Heads up fellow hop growers!

[Roger]

Ants don't eat leaves as far as I know. You can't see any caterpillars? You might want to spray them but to be honest you'd be lucky if you get any yeald the first year anyways.

[Brian_S]

Just thought I'd chime in as I've had these little guys decimate many plants in the past. I identified the culprit as the Eastern Comma Butterfly (AKA Hop Merchant).  They are voracious and can do massive damage in a short time( they eat at night and hide under leaves during the day). I found the most effective way to deal with them was BTK which can be purchased at garden shops, is food safe and certified for use in organic crops. I mix it in a sprayer and mist the leaves in the early evening.

Note I'm by no means an expert, I've had others question my ID and in one case they IDed them as a more rare question mark butter fly (which I doubted). So do your research if concerned.

B

[JohnQ]

Just thought I'd chime in as I've had these little guys decimate many plants in the past. I identified the culprit as the Eastern Comma Butterfly (AKA Hop Merchant).  They are voracious and can do massive damage in a short time( they eat at night and hide under leaves during the day). I found the most effective way to deal with them was BTK which can be purchased at garden shops, is food safe and certified for use in organic crops. I mix it in a sprayer and mist the leaves in the early evening.

Note I'm by no means an expert, I've had others question my ID and in one case they IDed them as a more rare question mark butter fly (which I doubted). So do your research if concerned.

B

I'd concur with Brian here. We have squashed many of these little bastards between our fingers.
Usually we hose them off and stomp on them, bu we might look into the BTK, likely related to BTI that we use on the Mosquitos.

JQ

[feldmann]

Finally found one of the little bastards. It was a tiny black worm looking thing that looked like a caterpillar. I only found one and I scoured the leaves looking for more but had no luck. Anything short of pesticide and physically squishing?

[Roger]

All I do is seek and destroy. But if they are more successful at destroying than you are pesticides are your only option.

[Roger]

They're back! Those of you who grow hops keep your eyes peeled for these guys. They eat a lot...