# 2013 Hop Plantations, Show Us Your Hop Garden!



## brewologist

Hey All,

I thought I'd get the ball rolling on a 2013 Hop Plantation Thread. 

A couple of weeks ago I prepped my hop garden for the upcoming season. Basically, I threw a bit of cow poo in the garden and mulched with sugar cane. Last night, after work, I checked on the hop plants and they're already shooting. It must be the warm sunny days we've recently had that have woken them up after their winter slumber.

Anyway, after planting the rhizomes at the start of last season and a year of growth now under there respective belts, I'm hoping for a bumper crop this season. The Golding that didn't produce anything last year if off to a flying start.

Golding - I got this one of Wakkatoo.





The trellis I welded up last year - 6m high. The Smurto Chinook made it 3/4 of the way to the top in its first year.




I also have a Saaz which it just starting to shoot and a Cluster and Chinook that haven't poked their heads up yet. I have some Cascade rhizomes which will be planting along side these in a 60 Litre tub this weekend.

So.... show us your hops!!!!

Cheers,


----------



## SimoB

i recognise that setup! Gav??


----------



## brewologist

Hey Simon,

Yep. Looking forward to the brew comp tomorrow and pictures of hop gardens/hops plant.

Post your sexiest hops pictures people!!!! Hmmmm hop porn.


----------



## Lecterfan

Mine started to shoot (4 of the 8 varieties), and after weeding I found a heap more ready to go, but I've covered them over with a few more inches of poop and mulch for the moment. Must keep the mulch and water up to them this year.


----------



## unclebarrel

Sexy hop pictures ? When they're at this early age ??

Bit wrong !

Haha


----------



## Danwood

View attachment 64690


Foreground - Goldings 2nd year
Rear - Cascade 2nd year

View attachment 64692


Foreground - Fuggles 2nd year

They're all going well on horse poop and worm farm juice.

Thanks to Wakkatoo and Yob for the original rhizomes.
When I dug them up after last season there wasn't much decent rhizome stock, not enough to pass on to others as I intended.

I'm expecting heaps more growth this season, so I'll do a give-away as the aforementioned champions did....share the love !


----------



## Yob

Not gunna get much light through that window mate, that's booming

*sploing


----------



## Diggs

Goldings and Cascade planted Sunday

Edit: can't get picture to upload from tablet (Galaxy) anyone? ???


----------



## hbnath

In the process of moving and thought my plant was dead in its pot! Noticed it has a dozen or more tips so its coming! Might plant it inground and see how it goes this year


----------



## DU99

planted mine in a tub..don't want dog digging it up..await the first sign's..


----------



## Danwood

Yob said:


> Not gunna get much light through that window mate, that's booming
> 
> *sploing


You're right, but what light that does make it through is a really nice light green. Plus, I have an excellent view at the underside of the leaves to check for critters. 
I'm hoping for a bumper crop, even though it's only up to my unit roof.


----------



## adryargument

Apparently mine are all shooting down in NSW.
The old mans tending them well


----------



## jefin

Planting my first hop garden today, was lucky enough to score some nugget, chinook and cascade for free off a mate.

Anyone have any good tips on looking after these babies?

Cheers Jefin


----------



## punkin

Fertilize every week, mulch and water daily.

Not much to show on the cold tablelands yet, just bursting through the mulch and taking their own good time. The gardens are shaded during the early part of spring though till the sun starts getting higher at the end of the month.


----------



## jefin

Thanks for the advice punkin, shall put it into practice.

Cheers Jefin


----------



## punkin

You are very welcome, just repeating what i've learned from reading here and growing last year.


----------



## KingKong

Here in the Southern Highlands my golding and cascade have poked up , but my saaz, cluster, PoR and tett are still sleeping.


----------



## almopec

At my joint on southern suburbs of Sydney my cascade, Saaz, hersbrucker and Mt hood are all up. 

And like danwood I'm also growing my hops up in front of my back windows for shelter from the northern sun like a big green awning.


----------



## yum beer

Out on the slopes, Goldings, Tett, POR and Cluster all up, Mt Hood went in 2 weeks ago and Saaz not showing yet, but were quite small rhizomes.

I've dug them in between the septic trenches, hopefully should give them plenty of food, the grass loves it.

Need to get the posts and supports in.


----------



## carniebrew

My Cascade, planted a month or so ago, is sprouting leaves this week:




So I finished off its adjustable trellis today (the one on the left):




That's a Hersbrucker on the right, it's first shoot is half the size of the Cascade currently:




I have a Columbus planted in the ground last week, no activity yet. And a Hallertau and Chinook still to be planted, they're both going in the ground too. I'll post some pics of them once they're all in.

Sorry about the sideways stuff...all those pics are right way up when I look at 'em on my PC. Does AHB not like portrait mode?


----------



## hoppy2B

yum beer said:


> Out on the slopes, Goldings, Tett, POR and Cluster all up, Mt Hood went in 2 weeks ago and Saaz not showing yet, but were quite small rhizomes.


Small rhizomes are best started in pots on a warm sunny window shelf.


----------



## adryargument

carniebrew said:


> So I finished off its adjustable trellis today (the one on the left):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> IMG-20130908-00012.jpg


Awesome, few sleepers around them and you will have yourself a pirate ship!


----------



## Yob

Tett




POR




Cascade (Just pushing the soil)




Chinooks x 3




Fuggle at the end of the chinooks




EKG Replanted yesterday




Victoria needs string, it's going for it

Also have a Canterbury Goldings out the front of the house Im gunna grow up to the roof.

h34r:


----------



## Danwood

Spring is definitely the best time of year !

Since last Sunday, my Goldings has shot up almost exactly 1m, Cascade 90cm and Fuggles is slower at just over 60cm.

Gotta love a north facing yard...just wish I had more height/space available.

I haven't limited the bines this year, I'm letting them do their own thing. There's around 12-15 bines on the Cas and Gold, 8 on Fuggles.


----------



## brewologist

Wow, its great to see everyones hops of to a great start.

Mine are all starting to poke their heads up. I also planted out a Cascade rhizome today. 
Looks like a bit of rain early in the week and sunshine mid week. Sounds good for the hop garden!!!


----------



## sp0rk

My Victoria poked it's head out last week but is growing quite slowly
Chinook hasn't shown any signs of action yet, sadly


----------



## Yob

Chinook is usually late to show but a strong finisher, least in Vic and my yard anyway


----------



## timmi9191

glad to hear that yob. ive got 2 smurto chinooks - one just broken through and yet to see the other, was getting worried...


----------



## KingKong

Have you used that sized pot before Yob? I have planted mine in similar sized ones, Im hoping they are big enough.


----------



## Yob

Bigger is better but that size is adequate… just, tend to dry out quick in summer when they are sucking the water in.


----------



## KingKong

Have to be very wary of keeping the water up then.


----------



## Danwood

I think wooden planters, the thicker the better, are best for above ground. That, along with a good layer of mulch, should keep water loss to a minimum. I 'borrowed' some irrigation line and connections from work for mine.

Ground level, mulched planters would be even better.


----------



## kcurnow

I have replanted my hops this year from pots into a garden bed along the front of my deck. The first photo shows me sieving dirt into the beds while the second shows the transplanted hops. I will take some photos tomorrow as the Cascade hops have well and truly sprouted.


----------



## Danwood

Sieved dirt....thems some pampered hops !

That deck is going to look really good in a couple of months, covered in leavy bines.


----------



## yum beer

hoppy2B said:


> Small rhizomes are best started in pots on a warm sunny window shelf.


There good hoppy, they had some small shoots on them when I transplanted into their new spot.
Very happy with the results from your zhomes.
Cheers buddy.


----------



## Midnight Brew

Saw some nodes poking through 2 weeks ago so covered them all in horse poo and sugar cane mulch. Golding was off to an unusual start.



Yob said:


> Chinook is usually late to show but a strong finisher, least in Vic and my yard anyway


Couldnt agree more, she pops up about 4 weeks late on an east to west planting but also runs till mid April. For what its worth to anyone Yob introduced a new hopping technique to me. Pour a glass and put a hop flower in it and crunch it around. The backyard randal.


----------



## technobabble66

timmi9191 said:


> glad to hear that yob. ive got 2 smurto chinooks - one just broken through and yet to see the other, was getting worried...


Same. My first ever hops, a DrSmurto Chinook, just poked through yesterday. I was getting a bit worried with everyone else reporting great growth already while I still had a bare patch of dirt. Sky's the limit now!


----------



## tricache

Both my Hallertau's have popped up in the last few weeks :super:


----------



## syl

I just planted my Cascade Rhizomes from @Ratchie on Sunday, can't wait to get them going, <3 hops!


----------



## hoppy2B

yum beer said:


> There good hoppy, they had some small shoots on them when I transplanted into their new spot.
> Very happy with the results from your zhomes.
> Cheers buddy.


No worries, glad to hear you're happy. Hops love water, so if you water well and give them lots of manure and liquid manure you should get a good crop.


----------



## Dunkelbrau

This is a cascade rhizome I planted earlier last week..

What sort of fertiliser do you guys use? I've got some miracle grow for some other veg and fruits I've got going at the moment.. Going to put some mulch on later in the week to avoid the drying out..


----------



## Yob

Smurto swears by Cow manure in winter, from memory he does most of his fertilizing over winter as a mulch, a good liquid fertilizer that is easily available to plants wont hurt.


----------



## Malted

Yob said:


> Chinook is usually late to show but a strong finisher, least in Vic and my yard anyway


Same in my part of South Australia.


----------



## JDW81

Mine are going in on the weekend. A bit later than I intended, got some good compost and a nice sunny spot ready to go.


----------



## Malted

yum beer said:


> There good hoppy, they had some small shoots on them when I transplanted into their new spot.
> Very happy with the results from your zhomes.
> Cheers buddy.


Small shoots = small bines? Did you get the dwarf variety?


----------



## yum beer

Only time will tell.....Dwarf Saaz...for making small pilsners....

The 'dwarf' cluster has probably grown faster than any of the others.


----------



## Yob

If it grows over 3m it must have mutated....


----------



## brewologist

I have one of hoppy2b's clusters that I planted last year. It didn't produce much last season, only a few dozen cones, but hoping for better things this year.

Actually, last year I planted all my rhizomes out but didn't get around to building the trellis until later in the season and by that stage they had nothing to grow on and a balled up, tangling themselves together. This year I'm much better prepared. The Golding is about to start climbing.


----------



## sp0rk

Should Seasol be a decent liquid fertiliser for hops?


----------



## technobabble66

Seasol is more like a growth stimulant. It's v good for encouraging plants.

Something like Nitrosol is a liquid fertillizer (Has a more significant level of nitrogen, phosphorous, etc in it); but there's several different brands/types.

I use a combo of these 2 (every 2-4 weeks during spring/summer) plus basic organics (dynamic lifter + blood&bone, scattered over the top every couple of months) as well as digging in cow poo, mushroom compost & regular compost.
It's a bit over the top, but all of my herbs & fruit trees went crazy last year. It sounds like the good Doctor does something similar. I kinda see it as providing short, medium & long term food, and supplying a full spectrum of nutrients.
I'd admit this is my first year growing hops, though, so i'm hoping the same regime suits hops also.


----------



## RelaxedBrewer

My two cascade plants that Yob kindly sent my way have popped.

