[tonyccopeland]

I'm on my third year learning how to grow hops and have encountered a yellowing of some leaves on my cenntinel.


I have been using my fingers to keep tabs on the soil moisture and used blood and bone at the beginning of the season.  I am wondering if i need to add more nutrients or change the amount of water.  Also been using neem oil to slow little critter damage.  Any ideas on the cause?  Here's my setup the cenntinel is in the left barrel.


My plants were mamed by bettles last year, just want to get ahead of problems this year.  Thanks in advance.

[pete b]

It doesn't look like a fungal disease to me. My guess, especially since they are in containers, is that it is a nutrient deficiency. I would give them a balanced organic fertilizer regularly and make sure they are well watered. Also make sure there is as much soil as possible and that they are not mulched with wood chips or other non-composted organic materials.

[reverseapachemaster]

Check around for spider mites. When they start attacking plants the first sign is yellow stippling on the leaves. It looks like a deficiency or disease at first.

[hopfenundmalz]

Could ba a magnesium deficiency.

[S. cerevisiae]

Has your area experienced wildly fluctuating temperatures? 

[tonyccopeland]

We have had 10 to 15 degree temperature swings here in Raleigh NC every 3 or 4 days over the past month.  Is epsom salt the best way to add a little magnesium?   I searched this evening and couldn't find any spider mite webs.  Thank you for the advice.

[hopfenundmalz]

We have had 10 to 15 degree temperature swings here in Raleigh NC every 3 or 4 days over the past month.  Is epsom salt the best way to add a little magnesium?   I searched this evening and couldn't find any spider mite webs.  Thank you for the advice.

When I had yellow leaves I dissolved Epsom salt in water. Forget the ratio, a couple of tsp in 5 gallons sprinkled on about 5 plant. It seemed to help, but could have been due to another variable.

[S. cerevisiae]

The reason why I asked is because I have been experiencing slow growth and the same kind yellowing.  The day and nighttime temperatures here have been swinging wildly enough the I am positive that my hop hills cannot decide if it is spring, summer, fall, or winter.  I believe that Lynn Kemme mentioned something about hops turning yellow when the temperature goes from being unseasonably hot for a few days followed by unseasonably cold for a few days in a cyclic pattern, which is what we have experienced over the last month.

With that said, I tried NPK and mineral additions with no joy.  The only thing that has helped has been the warm weather for the last few days.  I believe that the problem may be soil temperature related.

[hopfenundmalz]

Several minerals, if deficient, will result in yellow leaves. If you have put on NPK, add some Mg.
http://customers.hbci.com/~wenonah/min-def/hops.htm

[Phil_M]

Mark, I've been seeing daily temp swings of about ±15º as well, and so far don't have any yellow leaves…plus my hops are in planters, I'd imagine they're more sensitive to temperature changes than ones in the ground.

[S. cerevisiae]

Phil,  I believe that you mentioned that you live in far Southern Maryland.  If so, we are in different hardiness zones.  The weather has been crazy. Instead of the slow and steady rise in ground temperature that we see in April and May, we have had sustained periods where the low temperature at the night was just above freezing followed by short periods of hot and hazy weather during the last 30 days or so.  I knocked my mature plants back around the time that this crazy weather pattern hit.   

[S. cerevisiae]

Several minerals, if deficient, will result in yellow leaves. If you have put on NPK, add some Mg.
http://customers.hbci.com/~wenonah/min-def/hops.htm

I added Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, and Zn in addition to NPK in this year.

[hopfenundmalz]

Several minerals, if deficient, will result in yellow leaves. If you have put on NPK, add some Mg.
http://customers.hbci.com/~wenonah/min-def/hops.htm

I added Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, and Zn in addition to NPK in this year.

your soil must be worse than mine!

[b-hoppy]

It's hard getting a good idea of the amount of yellowing from the pictures but the individual leaf shown may just be a fluke as the discoloration appears somewhat random.  Your fertility looks to be good as the dark green grass at the base of the pots suggests a little N leaching (possibly). 

Here's a pretty good resource for hop problems with nutrient deficiencies shown near the end: http://ipm.wsu.edu/field/pdf/hophandbook2009.pdf . 

We've had spells of about a week here and there where the daytime temps would reach 70-75F and nights down as low as 30F.  This brought growth to a standstill and did cause some of the new growth near the tips to discolor somewhat but the recent increase in temps have things back on track.  Every year brings new issues!

[Phil_M]

Phil,  I believe that you mentioned that you live in far Southern Maryland.  If so, we are in different hardiness zones.  The weather has been crazy. Instead of the slow and steady rise in ground temperature that we see in April and May, we have had sustained periods where the low temperature at the night was just above freezing followed by short periods of hot and hazy weather during the last 30 days or so.  I knocked my mature plants back around the time that this crazy weather pattern hit.

Yeah, we went from highs in the mid 80's followed by a night in the low 50's. Really weird spring so far, seems we're running about a month behind down here.