What’s Hoppening with the Hoppers?

  (Image: First, second, and third instar potato leafhopper nymphs.) Potato leafhoppers (PLH) have arrived early this year and they were first spotted last week in Addison County hopyards.  As the information is as relevant now as it was last year, we are re-posting this hop blog. Knowing what to look for and having a …

What’s Hoppening with the Hoppers?

As we all know, it has been an impressively rainy season so far here in the Northeast. While the rain has fueled pests like  downy mildew and aphids in our hopyard, potato leafhoppers (PLH) have thus far posed less of a threat to the production of our hops. However, even with lower numbers, these pests …

Six-Year Study Shows Hop Insect Patterns

Excited for the 2017 growing season? We are…and so are the bugs! We recently published our final Organic Hop Variety Trial Report that includes 6 years of data on disease, weed, and insect pest populations found in our hopyard, as well as yield and quality performance of more than 20 hop varieties we evaluated. Our …

Minor Pests = Minor Problems!

The three major pests of Northeastern hopyards—potato leafhoppers, two-spotted spider mites and hop aphids—can cause significant economic losses. For that reason, we keep a close eye on their populations in our research yard by scouting weekly. From time to time, other pests pop up in our hopyard, but because they don’t seem to affect yields, …

Potato Leafhoppers Have Arrived!

It is leafhopper season again and those pesky insects have been spotted at our research hopyard at Borderview Research Farm, in Alburgh, Vermont.  This is a great time to start scouting for insects as well as for disease to ensure proper management of all hop pests. So far, this season has not been conducive for …

Come On Over to Our Hopyard, 7/23

Join us this Thursday, July 23, 2015 from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for our annual Crops and Soils Field Day at the Borderview Research Farm in Alburgh. The day will include tour stops to our hopyard where we will discuss critical hop insect and disease pests and our research–including new trials on bio fungicides–to …

3 Things that Matter in Pest Scouting: Location, Location, Location

“There are three things that matter in property: location, location, location.” We have found that location also matters in growing hops, particularly this spring. Southern Vermont has been exceptionally dry for long periods, while northern parts of our region have been soggy, to say the least. The cool, wet conditions that we’ve been experiencing in …

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 …

June 2013 Hops Scouting Report

  As you scout for insects and disease in your hopyards this spring, undoubtedly dodging puddles, you are likely finding fewer critters than usual. The cool, wet weather that we have been experiencing lately has taken its toll on the insects that are typical for this time of year. However, downy mildew is one problem …

2012 Hops Variety Trial Report

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 comparisons from the first and second year of harvest, brew values for the 19 publicly available varieties in the UVM Extension …

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