First year of growing hops for me and I am just starting with the two, but I am excited about my little babies


----------



## Yob

bastard... yours are up before mine  :lol:


----------



## KingKong

I just finished my hop trellis. I'm happy with it! 

Hops are a bit close perhaps. This year is a bit of an experiment for my first year with hops.





I cant fix the rotation on this Samsung Tab so you just going to have to view it side ways!


----------



## wide eyed and legless

Anyone ever cloned a hop plant ? Should imagine its no harder than cloning its closest relative, and that would make plenty of plants.


----------



## Mardoo

wide eyed and legless said:


> Anyone ever cloned a hop plant ? Should imagine its no harder than cloning its closest relative, and that would make plenty of plants.


Any time you buy a rhizome it's essentially a clone of the mother plant. It's a piece of the mother plant which grows on its own when broken off.

You can also clone them as you might, say, the cousin.


----------



## wide eyed and legless

Mardoo said:


> Any time you buy a rhizome it's essentially a clone of the mother plant. It's a piece of the mother plant which grows on its own when broken off.
> 
> You can also clone them as you might, say, the cousin.


Then I shall be giving it a go, and try to clone as its cousin.


----------



## punkin

Had a book when i was a young fella that reckoned you could graft the two. MJ rootstock with a hopsses shoot.


----------



## wide eyed and legless

punkin said:


> Had a book when i was a young fella that reckoned you could graft the two. MJ rootstock with a hopsses shoot.


Yes I have been doing a bit of reading up,and I did see an article on grafting to that particular root stock, also interesting reading on hydroponically grown hops.


----------



## Camo6

wide eyed and legless said:


> Then I shall be giving it a go, and try to clone as its cousin.


I imagine you'll have to raise the rooms ceiling by about 4 metres though. Might make the neighbours a bit suss. h34r:


----------



## wide eyed and legless

Camo6 said:


> I imagine you'll have to raise the rooms ceiling by about 4 metres though. Might make the neighbours a bit suss. h34r:


No I have a large green house, on the south side I have a conifer I was thinking of training them out of the top of the greenhouse and up the tree, just have to work out out to harvest them.
I have seen them wild and once they start to climb they just keep going.


----------



## Camo6

Got time yesterday to add the string section to the backyard. The missus doesn't appreciate the shade these babies will bring to the kitchen. Surely she realises I'm trying to make her chores more bearable.




The Goldings has decided it doesn't want to grow anywhere near the centre of the pot:



Cascade going great guns. Hope to get a lot more off it this year:



And the turbocharged Chinook. A bit of initial lag but then overtakes them all:


----------



## Camo6

wide eyed and legless said:


> No I have a large green house, on the south side I have a conifer I was thinking of training them out of the top of the greenhouse and up the tree, just have to work out out to harvest them.
> I have seen them wild and once they start to climb they just keep going.


Sounds good. Be sure to post some pics.


----------



## hoppy2B

punkin said:


> Had a book when i was a young fella that reckoned you could graft the two. MJ rootstock with a hopsses shoot.


Supposedly to produce THC but in a different looking plant that doesn't attract too much attention. Read somewhere on the net that someone tried it and reckons all you get is hops. :lol:


----------



## Dave70

Camo6 said:


> Got time yesterday to add the string section to the backyard. The missus doesn't appreciate the shade these babies will bring to the kitchen. Surely she realises I'm trying to make her chores more bearable.
> 
> 
> 
> 20130915_082529.jpg
> 
> The Goldings has decided it doesn't want to grow anywhere near the centre of the pot:
> 
> 
> 
> 20130915_092107.jpg
> 
> Cascade going great guns. Hope to get a lot more off it this year:
> 
> 
> 
> 20130915_092117.jpg
> 
> And the turbocharged Chinook. A bit of initial lag but then overtakes them all:
> 
> 
> 
> 20130915_092131.jpg


You most likely know what you're doing, but the last time I used those kind of 'natural' fibers as runners, they rotted and I had a couple break.
From now on, it's synthetic cord all the way for me baby.


----------



## Camo6

Last year I used sisal clothesline which has a bit of nylon spliced in but I bought plain sisal cord this time (I cheaped out in other words). I'm not too worried if it rots at the base as the bines will hold it together as long as the tops dont break! I like the natural fibres as they give more to grip too and can go straight into the compost. We'll see how it goes.


----------



## Danwood

I like sisal also, for the same reasons. No rotting issues last year, although they are largely under the eaves of the house.

The Cascade and Goldings have reached the top...it turned out to be a photo finish between them. 

Fuggles is half way there. It got very sulky last year after I made it grow sideways. Should get a few cones off it this year though, enough for one big aroma addition in an oatmeal ESB hopefully.


----------



## kalbarluke

Danwood, they are pumping for this early in the season. You should get a good haul of flowers (barring severe weather).


----------



## Danwood

Cheers mate. Did well off the Cascade last year, nothing from Goldings or Fuggles. 

These are all second year plants now, so hopefully I'll get a few cones this season.


----------



## punkin

I've avoided all rotting issues this year with 2.5mm stainless balustrading wire. They seem to be keen to grip it, and if they slide down, well it will save me lowering them as they reach the top :lol:


----------



## Camo6

You can never have enough stainless. Noice.


----------



## Muzduk

G'day all, have 9 varities in and eleven plants in total. Will post as they emerge a little more. Have some posts in already where i had grape vines trained (just need to add height) Also just letting those here aware that i will post on the retail thread that i am Gippsland distributor for liquid fert and soil conditioner products. I will explain more there


----------



## barls

im using 3mm nylon braided rope, have done for years.
works fine.


----------



## sp0rk

I noticed my Chinook was just starting to pop up yesterday 
The Victoria has stopped growing though for some reason, will chuck some seasol and a liquid fertiliser on it in the next day or 2


----------



## ratchie

punkin said:


> I've avoided all rotting issues this year with 2.5mm stainless balustrading wire. They seem to be keen to grip it, and if they slide down, well it will save me lowering them as they reach the top :lol:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> hops4.jpg


Thats what I use they won't slide down.


----------



## bullsneck

My poor Chinook was neglected while I was overseas. Got home to this...




and that was after I had weeded for 5 minutes before taking the pic.

Amazingly, there were nodes about to breach the surface! Go hops!

After...


----------



## Dunkelbrau

technobabble66 said:


> Seasol is more like a growth stimulant. It's v good for encouraging plants.
> 
> Something like Nitrosol is a liquid fertillizer (Has a more significant level of nitrogen, phosphorous, etc in it); but there's several different brands/types.
> 
> I use a combo of these 2 (every 2-4 weeks during spring/summer) plus basic organics (dynamic lifter + blood&bone, scattered over the top every couple of months) as well as digging in cow poo, mushroom compost & regular compost.
> It's a bit over the top, but all of my herbs & fruit trees went crazy last year. It sounds like the good Doctor does something similar. I kinda see it as providing short, medium & long term food, and supplying a full spectrum of nutrients.
> I'd admit this is my first year growing hops, though, so i'm hoping the same regime suits hops also.


This is the back of the pack for the liquid fertiliser, happy to go out and grab some cow shit and turn it in the soil and some other stuff if its going to get the plant healthy and ready to go.

My shoots have greened up a bit and gotten bushy, but no height other than maybe 1cm on top of the last pic.

EDIT: forgot picture!


----------



## technobabble66

Hey Jurt,

I'm not particularly familiar with Miracle Grow (or hops, for that matter :unsure: ), but after looking at your pic then cruising their website, it appears that miracle grow is an inorganic fertillizer.
That's not such a bad thing, it's just that most experienced/expert(?) gardeners seem to prefer organic fertillizers. When i say organic, i just mean something derived from natural sources like compost, composted materials, manures, animal by-products, etc (so it doesn't mean organic in the "certified" sense). I think the idea is there is a wider range of nutrients & in particular there are organic nutrients that support the overall soil ecology. Hence its provides for better plant health in the long term.

Having said that, a bit of the Miracle Grow thrown into the mix should be fine. It looks like a basic nutrient booster of the more important nutrients. Given hops sound like a crazy-growing weed, boosting things like nitrogen & potassium is probably a good idea.

I'd probably dig in a bit of cow manure (actually, i'd just throw it on top & rake it a bit at this stage) & throw a bit of Dynamic Lifter onto the top. I'm assuming you've already used some Miracle Grow, so i'd probably save it for later when the hops are growing a little more vigorously (couple of months??).

FWIW, i'd highly recommend Seasol, or something like it (based on experience with other plants, not hops though  ).

My 2c


----------



## Dunkelbrau

technobabble66 said:


> Hey Jurt,
> 
> I'm not particularly familiar with Miracle Grow (or hops, for that matter :unsure: ), but after looking at your pic then cruising their website, it appears that miracle grow is an inorganic fertillizer.
> That's not such a bad thing, it's just that most experienced/expert(?) gardeners seem to prefer organic fertillizers. When i say organic, i just mean something derived from natural sources like compost, composted materials, manures, animal by-products, etc (so it doesn't mean organic in the "certified" sense). I think the idea is there is a wider range of nutrients & in particular there are organic nutrients that support the overall soil ecology. Hence its provides for better plant health in the long term.
> 
> Having said that, a bit of the Miracle Grow thrown into the mix should be fine. It looks like a basic nutrient booster of the more important nutrients. Given hops sound like a crazy-growing weed, boosting things like nitrogen & potassium is probably a good idea.
> 
> I'd probably dig in a bit of cow manure (actually, i'd just throw it on top & rake it a bit at this stage) & throw a bit of Dynamic Lifter onto the top. I'm assuming you've already used some Miracle Grow, so i'd probably save it for later when the hops are growing a little more vigorously (couple of months??).
> 
> FWIW, i'd highly recommend Seasol, or something like it (based on experience with other plants, not hops though  ).
> 
> My 2c


Cool, thanks for the thoughts mate! I dug in some cow manure etc yesterday, we've had some bird issues with our capsicum and leek seedlings getting eaten so I spent the day working out there rigging up some netting, figured it would be a perfect time to dig it in to a few other plants as well!


----------



## Pokey

Goldings


And Hersbrucker

First time I've grown hops, they seem to be off to a good start.
Just have to add the rest of the strings while a beer is mashing.


----------



## Danwood

Goldings is just starting to throw out laterals....excellent, excellent.


----------



## philmud

Chinook starting to take off! Bit of an experiment - I'll have to try and grow them horizontal after a bout 1.5 meters.


----------



## Danwood

I tried that last year, Phil. Doesn't work.

Lack of space forced me to train my fuggles sideways last year. 

It had very small leaves and only grew 2 metre bines. The root system became quite well established though, so if you find more room for it next year, it should take off well. Just don't expect much this season, I'm afraid. 

I'm assuming it's a first year plant? If it's not, and already has good roots, you might do better.


----------



## Mardoo

Phil Mud said:


> Chinook starting to take off! Bit of an experiment - I'll have to try and grow them horizontal after a bout 1.5 meters.


Three of the hop growing podcasts I've listened to have professional growers saying that hops need a certain amount of vertical growth before they will produce cones. At least two meters was bandied about a bit. Once the top starts to bend over they will produce the side growth where most of the cones are produced, but it sounds as if the vertical growth is almost a switch for the cones to come online. Apparently they're vertical growing machines.

Granted this is what I've heard, but it's only my first year of growing, so I can't offer any experience. My Victoria is definitely headed in that direction though. Up.


