsUK:

Hi Lewis,

Try treating with either a shop spray or even try common Sodium Bi-carbonate (baking soda) as this has anti fungal properties too. Do this before more radical cutting back. To answer your question if you have bad infection then cut the bines right back and allow new ones to grow.

See this link for a home made recipe with baking soda:
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Plant-Diseas ... r-rose.htm

It talks about mildew on roses but the principle is the same. Don't make it too strong or it will burn the leaves, the recipe shown is fine to start with, the oil acts as a wetting agent.

To make you and any of your forum friends feel better please see the attached picture from my
"Hopspital Ward" these little darlings suffered bad mildew and were cut back about a fortnight or so ago to nothing, see the new growth!
Totally infection free.
You must persevere though as the root system will be growing and spreading even if you get put back some this year . Hops respond well to good TLC and although disappointing you are having a great learning curve. All hop growers encounter this at some stage. Many new growers throw perfectly good plants away because they assume that they are dead. This is my experience Lewis.

Hope it helps.

Warm Regards

Andy

And here is the pic he attached

[symptomlesscoma]

The last leaf off mine curled up and died the start of last week so as per instruction from tomatoseedsuk I cut it back to the ground to get it going again. So far nothing.
How realistic is it this will happen? And how long should I wait before asking for a replacement?

[L2wis]

Humm no idea to be honest, but do update back here on the progress! Mine might also be getting chopped soon too.

[scuppeteer]

Hang in there, hops are tougher than most people think.
I think powdery (downy) mildew is an air born disease, so your hops may or may not have been infected before you got them.
I will try and ask the professionals for you tomorrow and report back.

[fatnurse]

"@fatnurse: did you find some pics to upload to cheer us all up?"

Sorry I've been crap lately, will, sort some pics out soon, all the rain has sent my hops bonkers with growth, also my fuggles rhizome I got off ebay have started leaving up

[fatnurse]

Ok, I sorted some pics out just,


First up, the Cascade:



And First Gold:



Challenger:



And the Fuggles just starting out:

[L2wis]

Wow they really do look lovely and healthy! Outta interest how much did you pay for yours?

[fatnurse]

About £30 all in, I have another 2 Fuggles rhizomes that have yet to get going, fingers crossed they will.

I got the big plants from fatcontro11er on here, top bloke he is, maybe send him a PM?

[scuppeteer]

Hey guys,
I've asked the man that knows, you definitely have powdery mildew I'm afraid.

To treat it you need to get stuff called Nimrod (i've looked it up and it doesn't look too pleasant) but it should be available in good garden centres. Failing that something called Systhane (fungus fighter) (looks more user friendly) which you will find in all garden centres.

You need to spray it now and a few days later to kill off the infection but it can be used right up till the cones start to form (June - mid/end July).

You shouldn't have to cut the bine back to the ground if the leaves are treated properly, otherwise it won't grow as it's getting too late in the year now and you could also risk infecting the root as well.

If you think the root may be infected not much you can do until late in the year, then spray the ground with wetable sulphur (product called sulphur rose will do it), this will kill any spores laying dormant in the soil.

It may be disappointing for this year but at least next year if you have the same problem you will spot it early.

I hope this helps, good luck with them.

Just to cheer you up heres mine.


Left to right (Target, Target, Fuggles, Hedgerow) the Bramling X is round the corner.

[L2wis]

Ah okay, thanks for finding out all that info! I'll go looking for Systhane tomorrow.might they sell it in places like wilkinsons same focus? Nice pics of yours. Neither of mine look like they've grown at all in the last week or so . Hope this spray stuff does the trick.

Do you think it might be worth try the bicarbonate of soda idea first b4 bring a product?