Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Growing Hops: Japanese Beetles

In a matter of 3 days my hops plants were being eaten alive by Japanese beetles. A few days ago I bought a trap, placed it away from the hops and shook the bines to get the beetles airborne. This would probably only work in the heat of the day when they are very active. By the end of the day the trap was loaded and the hops saved. Ahhhh...I feel better now.

Short story, we used to gather them up by hand when I was a kid. We would get a handful and throw them onto the surface of our pond. The bass would feed on them like mad. Unfortunately I don't have a pond where I live now :-(

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

So are you going to post a picture of a pond or of a beetle? I'm confused... :S

0:)

-Gav

Adam said...

Very funny. With commenters like you I don't need spammers!

Jonathan said...

Oh zing! Please do post a pic though... I'm getting a little anxious about my own hop plants. First year growing them and they are starting to turn yellow on the ends.

Bryan Kolesar said...

yeah, where's the picture??? zing, zing!!

Adam said...

I'm goin' to see if there's a beetle to be found...

Heeere beetle. Where aaarrre you?

Adam said...

Beetle found, picture taken and posted.

By the way the beetle trap bag is almost full. Soon it will be time to switch to the second bag.

Jonathan,

If they are turning yellow look for aphids. If you hit them gently with some water every evening that might knock them down enough. I usually remove any leaves that are more than 1/2 yellow. My theory is that it will promote growth in good parts of the plant.

Keep in mind I'm still learning. This is only year two for me.

Jonathan said...

Yes. I have yet to see a bug around them (and I know aphids are small). Do you water them every day? Mine get sun for the better part of the day, but I've only been watering every other day or so. I also read that it's best to water closer to the roots to prevent mold on the upper leaves. Any experience here?

Adam said...

I don't water mine everyday. Bryan (neighbor and cofounder) may hit the ones over the arbor more often.

Have you checked http://www.freshops.com/nutrient.html

That page hase some info and pictures of what might be wrong.

Jonathan said...

Sounds like a perfect neighbor... thanks for the site! That's exactly what I've been looking for.

Adam said...

You're welcome.

Yeah...Bryan is alright ;-)