----------



## philmud

Hmm, maybe I'll get taller stakes while they're not too dependent on them and aim for a couple of meters minimum - I might be in a bit of bother though.


----------



## hoppy2B

Danwood said:


> I tried that last year, Phil. Doesn't work.
> 
> Lack of space forced me to train my fuggles sideways last year.
> 
> It had very small leaves and only grew 2 metre bines. The root system became quite well established though, so if you find more room for it next year, it should take off well. Just don't expect much this season, I'm afraid.
> 
> I'm assuming it's a first year plant? If it's not, and already has good roots, you might do better.


Fuggles isn't really suited to our climate. Should do better with Chinook. Its more to do with the length the bine grows as to whether they are productive, so if you can get them to grow a fair way sideways you might do ok. They do prefer to grow up though.


----------



## JB

Meanwhile, somewhere down in the Gully, in the Dande foothills: "Hooray!" My chinook has finally broken the surface:






Cascade is taking off, I just need to give them something to grow onto once they reach the top of their wire tomato cages. I'll need to source a good string feeder setup I reckon


----------



## JB

Phil Mud said:


> Hmm, maybe I'll get taller stakes while they're not too dependent on them and aim for a couple of meters minimum - I might be in a bit of bother though.


I'm in the same boat Phil. I recall seeing somewhere a large pole with a loop at the top where the the line is fed through, slackening and lowering the line the hops has grown onto as it grows towards the top - I'm sure someone has already posted it here, I haven't really looked for it so just a matter of locating it


----------



## mmmyummybeer

The hop garden, Hard to see but that's actually peas growing on the trellis at the moment, I grow then on there over winter, while the hops are dormant.





Hops are shooting.


----------



## Yob

Looking forward to the harvest party yummy


----------



## mmmyummybeer

Me too


----------



## punkin

JB said:


> I'm in the same boat Phil. I recall seeing somewhere a large pole with a loop at the top where the the line is fed through, slackening and lowering the line the hops has grown onto as it grows towards the top - I'm sure someone has already posted it here, I haven't really looked for it so just a matter of locating it


http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/66807-how-to-build-a-hop-trellis/


----------



## technobabble66

Hey,
Has anyone tried trimming the top out of the main bines to trick the plant into growing laterals before it turns into a 5m high behemoth?

I thought i'd read some industry stuff a few months ago suggesting you could trim off the "apical meristem" at the top of the plant when it was only a 8-10ft high, after the 20-25th node (branching point). This would cause a change in the hormones being produced in the plant & initiate the growing of laterals, rather than waiting until it reached it's full height of several metres before doing so. (i think the flowers are all produced on the laterals?).
It was a technique being proposed to promote "low trellis" commercial growing of hops - it was meant to be able to lower costs for large scale producers.

Basically it was saying this apical meristem (top tip of plant) controls the lateral growth, and the length of days/sunlight hours controls the flower production.

*I was wondering if we could do the same, & if some AHB'ers already were doing this?*

I downloaded the main file i discovered, but can't find the research papers, nor upload this main file.
However, a google of "Oregon Hop Report on Low Trellis" should find it. (Maybe also add "2011")
And the main research being quoted was by "Shepherd et al, 2000"

PS: there's also a reference to Dwarf hops in there i thought Yob might be keen on: apparently there are no true "dwarf hops" outside the UK (in 2011, at least) h34r:


----------



## Danwood

That's interesting about the laterals starting once the top thinks it has gone as high as it can. 

Mine are doing this as they've hit the guttering.

Also, if you did nip the tips out, how far would laterals grow?

Just wondering if you let heaps of bines grow, as opposed to limiting them, and made them put most of their effort into laterals once you'd nipped to he tips out, would you get comparable yeilds?

Just thinking out loud. I'll read the above report aswell, but very interested to know if anyone grows like this.


----------



## Yob

Bit of discussion >HERE< Technobabble.. Must be noted that I spent the hottest part of the summer out of the state with my Mother in Hospital and as a result I had a terrible Hop year being unable to water them.. 

I do plan on tipping again this year.

....anyone who thinks they have dwarf varieties here in australia perhaps should do a bit of light reading on Hop Stunt Viroid.

:icon_cheers:


----------



## technobabble66

Hey Yob

Thanks for the link. Read it all. Lots of very interesting discussion.
No real conclusions or findings reported, unfortunately - especially after bongchitis lost most of his growth to scorching. :mellow:
And similarly with your plantation, sadly 

Has anyone else done comparisons with tipping/no-tipping?
And tipping at low height vs high height?
Single trim of bines vs multiple/sequential trims?

I'm keen to hear more on this, as my 1st year Chinook is in a 1m high planter box. So even if i can keep it to 2m height, it's going to be 3m off the ground...
I was hoping to espalier it or train it sideways, but now i'm not sure.


----------



## GrumpyPaul

Where I planted one of mine there is a plant coming up the looks a lot like a strawberry plant.

But it is growing pretty quick.

Am I a fool to think that the leaves of the hop plant look like those of the strawberry???

And....

Do the leave shapes varies from type to type?
I planted POR and Tettnanger.


----------



## Danwood

GrumpyPaul said:


> Where I planted one of mine there is a plant coming up the looks a lot like a strawberry plant.
> 
> But it is growing pretty quick.
> 
> Am I a fool to think that the leaves of the hop plant look like those of the strawberry???
> 
> And....
> 
> Do the leave shapes varies from type to type?
> I planted POR and Tettnanger.


Here's my strawbs, not very similar to hops. Much rounder leaves.

My Fuggles have 3, sometimes 4, distinct lobes (I'm sure someone knows the correct botanical term) to the leaves. The Goldings and Cascade have 5.


----------



## GrumpyPaul

Photo one. Definitely strawberries.




Photo two. Hopefully hops. 

leaves look the same, but there are the compared to one on the strawberry plant.


----------



## hoppy2B

My Dwarfs don't suffer any Chlorosis so I doubt they are stunted Yob.
Anyways, I recall reading some time ago that true Cluster don't grow much over 3 metres. I think it may have been in the Sunday Mail paper we get hear in Adelaide in the gardening section. And also that South Africa have a similar Cluster variety to ours. 
Cluster were mass selected back in the 1960's which may be the reason for the larger more vigorous strain that is around. Mine taste nothing like the blackcurrant attributed to it.
Pic is from early last November.


----------



## hoppy2B

You should see shoots before you see leaves Grumpy. Yours look like strawberries.


----------



## Judanero

GrumpyPaul said:


> Photo one. Definitely strawberries.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> phpDeitLuAM.jpg
> 
> Photo two. Hopefully hops.
> 
> leaves look the same, but there are the compared to one on the strawberry plant.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> phpRdLbiuAM.jpg


Strawberries in both pics.


----------



## 431neb

I did an image search for hop shoots just now and found a heap of interesting recipes for hop shoots. Anyone who is thinning their bines down might find pickled hop shoots (or similar) interesting.


----------



## Yob

I gave an Asian bloke I work with a cascade and a Chinook rhizome last year for this, and the added bonus that I get the hops off un eaten bines..


----------



## bt1

Howdy,

Anyone know where you can buy hop plants in Adelaide?

cheers
bt1


----------



## yum beer

Has anyone allowed their hops to grow without support/something to grow on, i.e just allowed to run rampant on the ground.
As they are a viney type of plant, similar from what I can tell to cucumber and zuchinni in their growth, would they just grow all over getting longer as they went to gain sunlight for the whole plant.
Surely naturally that is how they grow, with us greedy humans stringing them up to increase yield and/or growing area.
Only asking as I may be selling our house over the next few months and I'd rather not have to construct a hop yard if we are staying, but would like to have a crop next year if we don't sell.
Any ideas or experience out there.

To keep on topic my plants are going well and Hoppy the cluster you sent is twice the size of everthing else, may need to smoke it to stunt its 'dwarfy' growth.


----------



## yum beer

bt1 said:


> Howdy,
> 
> Anyone know where you can buy hop plants in Adelaide?
> 
> cheers
> bt1


May still be some on e-bay.


----------



## hoppy2B

bt1 said:


> Howdy,
> 
> Anyone know where you can buy hop plants in Adelaide?
> 
> cheers
> bt1


I have a couple, what sort are you after?


----------



## bullsneck

I got home from a few days in Ballarat to find three bines had just breached the surface. Very happy man, I am.


----------



## Danwood

Nipped out the tips of my Cascade this afternoon...well, on the 3 bines which had already reached the top of the ropes. I'll do the rest as they get to the same point. 

I haven't limited the number of bines, so I have around 2-3 bines on each of the 5 ropes.

I'm subscribing to the Oregon study, as posted earlier, regarding growing regular varietals as if they were dwarves. 

Apparently, this method will always have lower harvests, but is a good option if a lack of space is an issue. Commercially, it is also labour saving, but that isn't such an issue on a small scale. 
So it appears to be a trade off between harvest size and effort/space required.


----------



## sp0rk

Put some seasol and cow fertiliser on my plants yesterday
went to check them this afternoon and the shoots were all wilted 
Hopefully giving them a good watering over the next few days should help


----------



## mmmyummybeer

Just wondering if anyone has come across any literature on how to grow more resinous hops. Found plenty of info out there to increase yield, primarily more fertilizer and water etc and of course sunlight hours plays a part though we can't control that (unless your into providing artificial light in the right wavelength) I have noticed big differences in hop quality over the years where by some years the hops have had huge amounts of cones but no where near the same resin as other crops and where somewhat grassy. I would rather grow less hops with a massive resin hit hops than loads with little resin. Has anyone come across the secret is it as simple as trimming the bines to only a few and concentrating the hops or are there there other things at play. Anyway I'm interested to hear peoples thoughts on this matter.


----------



## mrTbeer

Starting small. First Goldings rhizome has popped up on the balcony. Will transfer into ground this week and get strung out. Mentioned it to a friend and turns out her parents are hop farmers in the UK. They're building another timber oast house and have emailed some pics.

Rhizome courtesy of ratchie.


----------



## Dunkelbrau

sp0rk said:


> Put some seasol and cow fertiliser on my plants yesterday
> went to check them this afternoon and the shoots were all wilted
> Hopefully giving them a good watering over the next few days should help


Fresh manure will burn the foliage, make sure it's not touching to get no leaf burn 

A couple of my leaves are burnt, but the rest are fine. The fresher it is, the worse it is .


----------



## philmud

Jurt said:


> Fresh manure will burn the foliage, make sure it's not touching to get no leaf burn
> 
> A couple of my leaves are burnt, but the rest are fine. The fresher it is, the worse it is .


Presumably if the cow/chicken has been eating a vindaloo the burn will be even more pronounced.


----------



## Mardoo

Phil Mud said:


> Presumably if the cow/chicken has been eating a vindaloo the burn will be even more pronounced.


That would be liquid fertilizer.


----------



## Danwood

DEPLOY BIOLOGICAL COUNTERMEASURES !!

Use of lethal force authorised....execute with extreme prejudice...

(I've named him Jason Bourne)


----------



## sp0rk

Well, it looks like only the victoria had it's shoot affected (the one and only shoot  )
it's only died from the top to half way down the 3-ish inch shoot, should I just leave it or trim it back?


----------



## Yob

Just leave it sp0rk, pity as my Victoria is booming, I gave it some string a few weeks ago and within 2 hours it had twisted round the twine twice and has gone mad since. Bines are sooo spiky too..

