UVM Blogs

Hello Hop Enthusiasts,

Our resident entomologist Scott Lewins will be conducting farm visits throughout the summer to scout hopyards for pests. If interested, please contact him at Scott.Lewins@uvm.edu. He is […]

Here is the link to the hops crowning video :

Crowning is used as an early season preventative measure against downy mildew.  In this video,  Dr. Heather Darby […]

Get on your IPM scouting hats — the forecasted weather over the next few days is prime for outbreaks of downy mildew! So, scout your hops plants and be prepared to treat them. For a reminder of downy mildew ID […]

Greetings Fellow Hoppers,

Now available is a 2013 Hops Production Diary. This booklet can be very helpful in tracking patterns and practices in your hopyard. It’s a great way to keep all your information in one […]

Greetings from the UVM Extension NW Crops and Soils team!

It’s that time of the year again. Our hop plants are officially up at the Borderview Research Farm in Alburgh, VT. If you haven’t already, now might be […]

Frost seeding can be a good option in Northeastern hopyards.  Establishing a solid intercrop can help keep down weedy species, and in the case of legumes, can add fertility to your soil.  Frost seeding should […]

Greetings,

We are excited to announce that the variety trial report developed from data collected in 2012 is now available!

It’s long, but there’s a lot of really good information in there, including yield […]

For those of you who missed the Northeast Hop Alliance bulk rhizome purchase, there are still quite a few options available. Our website maintains a list of sources from where you can purchase hop rhizomes. Here […]

Seats are filling up quickly for the 2013 UVM Extension Winter Hops Conference!  Don’t delay, this event usually sells out!  February 22nd will be a day jam-packed with hoppy information, you don’t want to miss […]

The love of hops is spreading like wild fire!  The University of Maryland Extension and the Maryland Chapter of the Northeast Hop Alliance are excited to announce their first annual hops conference: Growing Hops […]

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Madison County in collaboration with Zerrillo’s Greenhouse is pleased to offer 12 different varieties of hops plants grown from first generation cuttings of virus-indexed stock […]

The UVM Extension 2013 Winter Hops Conference will take place on February 22, 2013 at The Essex in Essex, VT . Click here to download the flyer!  We have an exciting day lined up, registration starts at 9 am, and […]

Greetings all,

The Northeast Hop Alliance and the wonderful folks at Foothill Hops are putting together a cooperative purchase for hop rhizomes, coir, and W-clips for the 2013 season.  This offer is […]

Greetings all!

We are excited to announce the date of the annual UVM Extension Winter Hops Conference!  Please mark your calendars, this year’s event will take place on Friday, February 22, 2013 at The Essex in […]

Greetings all,

Registration is now open for the Cornell Fall Hops Conference and the Northeast Hop Alliance Annual Meeting, taking place in Morrisville, NY on Saturday, December 1, 2012.  Please click on the […]

Chris Callahan was recently hired as the Agricultural Engineer for UVM Extension and is operating out of the Rutland office. He is a long time Crops and Soils fav, and has worked on numerous projects with us, including the hops harvester, oast, and various oilseed projects.  He came up with a nifty hop harvest readiness calculator in [...]

In the Northeast, hop harvest generally begins in mid-August and continues through mid-September.  Harvest date is primarily dependent on the hop variety.  However weather can delay or hasten when a harvest will occur. Another factor that can influence harvest date is pest issues, including heavy spider mite and downy mildew infestations. In the…[Read more]

Having a good idea of the pest and predator insect populations in your hopyard will aid you in pest control decision-making.  Scouting is an essential aspect of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), and will help you identify pertinent pest and pest predators.  The UVM Extension Northwest Crops and Soils Team has put together some resources to [...]

Japanese beetles can be a significant economic pest in hops, so proper identification and management decision-making are important if you are going to avoid losses. Check out our article Japanese Beetles in Hops in the Northeast for more information on Japanese beetles and some control options.

