Hop Plants

[Powhatan]

Any good suggestions for keeping the bugs away? I'm starting to see signs of the leaves being eaten and need to apply some protection. (If it applies to grape vines - all the better!)

[HogieWan]

I'm finding holes on my leaves too

[corkybstewart]

If you don't have any cones starting you can use Sevin dust, but once you get cones there's not much that can be done. Just keep feeding them and hope they grow leaves faster than the critters can eat them.

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by corkybstewart
Just keep feeding them and hope they grow leaves faster than the critters can eat them.

that's why I haven't worried about them - no cones yet, but they are growing like mad so I figured they were fine.

[CampAjohn]

If they are aphids you can mix a light detergent and water solution in a spray bottle and hit them with that.

[hicks107]

I have some insecticidal soap that claims to be good for fruit and vegetables, probably assuming that you wash them fist. I dont know if I would want to spray this on my cones. Maybe the rain would wash the soap off before the harvest?

Comments??

[corkybstewart]

I wouldn't count on the rain washing soap off the cones. I had a few bugs eating cones last year and I just didn't use them, but it really wasn't an infestation.

[Powhatan]

I'm mainly concerned with the Japanese beetles we have around here... they'll eat a plant down to a nub.

I am hoping that the plants can get well enough established before they show up. I may just go ahead and apply insecticide and not worry about using the cones for the first year or so.

[CampAjohn]

I have used a pyrethrin based insecticide successfully on root weevils, which look a bit like beetles. This is a plant-based insecticide so not as nasty as the petro-chemical ones. The one I buy is under the Spectracide brand name.

[Vienna Lager]

Go to the local Lowe's/Home Despot store and get some 'Home Orchard' spray or powder. About a tablespoon or two of the powder mixed into about a gallon of water in a sprayer works fine. You can spray about a week or so before harvest and still be safe but suggest reading the back label just to be sure.