Really loving this spring weather, rain and Sun is doing them wonders


----------



## sp0rk

Yob said:


> Just leave it sp0rk, pity as my Victoria is booming, I gave it some string a few weeks ago and within 2 hours it had twisted round the twine twice and has gone mad since. Bines are sooo spiky too..
> 
> Really loving this spring weather, rain and Sun is doing them wonders


Fair enough, I'll leave it be
Hopefully it'll get a nice big root system this year and then go gangbusters next year


----------



## sp0rk

Dug up my Victoria rhizome today and transferred it into the same pot as the Chinook
The ends of the Victoria Rhizome had rotted a bit, so I have a feeling it's gonna cark it soon
However the Chinook had 3 shoots just about to breach the surface and about 10 more just starting to bud


----------



## hoppy2B

sp0rk said:


> Dug up my Victoria rhizome today and transferred it into the same pot as the Chinook
> The ends of the Victoria Rhizome had rotted a bit, so I have a feeling it's gonna cark it soon
> However the Chinook had 3 shoots just about to breach the surface and about 10 more just starting to bud


I have no idea why you would want to put it in the same pot as your Chinook. Best bet might be to trim the ends off the Vic rhizome and transfer it to its own pot and put it in a warm spot and keep moist.


----------



## sp0rk

hoppy2B said:


> I have no idea why you would want to put it in the same pot as your Chinook. Best bet might be to trim the ends off the Vic rhizome and transfer it to its own pot and put it in a warm spot and keep moist.


Because I have the feeling I've put way too much fertiliser and seasol in the soil and It's possibly burning the rhizome
These were just in temporary puts over winter, they're being planted into individual half 220 litre plastic drums next weekend


----------



## Beer_Horse

Here's my first time hop plantation, Cascade on the left, Chinook on the right. Mostly happy, but can someone tell me what's getting at my chinook? (See second pic) found a green caterpillar on a leaf this morning, could that be the culprit?


----------



## Dave70

Did it look like this?






Could be some type of cabbage moth caterpillar. If you've seen those white moths getting about most likely is. 
The little pricks are fast workers and ripped through my broccoli in a couple of days.
I launched a counter strike with tomato dust which sorted them out but I don't know if that would be suitable for hops. A good, fairly benign method for control is steeping some garlic and chili in water for a few days, pouring it into a squirt bottle with a few drops of detergent. They hate it.


----------



## tricache

Dave70 said:


> Did it look like this?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Could be some type of cabbage moth caterpillar. If you've seen those white moths getting about most likely is.
> The little pricks are fast workers and ripped through my broccoli in a couple of days.
> I launched a counter strike with tomato dust which sorted them out but I don't know if that would be suitable for hops. A good, fairly benign method for control is steeping some garlic and chili in water for a few days, pouring it into a squirt bottle with a few drops of detergent. They hate it.


Had those little bastards destroy my broccoli and spinach :angry:

Will be sure to keep an eye on my hops, thanks for the tip on the garlic/chilli I will be sure to keep some of that at the ready :icon_cheers:


----------



## Dave70

tricache said:


> Had those little bastards destroy my broccoli and spinach :angry:
> 
> Will be sure to keep an eye on my hops, thanks for the tip on the garlic/chilli I will be sure to keep some of that at the ready :icon_cheers:


*Top Tip*

Avoid the mist getting in your eyes. Really.

Or on your genitalia.


----------



## Mardoo

Dave70 said:


> Or on your genitalia.


To each his own...


----------



## Beer_Horse

Thanks for the tip, I'll give that a whirl. Looked a bit different to that one but I'm sure it'll work. Little bastards won't know what's hit 'em!


----------



## wide eyed and legless

Eight days after planting, I am about to up the nutrient dose and see what happens.


----------



## Liam_snorkel

My 2 chinook starting to wake from their slumber.


----------



## bronson

looking good guys ,
I nabbed the last cascade from my local bunnings and put up 3 st/less cables 4mts up to my facia hopefully its enough.... it crawl up my roof it wants. ha ha.
but I also have a hop plant I bought of this old guy from Wantirna trash and treasure last year . it was potted and he told me a yarn of how his son imports hops and it was a cutting of one he brought back from Germany. he couldn't tell me the name of it "h or G" he said . I thought for $7 id buy it anyway. I didn't get a yield last year but its cranking up already. I reckon almost 5 ft high. ill put up some photos tomorrow.
brons


----------



## Yob

my biggest bine (Victoria) snapped in the wind storms

<_<  :angry:

rest are all popping up in bunches..


----------



## punkin

Almost time to start letting the cables down to give my Cascade some more growing room. The pole is 4,8m but the pots are a metre off the ground.

I guess i can get 5 metres of growth as i let them sag down a couple of foot at a time.


----------



## hoppy2B

Looks good Punkin. Looks like they take off early in your part of the country.
My most advanced hop is my Golding at around 1 metre. Slowed down a bit in the windy weather recently and with slightly cooler temps, but should pic up as the weather warms this week.


----------



## punkin

hoppy2B said:


> Looks good Punkin. Looks like they take off early in your part of the country.
> My most advanced hop is my Golding at around 1 metre. Slowed down a bit in the windy weather recently and with slightly cooler temps, but should pic up as the weather warms this week.



I think they are just racing due to high compost and manure loading over the winter feeding them up now. Just went back and looked at page 1 and it was the 7th of last month they poked their heads out, so 4 weeks growth on them. Lots of other people were showing growth before me, but i think the preperation has allowed my hops to catch up.

Just starting to grow some branching shoots (laterals?) the last couple of days too.


----------



## Dunkelbrau

4 weeks growth? That's huge for 4 weeks

Mines been sitting at around 4-5 inches high forever haha.. Manure, fertilizer, sunlight (moving the pot around to maximise sun hours), water.. Still no big growth.

Although it is first season for it so it's probably just setting its roots up first.. I hope haha


----------



## benken25

my 3rd year clusters is starting to produce a heap of burs not long now till a harvest I think :icon_drool2: seems heaps earlier than last year the rest of my plants are nowhere near that


----------



## DU99

i planted late and have this happening..it have three shoots and it's off one cutting..suggestions





Mind you it's1St my attempt at growing


----------



## Yob

water it... when it gets a bit bigger give it some string to climb on


----------



## DU99

All 3 shoots..and its your cutting YOB..also feeding it with seasol


----------



## Yob

Starting to see plenty of action, still need to vo vertical but plenty of growth down low.





POR




TETT




From the end of the yard


----------



## philmud

Days like this I look out the window and think "it's a ******* great day for my hops!".

Brewing permeates everything!


----------



## pimpsqueak

My 2nd year goldings and chinook are going absolutely mental, but the Victoria is a no go.
Last year it produced a pretty big crop and it has loads of shoots but they break the surface, sprout one or two tiny leaves, turn brown and die. Wtf?
It's in the same medium, same pot size and gets the same water and sunlight as the chinook and goldings.

Anyone else had this happen? What did you do?


----------



## JDW81

One of my chinooks has broken the surface, I'm still waiting for the other to pop up. Hopefully it will stick it's head out over the next few days. The one which has appeared is growing like a weed.


----------



## tricache

Mine have reached the top of the trellis and have now started to venture down my fence...2nd year Hallertau, got nothing off them first year but fingers cross this year!


----------



## sp0rk

Chinook is still only an inch or 2 tall :/

Might have to move them to another spot, maybe not enough sun


----------



## SimoB

Got goldings and cascade they are all just popping up about inch high with some leaves.... only 1 shoot each. poor little guys,,,


----------



## brad81

Cascade 2nd year




Hallertau 2nd year




Chinook 2nd year (shoot protective grill removed)




Haven't had any hops yet, but gave these lovelies some liquid fish, slow release fertiliser, blood and bone, and leaf matter before a good covering of straw.


----------



## HBHB

My 2x Hallertau have launched, 2 x Cascades have taken off and already reached about 65cm and the 2x Chinooks seem to have survived against the odds of scrub turkeys digging the whole root system up 4 times during winter. I'm thinking hop stuffed turkey for Christmas.

Looking forward to another fresh harvest ale with Cascade and Chinook.

Martin


----------



## Yob

Just remember to cook that Turkey with a rock Martin


----------



## HBHB

Yob said:


> Just remember to cook that Turkey with a rock Martin


Nice and tender mate..... been many years, but fond memories before they were protected.


----------



## tricache

All this hot weather and watering every couple of days are making them grow like crazy!


----------



## wide eyed and legless

Day 21 in the hydro 5 hop pellets planted 3 strikes in one pot and 1 strike in the other


----------



## JDW81

sp0rk said:


> Chinook is still only an inch or 2 tall :/


By all accounts chinook is a slow starter, but a fast finisher.


----------



## GrumpyPaul

Yob said:


> Starting to see plenty of action, still need to vo vertical but plenty of growth down low.
> 
> 
> 
> POR.JPG
> 
> POR
> 
> 
> 
> 
> TETT.JPG
> 
> TETT


The good news is I found mine (remember the strawberry looking hop photo/post I made a few weeks back) - turns out I had actually planted it the hops on the other side of the garden.

Yob gave me the TETT and POR Yob gave me have sprouted but now where near the growth shown in Yob's pic.

Will post a pic soon.


----------



## Weizguy

My Chinook not out yet. Cascade starting and Tettnang producing a mass of shoots and leaves.


----------



## Yob

wide eyed and legless said:


> Day 21 in the hydro 5 hop pellets planted 3 strikes in one pot and 1 strike in the other


Sorry? you put some hop pellets in a hydro pot and some have grown? :blink:

What sorts?


----------



## Camo6

Hopefully amarillo, simcoe and citra.


----------



## Yob

I know somebody with some Amarillo seeds h34r:


----------



## punkin

Dwarf or regular?


----------



## Yob

Sativa... No thats not right...


----------



## wide eyed and legless

Sorry, I was feeling a bit playful this morning, I only put that in for the benefit of the septic tanks, I was reading this morning that 12%
of them believe that Joan of Arc was Noah's wife so I thought why not


----------



## hoppy2B

Interesting idea but, if lupulin was like pollen there might exist a potential to clone it using tissue culture.


----------



## wide eyed and legless

I will be cloning the ones I am growing. If you want a few of them to get a decent crop I reckon that will be the way to go instead of cutting up the rhizome.


----------



## Liam_snorkel

Chinook has decided that it's time to climb


----------



## philmud

My chinook are looking a bit poor, been attacked by bugs (spraying with pyrethrum, garlic & chilli didn't seem to help). Now the leaves are starting to discolour. The Melbourne weather has been a proper James Blunt lately, lots of wind and even hail yesterday. Anyway, I thought someone with greener thumbs might have some advice. I've been feeding them cow poo and also some seasol roughly every week. Plenty of water.


----------



## Camo6

I've got a few leaves on my goldings drying out and browning a bit around the edges like that. They're only down low so figure they're just old leaves as they have good drainage and minimal fertiliser. Pretty sure they did the same thing last year so not too worried.

_Disclaimer: I'm am not a horticulturist._


----------



## philmud

Cheers Camo, this appears to be almost all the leaves, but hopefully they'll be ok!


