Hop Growing 2015

[NOZ]

Wales - anything is possible after a pint of two gallon stout - the hard bit was moving the sky hahah.

Monkeybrew - could be some sort of fungal thing? Im sure ive read about this somewhere.
I will have a look on the leaflet i got from Willingham Nurseries.

[BenB]

My plants are suddenly being attacked by cabbage white caterpillars! About 30 of the little buggers on the plants.

[NOZ]

Mine had the caterpillars also! I think the infestation of lady bugs/lavae and eggs has scared them off - is it all the plants that have been affected? My fuggle and Golding has no pests or ladybugs, the rest were infested with aphids (cascade and chinook)

[Monkeybrew]

Mine had the caterpillars also! I think the infestation of lady bugs/lavae and eggs has scared them off - is it all the plants that have been affected? My fuggle and Golding has no pests or ladybugs, the rest were infested with aphids (cascade and chinook)

That's nature trying to kill off foreign invaders.

Cheers

MB

[BenB]

For me it was a pretty even spread- more on the non fuggles but the fuggles are struggling behind the other hops and look like a measly meal compared to the EKG which are romping away with loads of leaves which got mullered!

[Monkeybrew]

Here's what my rusty leaves look like.

Any ideas on what this is?



Cheers

MB

[tourer]

My Perle and East Kent have been devastated by greenfly, but the ladybirds are proliferating. I saw some weird looking insects on the leaves it turns out they are ladybird babies . Anybody know if ladybirds hang around until next year?

[BenB]

Hope it's not. But early vermicullum wilt springs to mind.....

[laithclark]

I'm growing Styrian Goldings, first crop this year and have some nice little buds growing now and it looks like I will get a little harvest this year.

I have treated mine with Rose bug killer a couple of times to kill off black and green fly which seems to have done the trick.

I have a recipe question, I want to use my hops in a nice pale ale so I have a good base and will use the Styrians as aroma but any thoughts on what hops and yeast to accompany them? I have Yeast 1469 and WLP 060 in already which I use in all my brews so likely I would use one of those.

All thoughts and recommendations welcome!

Thanks

[NOZ]

Ive got some 1469 yeast ready for my fuggle and goldings.
Ive used it twice before and really like it - i would deffo consider it as first option BUT ive never used 060 so couldnt comment.
I think 1469 is the Timothy Taylor yeast and im sure Styrian goldings are one of the hops in their recipe.

[johnmac]

What's happened to my hops? The plants are about 5 years old and have always done really well. 5 English varieties, in different areas of the garden with some variety of soil type. Fed with tomato food and watered when needed. They were doing well until about 6 weeks ago, when all growth stopped and they went tatty looking. The bracts have formed, but they're still the size of a match head.

[laithclark]

Ive got some 1469 yeast ready for my fuggle and goldings.
Ive used it twice before and really like it - i would deffo consider it as first option BUT ive never used 060 so couldnt comment.
I think 1469 is the Timothy Taylor yeast and im sure Styrian goldings are one of the hops in their recipe.

Yes TT landlord definitely has styrians in its a recipe I'm always working on and refining - v6 is next up and it's a v good comparison that I will share post this brew! And I am. Thinking about using my own in the TTL clone but thought I might do something different

[jmc]

What's happened to my hops? The plants are about 5 years old and have always done really well. 5 English varieties, in different areas of the garden with some variety of soil type. Fed with tomato food and watered when needed. They were doing well until about 6 weeks ago, when all growth stopped and they went tatty looking. The bracts have formed, but they're still the size of a match head.


...

mine are the same. They were nearly destroyed by aphids, then regrowth after ladybirds arrived, now going multicoloured like a horse chestnut tree with a virus

[johnmac]

I'm thinking it's Verticillium Wilt - not sure though???

[andyCo]

What's happened to my hops? The plants are about 5 years old and have always done really well. 5 English varieties, in different areas of the garden with some variety of soil type. Fed with tomato food and watered when needed. They were doing well until about 6 weeks ago, when all growth stopped and they went tatty looking. The bracts have formed, but they're still the size of a match head.

I'm going to take an uneducated guess.
My hops were smashed by aphids this year, sazz, cascade,northernbrewer, challenger and golden tassels , I collected laybirds and they got to work .
I removed most of aphid damaged leaves that I could reach and since the ladybirds have done there stuff all is well with my hops, new healthy growth.
My sazz got off to a real flyer this year and has been 5m plus for months , the upper most leaves that I could not remove look identical to your pictures so my guess is that aphids have damaged the leaves when sucking the sap from them and the leaves have never recovered.

My cascade plant sneaks into my greenhouse through the automatic vented window, the vines that grow in the green house have pretty decent size cones already , the vines that are on the outside are still only burrs .

Early green hopped beer me thinks

Andy