Ninety‐one native North American Humulus lupulus plants from natural habitats in seven western and mid‐western states of the U.S.A. were tested by ELISA serology for presence of two ilarviruses and three carlaviruses common to cultivated hops. All plants in natural habitats were free of detectable viruses. Propagations of 14 such plants from earlier collections had become infected, particularly with two carlaviruses (hop latent virus, American hop latent virus) after exposure for 22 years tobreeding nurseries. ELISA tests of some 284 hop plants primarily from breeding nurseries in Oregon indicated the following infection rates: Prunus necrotic ringspot virus, 85/284, 30%; apple mosaic virus, 88/234, 38%; hop mosaic virus, 59/158, 37 %; hoplatent virus, 104/158, 66 %; and American hop latent virus, 79/158, 50 %. Inoculum reservoirs of AHLV were sought among 53 principally perennial non‐Humulus plant species surrounding AHLV‐infected hop yards and nurseries. AHLV was neither indigenous to native North American H. lupulus nor detectable in these selected non‐Humulus plant species. Breeding nurseries and commercial hop yards, thus, were the only detectable inoculum reservoir for AHLV.