----------



## hoppy2B

Where are you growing yours Phil Mud? Looks a bit shady in the photo you put up is why I asked. Under trees can sometimes lead to attack from insects that live in the trees. Also, full sun is normally the best. Fuggles and Australian Tettnang may tolerate some shade though.


----------



## philmud

Hi Hoppy, thanks for that, yep, not full sun I'm afraid, stupid little inner city back yards! It's next to a colorbond fence in a garden bed with a bunch of herbs and chillies etc


----------



## JDW81

I've put in two Chinook rhizomes this year and only one has emerged from the dirt thus far, but unfortunately I came home to find the dog sleeping on it and broken off at the ground. Not happy to say the least. What I'm wondering is if the broken shoot is likely to re-emerge and take off again, or if the rhizome will put out some more shoots in it's first year in the ground? 

Also, does the lack of action from my second rhizome mean it is a goner, or am I just being impatient?

Cheers,

JD


----------



## Liam_snorkel

just sit tight, it will put out more shoots. put some chook wire around it so the dog doesn't sit on it again


----------



## JDW81

Liam_snorkel said:


> just sit tight, it will put out more shoots. put some chook wire around it so the dog doesn't sit on it again


Thanks mate, never grown hops before so it is all a bit of a mystery at the moment.


----------



## Camo6

Rat shot is a good fix for broken bines. Apply judiciously from a sensible distance.

Disclaimer: I am not an expert on animal welfare.


----------



## JDW81

Camo6 said:


> Rat shot is a good fix for broken bines. Apply judiciously from a sensible distance.
> 
> Disclaimer: I am not an expert on animal welfare.


Are you suggesting I shoot my dog? I rather burn down my house and never drink another beer again than do that.


----------



## Liam_snorkel

JDW81 said:


> Thanks mate, never grown hops before so it is all a bit of a mystery at the moment.


have a flick through previous years "show us ya hops" threads to see how other 1st year rhizomes have gone. Chinook being a slow starter seems to be a common thing. Mine didn't _really/ get cracking until december in their first year._


----------



## Camo6

JDW81 said:


> Are you suggesting I shoot my dog? I rather burn down my house and never drink another beer again than do that.



Naah. Just my sardonic sense of humour. I'm the same about my pooch. I worked for an old cocky whose dog would gnaw at the carryall everyday no matter how much he yelled at it. One morning he jumped off the tractor, ran in the shed, came out with the .22 and shot him. My stomach dropped cause I thought he'd just killed Sam but he'd only used ratshot which is just a grainy powder. "Now get on the ******* verandah!" he said. Sam took his advice and never chased the carryall again. Anyway I hope you liked my story. Probably needs more dragons though.


----------



## punkin

Ratshot is small lead BB's.


----------



## philmud

I wouldn't shoot a dog with rat shot. Some of those old cocky's are different cats, that's for sure


----------



## pimpsqueak

Wouldn't have picked Goldings to be the triffid so early. Chinook is catching up rapidly though and you can't see it, the Victoria on the left has finally sent up shoots that haven't immediately died.


----------



## punkin

Where will your hops climb to mate?

Mine are at the top of the 4.8 metre pole after letting them droop a metre and still climbing into thin air. You need some serious support there.


----------



## pimpsqueak

Sadly the retaining wall is coming down soon, so I can't string them up like last year.
I may have brokered a deal with the neighbor to house them on his side of the fence for the season though. Hopefully I'll move them this weekend and sort out some lines for them.


----------



## Camo6

punkin said:


> Ratshot is small lead BB's.


#BB is a size class of shot between #B and #BBB, same as #12 is a size of shot otherwise referred to as 'ratshot' or 'dust'. Agree, they are very small.

Just to reiterate my stance on animal welfare, I own a pure bred border collie from a reputable Casterton breeder. She preferred chasing the bike than the farmer's sheep and was gonna get lead poisoning, instead she now follows my girls around the backyard licking the honey off their hands and protecting my hops, which, to keep on topic, are flourishing.


----------



## acm259

Now that everyone's rhizomes are shooting what are you all growing?

As far as I can tell the following varieties have been available as rhizomes this year -

Fuggles
Golding
Challenger
Target
Northdown
Chinook
Cascade
Columbus
Willamette
Mt Hood
Nugget
Liberty
Saaz
Tettang
Hersbrueker
Hallertau
Perle
Victoria
Red Earth
Wurtemburger
Tardif de Bourgogne
Pride of Ringwood

Did I miss any?


----------



## Grainer

acm259 said:


> Now that everyone's rhizomes are shooting what are you all growing?
> 
> As far as I can tell the following varieties have been available as rhizomes this year -
> 
> Fuggles
> Golding
> Challenger
> Target
> Northdown
> Chinook
> Cascade
> Columbus
> Willamette
> Mt Hood
> Nugget
> Liberty
> Saaz
> Tettang
> Hersbrueker
> Hallertau
> Perle
> Victoria
> Red Earth
> Wurtemburger
> Tardif de Bourgogne
> Pride of Ringwood
> 
> Did I miss any?


The real question is how do I get all these varieties in my garden and convince the wife they are good climbers for the garden without spending a cent LOL...


----------



## punkin

Mine have stopped growing and have burs on them.







Seems to me that my first year last year i picked the cones from the bottom up, but this year they seem to be flowering from the top down?

Anyone know what is the norm?


----------



## acm259

Only just starting to shoot. The trellis needs to be higher but they haven't finished harvesting the local pine forest and then all the 7m posts I need h34r: !


----------



## Yob

Impressive

Me likey


----------



## hoppy2B

Did you miss 'Cluster' acm259?


----------



## acm259

Many thanks for adding that one Hoppy2B.

Elsasser and Precoce d"Bourgogne would also be on the list but nobody has offered up rhizomes from either of them for a couple of years. So I don't know whether they are stashed in someone's backyard or now extinct.

Andrew


----------



## Dunkelbrau

My cascade looks to be dying off - thought I was a potassium deficiency. :-(

Leaves are browning from the outside in.. Any ideas?


----------



## Yob

Have you checked soil PH?


----------



## hoppy2B

Jurt said:


> My cascade looks to be dying off - thought I was a potassium deficiency. :-(
> 
> Leaves are browning from the outside in.. Any ideas?


Can you provide photos Jurt? What sort of fertilizing and watering regime have you been following?


----------



## sp0rk

Finally put up some bamboo teepees for my hops to climb



My Chinook that's been in the ground since early August, still not really getting any progress :unsure: 



Hallertauer that's been in the ground since tuesday, it's going crazy (shoot on the left is 2 inches tall)
I think there were 20ish shoots coming off the rhizome, so we'll see how it goes



Thanks again to Carniebrew who sold me the Hallertauer rhizome after my Victoria bit the dust


----------



## filbrew

Anyone been able to get a good harvest of Hallertauer? Had mine 2 years and still no hops. Although I haven't been able to get it to grow huge like some people.


----------



## Camo6

Jurt said:


> My cascade looks to be dying off - thought I was a potassium deficiency. :-(
> 
> Leaves are browning from the outside in.. Any ideas?


Wet feet? I had tomatoes do similar due to poor drainage in their pots. Are they potted or in the ground?


----------



## DU99

My Victoria


----------



## Dunkelbrau

Yob said:


> Have you checked soil PH?


Negative, what's the optimum range? Most of the others like black currant and raspberry are doing great.


hoppy2B said:


> Can you provide photos Jurt? What sort of fertilizing and watering regime have you been following?


No photos at this stage, I've been house sitting and popping in the check up on the plants etc every few days.

Cow manure, gave it some potash the other day, and started with miracle grow liquid. Watering daily, full sun position.


Camo6 said:


> Wet feet? I had tomatoes do similar due to poor drainage in their pots. Are they potted or in the ground?


Potted with around 6 holes, the pot is 40cm diameter and about 40cm tall, filled 90% ish.

Watered daily as above, it did cross my mind, I had a poke around and it is damp, but it was also watered before I checked it.


----------



## Camo6

Jurt said:


> Negative, what's the optimum range? Most of the others like black currant and raspberry are doing great.
> 
> No photos at this stage, I've been house sitting and popping in the check up on the plants etc every few days.
> 
> Cow manure, gave it some potash the other day, and started with miracle grow liquid. Watering daily, full sun position.
> 
> Potted with around 6 holes, the pot is 40cm diameter and about 40cm tall, filled 90% ish.
> 
> Watered daily as above, it did cross my mind, I had a poke around and it is damp, but it was also watered before I checked it.


Is it good quality potting mix or have you added any soil? Also how often are you fertilising? Maybe your burning them. Shouldn't think it's the miraclegro as there cousins thrive on that stuff, or so I'm led to believe. h34r:


----------



## punkin

Yesterday morning my hops looked like this...





Yesterday afternoon they looked like this...





I've done some investigations and i think i have found the culprits...








Was the 5th of December last year when the bigger hail storm ripped through and i still got a fair crop. It's hard to how now, but hoping this will regenerate.


----------



## hoppy2B

I hope you're not putting that miracle stuff on them every day Jurt.


----------



## Dan Pratt

East Kent Goldings is up, up and away 





This rhizome has 5 shoots on it, do i just let them all grow up the wires?


----------



## Liam_snorkel

yep let them go. they'll quite happily share wires


----------



## DarkFaerytale

personally i'd cut back the 2 smaller ones and let the other 3 grow, if it's 1st year though just let it do it's thing


----------



## sp0rk

My Chinook seems to be so tiny because the rhizome is starting to rot 
However the Hallertauer i put in last week is going mental


----------



## Yob

I've got an EKG bine making a break for it, has grown a little set of roots off it and would be easy to snip off if anyone wants to pick it up?


----------



## Westo

Has anyone in brisbane had any luck growing hops? I bought a chinook rhyzome last year and planted it in a pot in the backyard it started to grow got about 1m high then stopped growing and died, i cut it back to the ground thinking it would grow again. But nothing has changed i dug the dirt up to check if the root was rotten but it looks ok and i have been watering it every day and it gets plenty of sunshine

Any tips on maybe getting it to grow?


----------



## Liam_snorkel

Resist the urge to dig it up, the very first shoots are pretty fragile. It'll grow when it's good and ready.


----------



## kevo

My Chinooks on the Gold Coast sat around for ages before going nuts in the last week.

For probably the previous 6 weeks, I'd had small bunches of growth, more of a shrubbery than bines/vines. Then BAM! bines galore and probably grown a metre in height in the last 7 days.

EKG & Fuggles also growing strong.


----------



## Dan Pratt

DarkFaerytale said:


> personally i'd cut back the 2 smaller ones and let the other 3 grow, if it's 1st year though just let it do it's thing


this is the first year and first time growing hops.


----------



## carniebrew

My Cascade, which took off quickly after planting, seems to have stalled at around a metre tall. In fact most of my 4 plants seem to have really slowed down...is it Melbourne's return to cool weather in the last month?

The leaves of the Cascade have started to ever so slightly turn brown on the outside...it's planted in 50kg of potting mix, and I haven't fed it any kind of fertilizer. Should I just let it go, or feed it something special? The potting mix seems to have a good level of moisture, not wet, but not too dry either.


----------



## unclebarrel

I have the same problem with my three. Coulmbus, cascade and chinook.
I think there is a thread somewhere on here about it too.
I have been keeping mine watered, not overly, and a feed of seasol and powerfeed about once every week or two.
Still getting the browning of leaves and the also have stalled.
Mine get half day sun.