NeHA has released a Save the Date card of upcoming field days in New York and Vermont. NeHA will have virus indexed stock plants available on-site at the July 21st field day at Hop Meadow Farm in Union Springs, NY.  Cascade, Newport, Willamette, Perle, Fuggle, and Liberty will be available at $5 per plant in trays [...]

Downy mildew ( Pseudoperonospora humuli , Miyabe and Takah., Wilson) was one of the major reasons for the decline of hops production in the Northeast over a hundred years ago.  As many of you know, it is still a significant issue here, as well as in yards in the major hop growing areas of the United States and [...]

You should be scouting in your hopyard at least once a week by this time of year, keeping an eye out for disease, pests, and any nutrient deficiencies.  As you scout for insects in your hopyard, you are likely to find a thriving community. Many of the insects that you find are not a threat [...]

UVM Engineering students Yuri Hudak, John Repucci, and Ryan Rzepka have been working hard to complete a second design for a small-scale hops baler as part of their SEED (Senior Experience in Engineering Design) course.  This baler is designed to create a bale of 5 lbs or less.  The design shall soon be posted on our Instructional [...]

Most of Vermont got hit by a pretty hard frost last weekend, and we’ve received numerous calls about what to do about frosted hops.  In our two-year-old variety trial, Nugget in particular got a good wallop, whether that was because it isn’t as frost-tolerant as some of the varieties or because it was a little taller [...]

We are very happy to announce that the designs for the small-scale hops harvester are now available through the UVM Extension Northwest Crops and Soils Instructional Wiki! To access the documents you will need to login and agree to the terms and conditions.  We would like to encourage discussions, so please leave your comments on how [...]

For those of you who missed the Northeast Hop Alliance bulk rhizome purchase, there are still a few options available. Our website maintains a list of sources from where you can purchase hop rhizomes. Here is a run down of some of the local places: Aroostook Hops , Westfield, ME has Nugget rhizomes for sale. Check out their website [...]

Registration is now open for the 2012 UVM Extension Winter Hops Conference! The event will take place on March 19, 2012 at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center in Burlington, VT. For complete details, you can download the Winter Hops Conference flyer here . Event management for The UVM Extension Winter Hops Conference powered by [...]

We are very excited to announce that the 2012 UVM Extension Winter Hops Conference will take place on Monday, March 19th at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center in Burlington, VT.  Please save the date!  We have some great speakers lined up, click on link for more details.

Hi All, The Northeast Hop Alliance is preparing to place their Cooperative Purchasing order for both rhizomes and coir.  If you did not reply to the Cooperative Purchasing survey, posted here in December, you may still place an order.  If you did reply to the survey, that DOES NOT mean that you have placed an order.  [...]

I know it might not seem like it now, but time has a way of flying by, and the next thing you know, it will be hop harvesting season!  If all things go as planned, your freezer will look akin to ours. Hops, while light and fluffy, do occupy a lot of space.  That’s why [...]

The results are in folks!  For the last year the UVM Extension Crops and Soils Team has been collecting extensive data on what hop varieties do well in the Northeast.  Check out the preliminary results from UVM Extension Organic Hops Variety Trial !  Keep in mind that these results are from a first year of production, and [...]

The time is nigh for ordering rhizomes.  Check out this offer from our friends at Atlantic Hops.  The deadline has been extended to February 1st.  Stay tuned here for the Northeast Hop Alliance bulk order as well.  More details soon!

Dr. Heather Darby and Rosalie Madden on Across the Fence, November 22, 2011:Updates on UVM Extension hops research and results from a first year of data.

On behalf of the Northeast Hop Alliance, I would like pass along the NeHA 2012 Cooperative Purchasing Survey . Please complete it by December 15 so that they may request quotes from suppliers. Note that this is only a survey, but will be the basis of NeHA’s request for quotations, so please be as accurate as possible. [...]

Glen Fuller, of Rising Sun Farms in Paonia, CO contacted us last week, mentioning that he has an inventory of Wolf harvesters, dryers, balers, pelletizers with nitrogen cooling, and hammer mills for sale.  Thought some of you all might find it of interest.

