MSU Spring Hop Kickoff Virtual Meeting 4.9.26.mp4

MSU Hop Zoom Kickoff 4.9.26 (1:00-3:45pm EST)

1 p.m. Welcome

1-1:15 p.m. Hop Integrated Pest Management, Erin Lizotte, MSU

Erin Lizotte is the Integrated Pest Management Coordinator and Senior Statewide educator with MSU Extension. She provides IPM support for commercial agriculture producers, is the co-founder of the Great Lakes Hop Working Group, and develops the Michigan Hop Management Guide each year.

1:15-1:45 p.m. Hop Disease ID and Control, Dr. Tim Miles, MSU

Dr. Timothy Miles is an Associate Professor in the Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences at Michigan State University and serves as an Extension Specialist focused on diseases of hops, blueberries, grapes, and other specialty crops. His research and extension program in hops centers on the epidemiology and management of key diseases, particularly hop downy mildew and halo blight, with additional interests in emerging and complex disease issues affecting production. His program integrates field trials, diagnostic tool development, and fungicide efficacy evaluations to support sustainable production. He is also actively engaged with USDA-IR4 to facilitate pesticide registrations and label expansions for hops, ensuring growers have access to effective and compliant disease management tools.

1:45-2:15 p.m. Nematodes in Hop: Research Update and Control Options, Muhammad Usman, MSU

Usman is a Ph.D. candidate in the Dept of Entomology and a member of Dr. Marisol Quintanilla’s lab group. His research focus is management of hop cyst nematodes in hops and includes evaluation of organic amendments and nematicides for hop cyst nematode management, assessing the susceptibility of different hop cultivars against hop cyst nematodes, and the effectiveness of dipping hop roots into hot water at various temperatures to suppress hop cyst nematodes.  

2:15-2:45 p.m. MSU Weed ID and Control, Dr. Erin Hill, MSU

Dr. Erin Hill is part of the multi-disciplinary team in MSU Plant & Pest Diagnostics. Her responsibilities include the diagnosis of abiotic plant stress with an emphasis on herbicide-related injury, herbicide resistance screening, weed control recommendations, and collaborating on plant and seed identification. She also enjoys outreach activities related to weed identification, management, and resistance.  

Additionally, Dr. Hill serves as the instructor for two weed science courses within PSM, Introduction to Weed Management (CSS126) and the Weed Science Laboratory (CSS226L). As part of the lab she organizes the weed identification garden located at the Hancock Turfgrass Research Center. 

2:45-3:15 p.m. Nutrient uptake and accumulation in hop, Dr. Betsy Verhoeven, Oregon State University

Betsy is an instructor in the Crop and Soil Science Department at OSU, where she teaches precision agriculture, general agronomy, undergraduate and graduate courses in soil fertility and nutrient cycling. Prior to her work as an instructor, Betsy worked for three and half years as a field crops agronomist with OSU Extension, serving the mid-Willamette Valley, primarily working in grass seed, seed crops and hops. She has a background in soil science and nitrogen cycling with a M.Sc. in Soils and Biogeochemistry from UC Davis and a Ph.D. from the Swiss Federal Technical Institute (ETH-Zurich).