Another mate has the same problem, but his get all day sun.

Maybe it is a Melbourne weather thing ?
Maybe they will start to get going when the warmer months arrive.


----------



## DU99

CB..mines in a pot and gave it water with seasol and a couple scoops of all purpose fertilizer.they need a feed.mines in full sun


----------



## carniebrew

I hadn't fed them anything since planting them in early September. From what I'd read you're supposed to "feed" them rarely, usually only if you see any problems occurring? Anyway, last night I pitched the Cascade 40gm of "Easy Wetta" fertiliser granules and gave it a good soaking, see if that makes anything happen.

Here's a pic of the Cascade from above:




And a close-up of some of the leaves:




And finally my Hersbrucker, which I reckon has looked like this for about a month, it's hardly budged. Looks really healthy, but just not growing vertically at all at the moment:


----------



## Pokey

Goldings on the left, Hersbrucker on the right. Both making some vertical progress


----------



## technobabble66

Hey CB,
Your plants look fine. Just some of the leaves getting a bit older I'd guess. 
Maybe just check under the leaves for sap suckers or caterpillars. No obvious signs, but at this time of the year they'll start to hit the leaves. It might explain a few of the slight blemishes on the leaves. 
Where did you read it's best not to feed them during the growing season? What is the theory behind that idea?
If there's a good reason I'll have to change what I'm doing. I'm currently treating my chinook the same as all my plants, esp cropping plants: small-moderate amounts of dynamic lifter every 4-6 weeks, and nitrosol & seasol every 2-3 weeks. 
All my other plants are going crazy. The chinook was growing an inch a day(!), then stopped about 10 days ago with the cold weather. 
It should be a foot taller by the end of tomorrow, though! (23*C today & 28*C tmrw)


----------



## punkin

nobody cares about my poor mangled hopses....


----------



## Camo6

punkin said:


> nobody cares about my poor mangled hopses....


I was impressed by the leaf splatter on the neighbours shed. It must have been a massacre.


----------



## technobabble66

nobody cares about my poor mangled hopses.... 


Commiserations punkin! 

I did give it a minute's (stunned) silence at the time, to honour the fallen leaves. 
But what else is there to say? Don't plant your hops under hailstorms ?... :-/ Shield them with your body next time ?
I hope they're recovering well or will be soon. 

And feed them some o' that seasol, quick smart!

Or in ER parlance,
50ml Seasol, STAT!!


----------



## punkin

Thanks guys, if i had been sheilding them i have doubts about my ability to tell the tale coherently without some involuntary movement or a yipyip.


----------



## Ninegrain

Browning on the leaves could be burn from the sun hitting them when they are wet. This happened to mine when they were young and since then I have mad an effort to keep the leaves dry if I water in the morning and it hasnt happened again since


----------



## technobabble66

Browning on the leaves could be burn from the sun hitting them when they are wet. This happened to mine when they were young and since then I have mad an effort to keep the leaves dry if I water in the morning and it hasnt happened again since


Really? I grew up (my parents are mad keen gardeners) hearing all this fear of burning leaves by watering during the day & having wet leaves. I don't think I've ever seen it occur. So I'm a bit skeptical about it, tbh; unless it's a particularly delicate plant. 
Also, it just doesn't seem logical: surely there'd be dead plants everywhere every time there's a rain shower in spring, summer & autumn.
I'd happily be proven wrong though! 

Are you sure it's from the water + sun burning the leaves? Hops seem a bit too robust for this.

By the way, I'm not having a go at you ninegrain!
I'm just curious about this phenomenon I've heard so much about but never actually seen in person in spite of much watering on sunny days.


----------



## Ninegrain

It's true it is a bit of a myth with most plants, but those with soft or young leaves it certainly can happen. 

Most days it won't, but if young leaves are left with water on them on a day that's forecast to be clear and 30'c plus then they may burn. This happens on my maples all the time. Generally it's the case on deciduous broad leaves trees that come from cold climates.

Once the hops have mature, adult leaves I wouldn't worry about. Just the new out the ground soft leaves on a day that's forecast to be hot 

I blame our lack of an ozone layer and these weak northern hemisphere plants that can't handle it 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## carniebrew

technobabble66 said:


> <snip>
> Where did you read it's best not to feed them during the growing season? What is the theory behind that idea?
> If there's a good reason I'll have to change what I'm doing. I'm currently treating my chinook the same as all my plants, esp cropping plants: small-moderate amounts of dynamic lifter every 4-6 weeks, and nitrosol & seasol every 2-3 weeks.
> <snip>


I think it was from a combination of articles/blogs, but this is pretty much where it started: http://byo.com/stories/item/1872-growing-hops-in-containers

The suggestion seemed to be to only feed them when they need it....i.e. if you leaves start to turn purple or brown, or stop growing. I guess mine have done the latter...but they look so damn healthy I've been hesitant to pound them with fertilizer.


----------



## Ninegrain

Oh and it won't kill em. The leaves and plant in general are still ok with burnt bits on them. It will just make em look sick when they may not necessarily be so, and slow them down a little. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## carniebrew

Here's another article I recall reading: http://www.brewerschoice.net.au/html/growing%20hops.htm

It's Australian-based, which helps...and it mentions that the 'main growing time' is early to mid-summer...so I haven't been too worried about not seeing a lot of vertical action from my hops as yet, given they're all first year plants. I figure as long as they look healthy and green, then I'll wait 'til mid-next month before worrying about their height.


----------



## unclebarrel

This is the extent of the browning/yellowing that is happening g to my Columbus. It doesn't worry me too much.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free


----------



## carniebrew

unclebarrel said:


> This is the extent of the browning/yellowing that is happening g to my Columbus. It doesn't worry me too much.


The one on the left looks a bit crook UB, but the rest are a lot more like mine at the moment. I'm gonna RDWHAHB and see how they progress!


----------



## unclebarrel

My plan exactly. HB's going fins well right now !

The cascade and chinook are not that bad, just a little browning in the edges.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free


----------



## unclebarrel

Going DOWN, not fins ! 
All thumbs this bloke.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free


----------



## sp0rk

My chinook was dead when i went to water it today


----------



## carniebrew

sp0rk said:


> My chinook was dead when i went to water it today


Bugger, how did that happen?


----------



## Yob

@ Punkin.. Mate, you seem to get some wicked hail storms up there on a regular basis.. Ya car must look like a golf ball


----------



## hoppy2B

sp0rk said:


> My chinook was dead when i went to water it today


Yeah, that sucks don't it. I hope you have some other hops growing spork.


----------



## Dunkelbrau

hoppy2B said:


> I hope you're not putting that miracle stuff on them every day Jurt.


haha no I've used it twice .. It's been in a few months


----------



## punkin

Yob said:


> @ Punkin.. Mate, you seem to get some wicked hail storms up there on a regular basis.. Ya car must look like a golf ball


Yeah. Copped the side of my ute as it came in under the carport this time. Dropped the comprehensive insurance a couple of years ago as the old girl dropped value so it's there to stay too.

Got an assessor coming round to look at the house and shed rooves.


----------



## wide eyed and legless

unclebarrel said:


> This is the extent of the browning/yellowing that is happening g to my Columbus. It doesn't worry me too much.
> 
> 
> 
> ImageUploadedByTapatalk1383292043.451491.jpg
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free


That looks like Downy Mildew, and if you are letting water touch the leaves while watering you are feeding the mildew, just take those bottom leaves off.


----------



## unclebarrel

Thanks for the heads up W.E.A.L. 
Checked out downy mildew and it looks exactly like what I have !
The offending bine has been amputated.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Rubix

Just a quick update from the Island.

Cascade



Chinook



Fuggles



Goldings



Hersbrucker



Perle



Pride of Ringwood


----------



## gava

mine are being eaten but can't see whats doing it, What Can i put on them?
Cheers
Gavin


----------



## sp0rk

carniebrew said:


> Bugger, how did that happen?


Apparently i may have watered it too much before the rhizome was well established 
The Hallertauer I got from you is going gangbusters, though


----------



## kevo

unclebarrel said:


> Thanks for the heads up W.E.A.L.
> Checked out downy mildew and it looks exactly like what I have !
> The offending bine has been amputated.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


And my understanding is to take that bine far away and burn it/dispose of it thoroughly - chucking it in the compost keeps the mildew and it's spores in the vicinity of the rest of your garden and healthy hop plants.


----------



## Mr. No-Tip

Cascade already ten feet tall and showing tiny cones: 



I blame global warming.


----------



## hoppy2B

I'm keen to see pics of the cones on your Cascade when they are ready Mr. No-Tip.


----------



## Northside Novice

My lonely chinook zome . Sprouted about 6 weeks ago .


----------



## unclebarrel

kevo said:


> And my understanding is to take that bine far away and burn it/dispose of it thoroughly - chucking it in the compost keeps the mildew and it's spores in the vicinity of the rest of your garden and healthy hop plants.


Thanks kevo. 
Good advice, I did just drop it on the ground. 
Now I will bin it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## bullsneck

Anyone have any tips to keep the possums at bay? They're eating the growth nodes


----------



## Yob

cage and release 10=km away if you are friendly

Cage and release after 5 minutes at the bottom of the lake if you are not so friendly

or there are >THESE< sorts of things

:icon_cheers:


----------



## technobabble66

My Chinook from a few weeks ago (i just worked out how to upload pics), ~9/10/13.
A single Rhizome from the Doc (planted ~14/8/13) produced the 3 bines in the pic. Bines first appeared ~5/9/13.
It grew a little bigger & leafier after the photo was taken, but hasn't really grown at all in the last 2 weeks due to the cold weather (i think).

Mind you, all the other plants are much bigger now, especially the tomatoes <_<


----------



## carniebrew

northside novice said:


> image.jpg
> My lonely chinook zome . Sprouted about 6 weeks ago .


Wow...has that been in the ground a few years, or is it a first-timer?


----------



## Northside Novice

It's in a big pot and on its third season I think , could be forth .


----------



## Weizguy

A German-origin hop style. I think it's Perle. Only been out of the ground maybe 2 weeks.

And my bamboo frame hop trellis. Still needs to be secured and strings attached, but you see the general intent



<edit> Bushfire-ravaged trees (black trunks/ brown foliage) can be seen in the background and sideground (hey I made a word). </edit>
Les from the fiery swamp


----------



## Mardoo

Anyone have any tips to keep the possums at bay? They're eating the growth nodes
You could try fox urine:

http://www.traps.com.au/lures.htm

Towards the bottom of the page. Not the lures, the urine. Lures and your cats/chooks/chihuahuas are toast.


----------



## Camo6

Mardoo said:


> You could try fox urine:
> 
> http://www.traps.com.au/lures.htm
> 
> Towards the bottom of the page. Not the lures, the urine. Lures and your cats/chooks/chihuahuas are toast.


Wow! Cool site. Pity they're out of skunk quill as I know a few blokes who deserve a drop of that in their plenum chambers. And a bit of Musk might help around home if ya know what I mean.


----------



## Mardoo

You really should not have put that skunk quill idea in my head...


----------



## sp0rk

hmmm, little white specks on my leaves, hopefully it's not some sort of mildew


----------



## Weizguy

> hmmm, little white specks on my leaves, hopefully it's not some sort of mildew


Maybe it's bugs underneath, sapping the chlorophyll?


----------



## Bats

I'm sure it's recorded in here somewhere....

