Hop Update: June 9, 2015

Greetings! At this time, our hops in Alburgh are growing quite quickly, up to 15-25 cm a day! During this period of vegetative growth up the strings, it is important to keep up good management practices. Ours include fertilizing, irrigating, weeding, spraying bio-fungicides, and scouting for insects and downy mildew. Our hops are currently being …

Potato Leafhoppers Have Arrived

Adult female potato leafhoppers (Empoasca fabae) arrived to the Borderview research farm in Alburgh between May 23 and May 26. To identify them, stick your hand in a hop plant and ruffle it around–you may see light colored potato leafhoppers fly out. Whether you have seen potato leafhopper yet or not, it is time to …

Training Days for Hops

In commercial hop yards, different cultivars are trained on specific dates in the spring.  Depending on whether a cultivar matures early, mid-season, or late, there is typically a particular range of days for those plants to start their upward growth. Getting the bines off the ground is also important for managing downy mildew. Training dates …

Time to Manage Downy Mildew

Question: Have we mentioned yet how critical downy mildew management is to the success of our Northeast hopyards? Answer: Yes, but the importance of managing this disease cannot be overstated–downy mildew can wipe out your crop for the year and even cause hill death in sensitive varieties, so please be on the lookout. Our bulletin, …

Downy mildew protection and early-season fertility

Are your hops already skyrocketing out of the ground? Ours are! While it might seem that there isn’t much to do until the hops are ready for training, it is important to be vigilant in fighting disease. This week we plan to spray Champ WG copper-based fungicide on our yard as a preventative measure against …

Spring Crowning

The hop season is upon us! Hop downy mildew is currently the biggest pest of concern for Northeastern hop growers.  Downy mildew overwinters in the hop crown and primary inoculum will be released from the first shoots. Removal of the first flush of spring hop growth is called “scratching” or “crowning” depending on how far down a plant …

Getting Started with Hops

As part of the Vermont New Farmer Project’s ongoing webinar series, on 4/8/2015, Heather Darby provided an introductory presentation on how to get started with growing hops. Here presentation included establishment considerations, soil fertility, variety selection, pest management, and harvesting tips. The webinar recording is available on our Northwest Crops and Soils Program YouTube channel …

Getting Started with Growing Hops Webinar (4/8/15)

As part of the Vermont New Farmer Project’s ongoing webinar series, UVM Extension’s Heather Darby will provide an introductory presentation on how to get started with growing hops. This will include setting up a trellis system, soil fertility, variety selection, pest management, harvesting, and post-harvest management. The webinar is free, but pre-registration is required. After …

Online Proceedings from 2015 VT Hop Conference Now Available

Proceedings from the 6th Annual Vermont Hop Conference are now available online. The online proceedings include video recordings and PDFs of all conference presentations. They can be accessed for a one-time fee of $35 at eXtension’s Online campus at: http://campus.extension.org. If you have not yet been to this site, you will need to create an …

Still Time to Order Rhizomes

Happy February! We’ve had a few updates to our list of sources of folks selling rhizomes, including Anjali Farms & Lotus Moon Medicinals in South Londonderry and Sunnybrook Farm in Middlesex (certified organic Cascade, Centennial, Willamette, Kent Golding, Mt. Hood, Magnum, available April/May when the snow melts; $4/each not including shipping – min order $20). Also, …

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