On November 15, 2011 at 2PM EST, Dr. Rob Sirrine from Michigan State University Extension and Brian Tennis from the Michigan Hop Alliance will be conducting a webinar on small-scale organic hops production.  (A webinar, for those who don’t know, is a seminar conducted on the internet.)  We’ve been lucky enough to work with Brian and [...]

Howdy folks,

You may have seen or heard word about a Hops Tea Tasting and Sensory Evaluation happening at the Bobcat Cafe and Brewery this November, and I’m sorry to announce that it has been postponed.  Stay tuned for future updates.

One of the many amazing things about hops is how quickly they grow!  This spring we got Harold the Crop Cam to document it all. In under three minutes you can watch our first full-year growth from emergence all the way through to harvest.

For those who missed the Mobile Hop Harvester field days in Vermont and Massachusetts, we have just posted a YouTube video, check it out!

Subscribe to the YouTube channel to be sure to not miss an update from the UVM Extension Northwest Crops and Soils Team!

Harvest is over, and as always, much has been learned from the growing season.  Now is the time to finish documenting your successes and failures in your handy-dandy Hop Production Record Keeping Booklet!  Did you notice that one variety seemed to do better with two bines per string vs. four bines?  Or perhaps that training [...]

Hi Folks, We deeply apologize for having to cancel last week’s hop harvester showcase with such short notice.  We have rescheduled the field day for Wednesday, September 7th .  Time and place are still the same: 146 Line Rd, Alburgh, VT, from 11 am to 3 pm.  Please click on the link for more details. Looking forward [...]

The Hop Harvester Showcase scheduled for tomorrow August 26th at Borderview Research Farm in Alburgh, VT has been postponed due to weather and unforeseen circumstances. Please excuse any inconvenience this may have caused, and stay tuned for a notice of the date and time of the reschedule. Contact the UVM Extension office with any questions [...]

As many of you have heard, we are designing a hop harvester, and we want to show it off!  We are planning two showcases, one in Northfield, MA at Gene and Bonnie L’Etoile’s farm for our southern friends, and one for our northern friends at Borderview Farm in Alburgh, VT , where our research is hosted.  The Massachussetts [...]

As you are out in your hopyard, doing your weekly scouting, you may have run across these helpful little fellows: A spider mite destroyer lady beetle, or Stethorus picipes (Figure 1, click on the image to enlarge it), is a very useful beneficial insect and can eat up to 6 spider mites a day.  Both the larvae [...]

Savanna Kittell-Mitchell, NW Crops and Soils Program & Dr. Heather Darby, UVM Extension Agronomist Recently, injury and even death of hop plants from potato leafhopper feeding has been observed in Vermont.  Leafhoppers are damaging insects that have an appetite for more than 200 crops.  The potato leafhopper ( Empoasca fabae ) is considered an…[Read more]

Location: Borderview Farm, 46 Line Rd, Alburgh, VT Date: Thursday, August 4, 2011 Time: 10:00 am to 3:30 pm Download pdf version of brochure This year’s theme is Cultivating a Healthy Farm! From the ground up, we will highlight healthy soils, healthy crops and healthy people. Come and see over 2,000 research plots focusing on reduced tillage…[Read more]

Powdery mildew ( Podosphaera macularis (Wallr.) U. Braun & S. Takam ) is one of the predominant fungal diseases that you might encounter in your hopyard.  Any pest issue in your crop can be daunting but a diligent integrated pest management (IPM) approach can help overcome many issues.  The goal of integrated pest management is to integrate a [...]

Spider mites found in Northeast hopyards! This article , written by New York State Hops Specialist Steve Miller , will help you identify, scout, and develop treatment options for your yard. If you need assistance with scouting please give us a call (802) 524 6501. To purchase a hand lens, check out the following sites: Amazon.com (keyword: hand…[Read more]

Greetings Hop Lovers,

We are happy to announce an upcoming field day at Square Nail Hops Farm in Ferrisburgh, VT on July 8th from 4 pm – 6 pm.  Please click on the link for more details.