I'm interested to know what you guys feed your hop plants with. I have a chinook about 10 feet now and have only ever watered it.

What should I feed it to give it the best chance of a decent yield?


----------



## Northside Novice

I use Dynamic lifter . It is good stuff.


----------



## Liam_snorkel

chook shit occasionally, seasol every 2 weeks, and a bag of mushie compost at the start of growing season. I have no idea what I'm doing but they seem to be growing quite happily (as is the parsley bush next to them, it has a 'trunk' as wide as my wrist)


----------



## DU99

powerfeed/seasol and slow release fertiliser


----------



## sp0rk

Cow shit and seasol here, seems to be working great with my Hallertauer and Strawberries this year
The strawberry bush is about 3 times taller than it usually gets, I think the cow poop/seasol combo is a winner


----------



## gava

sp0rk said:


> Cow shit and seasol here, seems to be working great with my Hallertauer and Strawberries this year
> The strawberry bush is about 3 times taller than it usually gets, I think the cow poop/seasol combo is a winner


how often?


----------



## sp0rk

gava said:


> how often?


Every 2 to 3 weeks


----------



## hoppy2B

They all seem like pretty good methods of fertilizing. Regular watering is important too.


----------



## Northside Novice

Nitrogen , potassium and phosphorous .
Check the label . Cheaper ones don't have as much as more pricy ones . I prefer dynamic lifter because in its pellet form it is slow release and a cup of pellets in a 20 litre bucket for a few days becomes instant liquid fertiliser so you can have the best of both methods . It's about $45 a bag , even cheaper if you go to Bunnings the day befor and break a few bags open so the next day they will re bag them and sell them at a discount (about half price  )
Good ol water is what they need most if all and lots of it . 
Give it to em big time !


----------



## Judanero

Random hop shooting up, suspected Goldings... but may be Fuggles (left over remnant from removed rhizome)


----------



## carniebrew

I haven't given mine much water lately, as I noticed when I turn over a few inches of the potting mix, it's still quite moist. Not wet, but cool and moist...and that was yesterday after a couple of warm/sunny days, before the rain came back. Seems Melbourne is giving them enough water without my help at the moment...


----------



## Northside Novice

Befor water and that , sun is really a big thing that they need , shade at any moment in daylight hours = not ideal .


----------



## yum beer

My plants sit between the septic drain pipes, constant dynamic lifter.
They are not real tall yet but we have has some good frosts in the last few weeks and still been hitting below zero overnight at times......-2 on Wednesday morning, 34 today....what hope...
All my rhizomes came up this year except for saaz which were quite small and have rotted. Need to get strings up this week.


----------



## Northside Novice

Companion planting might help ? Strawberries or marigolds can give a soil covering to help defend the frost , 
Or just hook up some sodium halide lights


----------



## carniebrew

northside novice said:


> Befor water and that , sun is really a big thing that they need , shade at any moment in daylight hours = not ideal .


I recently moved my eco-kegs as I noticed a few trees in my yard were partly shading the hops during the morning and arvo. The new spot should get them a lot more sun, let's see how that goes.


----------



## Mr. No-Tip

Adding cow poop during growing season...do you just spread a thin amount and hose in? Any burning risk?


----------



## Northside Novice

Poop is good just don't let it touch the plant at all , water in well , if possible dig it in around the plant trying to avoid the roots but don't stress if ya get a few roots hehe we all need to get a root now n again !


----------



## Northside Novice

carniebrew said:


> I recently moved my eco-kegs as I noticed a few trees in my yard were partly shading the hops during the morning and arvo. The new spot should get them a lot more sun, let's see how that goes.


I have mine in a standard back yard in the biggest boring black pot you can get , yes I need a cart to move it around but your onto it ! Full sun is the way ! The fuk ers wuv that chit


----------



## Yob

Chinook at the top and powering




Cascade starting t go vertical

EKG is having a crack as is the Victoria after a setback due to high winds


----------



## Liam_snorkel

Chinook starting to bud


----------



## Camo6

Whats that shiny thing above the hops surrounded by that blue stuff? Bloody Queenslanders. Grumble, grumble... ;-)


----------



## Liam_snorkel

The sun mate. You can have some, we haven't had much rain in the last couple of months.


----------



## Dunkelbrau

So after all my leaves wilting and drying, there are new shoots starting from the existing stalks, I trimmed all the leaves and stalks back down and tidied it up, I think the pots and soil aren't allowing drainage and it's virtually cooking the roots.

I've aerated the soil and will probably look at replanting soon into a pot with gravel at the bottom and soil on top.


----------



## Camo6

Liam_snorkel said:


> The sun mate. You can have some, we haven't had much rain in the last couple of months.


We've had the opposite down here. Not that I'm really complaining. Seems like Melbourne weathers been returning to the 'norm' the last few years. Atleast the rain slowed up progress on the desal plant so a mate of mine could keep collecting his big fat paycheck for holding up a shovel. <_<

@Jurt. Careful using gravel as that can prevent good drainage too. I've used 100mm river stones with success but the best solution is quality potting mix IMO.


----------



## Dunkelbrau

Camo6 said:


> We've had the opposite down here. Not that I'm really complaining. Seems like Melbourne weathers been returning to the 'norm' the last few years. Atleast the rain slowed up progress on the desal plant so a mate of mine could keep collecting his big fat paycheck for holding up a shovel. <_<
> 
> @Jurt. Careful using gravel as that can prevent good drainage too. I've used 100mm river stones with success but the best solution is quality potting mix IMO.


When I replant I'll be losing as much of the old mix as possible and putting a bag or two of the good stuff in. 

Cheers for the heads up with the gravel, I might not need it if I can find a good balanced mix, got some of that osmocote premium veggie stuff for some capsicum plants I moved and staked yesterday, so if that seems good I'll just grab more of that!


----------



## Liam_snorkel

I just took this photo of the sky for you Camo6, hope it helps.


----------



## Yob

Jurt.. Break up some Styrofoam into the bottom few inches, roots love it and it's nice and light.


----------



## Camo6

Liam_snorkel said:


> I just took this photo of the sky for you Camo6, hope it helps.
> 
> ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1383977316.018059.jpg


Fark off! I know a piece of blue paper when I see one.


----------



## hoppy2B

My 3rd year Pride Of Ringwood is doing the best at the moment at a height of about 2 and 1/2 metres. I have it growing on 6 bamboo poles, with roughly 5 or 6 bines trained to each pole. It has been pushing out burrs for the last couple of weeks. Photos were taken on the 11th of November 2013 in the afternoon.


----------



## carniebrew

I wouldn't be surprised if every hop plant in Melbourne yelled "**** this!" and shrivelled back into the ground with the shitty return to winter we've been having down here this week...


----------



## technobabble66

Mine pretty much has. None of the 3 bines have grown a millimetre in the last 4 weeks. 
Sad face


----------



## Yob

Aah.. Dwarf POR!! So glad somebody has FINALLY bred one..

Techo, first year? Just developing roots probably, we are still at the start of the season mate, patience..


----------



## technobabble66

Techo, first year? Just developing roots probably, we are still at the start of the season mate, patience..


Yep. First year. I'm hoping its rooting like crazy. 
Trying to be patient. 
I want flowers now, godammit!!


----------



## hoppy2B

Nah not dwarf POR Yob. If we were going on current height, yours would be extra dwarf. :lol:


----------



## Fire1aus

Hi guys im new here 
I have got a few hop plants growing i have 10 
Varietys 
So here are a few pics i took of some of them
Hope the pics work out
Cheers mick


----------



## Yob

Thats some nice looking box youve got there


----------



## Fire1aus

Thanks yob
We have a our own portable saw mill 
So just a bit of pine i had lying around the boxes
Are about 100lt capacity
And i got onto a local spud grower who grows seed 
Potatoes in a polyhouse and they use potting mix
So got a pallet load and a big spud box full 
I think its about 3 metres worth


----------



## flano

nice one.
I forgot to label mine.

gonna be interesting.


----------



## Pagey

How jealous am I?
Living in Darwin I'm just a little way out of the zone from grow my own.!!
These look the business though.


----------



## punkin

Fire1aus said:


> Thanks yob
> We have a our own portable saw mill
> So just a bit of pine i had lying around the boxes
> Are about 100lt capacity
> And i got onto a local spud grower who grows seed
> Potatoes in a polyhouse and they use potting mix
> So got a pallet load and a big spud box full
> I think its about 3 metres worth



I reckon you could sell those boxes. They could be lined with the plastic bin liners that fruit farmers use, they are tough plastic, come on a roll and are about 1M x 1M x 1M. Punch a few drainage holes in the bottom and that would sell locally for you for the Vic hops guys at least. Be god for raised vegie beds too, sell direct to local nurserys.


----------



## hoppy2B

Most of my hops have really started to bolt this past week. Its probably the time of year, but I suspect the liquid fertilizer I used recently may have something to do with it also.
In other news, I notice some severe hail in the news, mostly in S.E. Queensland. Has anyone's hop yard been hammered last couple of days?


----------



## sp0rk

Mine got hit yesterday, though luckily not too badly


----------



## hoppy2B

Good to hear it wasn't too bad Spork.


----------



## punkin

Mine was decimated a couple pages back. Again.


----------



## hoppy2B

punkin said:


> Mine was decimated a couple pages back. Again.


Ouch! Still early, hopefully it can come back.


----------



## pedroj

Hi All,

Just took some photos of my hops here in South Brazil. They are growing very well, mostly WGV and Mitellfrue that were my first hop varieties, along with Phoenix, but this one seems start to grow later, all of these second year. And my first year Golding and Cascade, both just planted on the ground, and Victoria that is still in the pot because I think it is still too undeveloped to plant on the ground.

WGV have started to flower for a couple of weeks ago, is it normal? It's not to early? More flowers will come in different times, when do I pick it? My latitude here is 30.

WGV






Phoenix



Hallertauer Mitellfrue




My new flagpole trellis with Goldings




Cascade



Victoria



Cheers,
Pedro Joel Filho


----------



## KingKong

Gday Pedro. Ive often wondered with the amount of swapping that goes on how correct the names of the strains of hop that are passed on are. What would stop PoR being passed on as cascade and then passed on and on etc...

Only reason I say this is because my cascade have a far different shaped leaf then yours, yours is tear dropped shaped like a strawberry plant, mine is more like a three pronged leaf as in your phoenix photo.

One of us has to have an incorrectly named variety dont we?


----------



## carniebrew

Actually KK, I think it's quite normal to have different shaped leaves for the same hop variety, you can even get 'tear drop' and 'three pronged' leaves on the very same hop plant. From what I have read it comes down to plant maturity, leaf position, and which leaves sprout early vs later. Here's one thread that covers it: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f92/different-leaves-same-hop-plant-414758/


----------



## carniebrew

Just realised my Chinook is starting to take off...this is the plant that had the broken bine a month or so back 'coz I didn't get it a string to climb quickly enough. Broke that bit off, and all of a sudden there's now two bines climbing the middle string, and one winding its way up the right hand string. I just put the left hand string in today 'coz there's another bine starting to look for something to grab onto:




Oh and in relation to the post above, my Chinook has a number of different shaped leaves, some teardrop/heart shape, others with 3 points.

My Columbus, which produced a heap of short sprouts quickly (I planted a root ball with heaps of buds on it) is still stalled, and now has a bunch of brownish holes in the leaves. Can't spot any critters but will have to keep an eye out.


----------



## technobabble66

Great news, carniebrew! Mine still hasn't grown a millimetre in weeks, so hopefully mine's about to do the same. 

With regards to those hole/spots on your leaves - my hops & beans had exactly the same marks about 2 weeks ago. I discovered a few tiny caterpillars were the culprits. They were too small to see the first time, but after I found the first one, I looked more carefully & found a few more. Or you could give it a week & they'll be easy to find when they're a bit bigger ;-)


----------



## Northside Novice

View attachment 66449

Nearly to the top of a six metre rope  oh the joys of a semi tropic climate , which will bite me in the ass as usual with loose cones unlike the nice tight ones you suffering southerners will be harvesting .

edit; just noticed a rouge bine needing to be disciplined


----------



## Yob

My Goldings has reached the top as has one of the chinooks, Cascade has a bunch of bines all reaching up, victoria is having a crack too.. the Por has a bunch of bines all going hell for leather and the Canterbury Goldings growing up the front of the house is making for the sky as well.

Its going to be a good year.

Thinking Harvest brew party and brew :beerbang:


----------



## hoppy2B

northside novice said:


> image.jpg
> Nearly to the top of a six metre rope  oh the joys of a semi tropic climate , which will bite me in the ass as usual with loose cones unlike the nice tight ones you suffering southerners will be harvesting .
> 
> edit; just noticed a rouge bine needing to be disciplined


I was under the impression that cone structure was variety dependent. 

If you want tight cones, grow Cluster or POR. They are varieties I have grown with tight cones. Cluster being the better of the two.

Others might be able to suggest some more varieties with tight cones also.


----------



## Northside Novice

I am not after tight cones as such mate , more just a cone of some kind . Some years I have had cones so loose you can see through them , with no cone shape to be seen at all,
the milder the summer the tighter the cone is what I have found .we don't get many mild summers in Brisbane though . but that doesn't seem to stop all the hop farmers around the area 

edit. 6 cones in one post h34r:


----------



## LiquidGold

hoppy2B said:


> In other news, I notice some severe hail in the news, mostly in S.E. Queensland. Has anyone's hop yard been hammered last couple of days?


Photos taken Monday afternoon









Glad they weren't much bigger than a 5 cent piece.

First time hop grower here with Cascade and Goldings in much smaller pots than I would have liked as they shot much quicker than I anticipated. I know it'd be too late to transplant now but I'm interested in how they handle being moved while in their growing period. Or is it best to only move when dormant?


----------



## carniebrew

technobabble66 said:


> Great news, carniebrew! Mine still hasn't grown a millimetre in weeks, so hopefully mine's about to do the same.
> 
> With regards to those hole/spots on your leaves - my hops & beans had exactly the same marks about 2 weeks ago. I discovered a few tiny caterpillars were the culprits. They were too small to see the first time, but after I found the first one, I looked more carefully & found a few more. Or you could give it a week & they'll be easy to find when they're a bit bigger ;-)


So what did you do to the little bastards?


----------



## pedroj

KingKong said:


> Gday Pedro. Ive often wondered with the amount of swapping that goes on how correct the names of the strains of hop that are passed on are. What would stop PoR being passed on as cascade and then passed on and on etc...
> 
> Only reason I say this is because my cascade have a far different shaped leaf then yours, yours is tear dropped shaped like a strawberry plant, mine is more like a three pronged leaf as in your phoenix photo.
> 
> One of us has to have an incorrectly named variety dont we?


Hi kingkong. I understand your concern and think that sometimes the strains may be confused if people don't care too much to identify the varieties. About the leaf shape, I agree with carniebrew, the leaf shape varies according to maturity of the plants/bines, because another plant originated from the same rhizome that is planted for longer, have greener and 3-lobed leaves in plus developed bines, along with teardrop shape in the base of bines.


----------



## hoppy2B

LiquidGold, You should be able to transplant them. They do best in the ground if you can plant them out. Otherwise the largest pot you can get your hands on.


----------



## LiquidGold

I had thought to plant them straight in the ground but the soil here needs so much work and I spontaneously bought them before having anything prepared. My original plan was to use an old bathtub or build a raised box so they can at least send some roots down eventually yet have a good start in some proper nutrient rich medium. I'm hoping to be a bit more organised for next year but I might still look to pot them into something bigger if you reckon they're pretty hardy. Cheers


----------



## Dunkelbrau

Still early days in my growth , looks like some nice rain and me trimming everything back has given rise to new shoots! Hopefully it kicks off!


----------



## technobabble66

So what did you do to the little bastards?


Slowly checked every leaf, grabbed each caterpillar found. Ripped their heads off, and threw the bodies at the base of the bines - as a warning to other illegally migrating caterpillars. I'm sure it deters the number of future caterpillars...

Actually, it's just to return the nutrients they steal back to the plant. 

Tbh, this works while the plant's small. Once it gets bigger, I'll probably use pyrethrum.


----------



## Liam_snorkel

I had thought to plant them straight in the ground but the soil here needs so much work and I spontaneously bought them before having anything prepared. My original plan was to use an old bathtub or build a raised box so they can at least send some roots down eventually yet have a good start in some proper nutrient rich medium. I'm hoping to be a bit more organised for next year but I might still look to pot them into something bigger if you reckon they're pretty hardy. Cheers


FYI the roots are shallow and spread out within the first couple of hundred mm. Mine are growing quite well in (on) solid clay with just a few bags of soil and mushie compost layered over / turned into the top layer. Theyre happy to be pulled out of the ground also, I've done it twice (3rd year zomes)


----------



## dubbadan

I have 3 varieties here: Chinook (2nd year), EKG and fuggles (both 1st year). I'd love to put in an American flavour hop next year. The Chinook and EKG are going great guns, at the top of the trellis (4ish metres) already.


----------



## LiquidGold

Thanks Liam good to know. I think I'll get myself some mushroom compost and have a dig. Did you get any of that hail earlier in the week?


----------



## Brendandrage

Here is my efforts, my wife found them at bunnings I don't know what flavor they are cause it the tag said was beer hops.
Anyway I've never grown hops before so I thought is throw them in and see what happens


----------



## sp0rk

The other ones people have found at bunnings have been Cascade, afaik


----------



## hoppy2B

Cascade has very red stems if that helps. Give it a few more weeks and you should be able to see that if its a Cascade.


----------



## Hutch

carniebrew said:


> So what did you do to the little bastards?


Hey Carnie,

I've found that a liberal spray with pyrethrum every few weeks is enough to keep the little shitz from decimating your plant. For me the worst offenders have been small green catterpillars and earwigs - they decimated one of my young passionfruit plants during spring.

...and a big rhyzome like that columbus, make sure it's well fed and watered (bit of seasol and powerfeed every few weeks).


----------



## law-of-ohms

Cascade hop plants @ bunnings? where!?


----------



## hoppy2B

law-of-ohms said:


> Cascade hop plants @ bunnings? where!?


At the place Brendandrage obtained his.


----------



## TimT

It's all hoppening.


----------



## law-of-ohms

Is it too late to start planting? stuff planting tomatoes for my wife on our 1/4 acre block

I'd love to plant cascade, but at this stage i have nfi where to get any hop ryzomes (i'm in melb)


----------



## hoppy2B

If you can get one in a pot and plant it now you should still be able to get a yield. I have one or two in pots I should get rid of. The things grow like weeds man.


----------



## Brendandrage

Cascade hop plants @ bunnings? where!?

Buntings Echuca of all places


----------



## hoppy2B

Ask your local Bunnings to get them in if they don't have them in stock maybe.


----------



## punkin

law-of-ohms said:


> Is it too late to start planting? stuff planting tomatoes for my wife on our 1/4 acre block
> 
> I'd love to plant cascade, but at this stage i have nfi where to get any hop ryzomes (i'm in melb)



Or ask your friendly punkin to dig a couple up for you next season.


----------



## Spiesy

Hutch said:


> Hey Carnie,
> 
> I've found that a liberal spray with pyrethrum every few weeks is enough to keep the little shitz from decimating your plant.


I have to give the bastards a spray every couple of days... damn white flies! Eating all my mint, basil and hops.


----------



## hoppy2B

Has anyone had hops that grew really well one year and didn't do so well the next. I have a couple that haven't taken off much this year that I suspect is due to insufficient watering last season, especially towards the end of summer. I'm still 'hopping' they will take off. Might be the weather.
I notice Yob dug his up and replanted. Were yours not growing so well Yob?


----------



## TimT

Hoppy2B, I've heard they can soak up nutrients out of the soil pretty fast because they grow so quickly. Got advice last year that the best thing to do is to make a kind of nettle soup and use it to water the ground the hops grow in. Sure there must be other things you can add to the soil, even (horror!) commercial fertilisers.


----------



## tigertunes

Hi Hoppy2B.
hows your Victoria cuttings going? The one I got from you started well but has done nothing in the last month. The SAAZ and Goldings have started to take off though.


----------



## Yob

I dug them up to raise the beds and improve the soil, nothing to do with performance.

(also to trim the rhizomes back)


----------



## Weizguy

my second year bines are going OK now.
Trellis erected and supporting lines hung (4 per plot). Some lines are jute and others are pink construction cord (nylon).







Note that the A-frame is tethered to the ground by nylon rope.
Original bamboo frame replaced with Treated pine (Smurf pine), due to bamboo being dry and brittle with age.
Hop photos soon.
Les


----------



## hoppy2B

Thanks TimT, I've been fertilizing. Seems to be the ones that I didn't water as much that are the slackers this time around. Worth considering putting more fert on them though.

Hi tigertunes, Saaz tend to be early and Golding take off pretty early too normally. My Victoria have really started to move last week or two. Out of 9 Victoria plants I do have one that is only just starting to elongate. It may be a bit cooler where you are than my location. Keep the water up to it and it should start going any minute now.

OK thanks Yob, keep the water up to them and you should get a good crop. Cheers.


----------



## Weizguy

First up is the Cascade. Late starter, but a fast mover now.



Then the Chinook, motoring well now too


And the Mt Hood. Most active and earliest starter


Then the Euro hops, starting with the Hallertau Hallertau


And the Hersbrucker, small leaves but many bines

,
and the Perle, which I will post in the next window, due to space limitations.


----------



## Weizguy

Perle, climbing well and vigorous.
Hoping for a bountiful harvest.

Respect to those who provided the rhizomes.


----------



## Mardoo

Out in the back yard, watering my hops, eating a paddle pop. Life is very good.


----------



## hoppy2B

I haven't had a Paddle Pop in years, I used to enjoy them. What flavour?


----------



## punkin

Mardoo said:


> Out in the back yard, watering my hops, eating a paddle pop. Life is very good.



So not watching the clock?


----------



## Mardoo

hoppy2B said:


> I haven't had a Paddle Pop in years, I used to enjoy them. What flavour?


chocolate - always been my favourite. The cluster and vic I got from you are coming into their own now.



punkin said:


> So not watching the clock?


Wanting it to go slower actually.


----------



## hoppy2B

Yeah the chocolate is pretty good, have to admit. Good to hear the hops are going well.


----------



## punkin

IHaveASicknessPunkin


----------



## Danwood

punkin said:


> hopclock.jpg
> 
> 
> IHaveASicknessPunkin


Clocks again, Punkin????

I'm confused ! You must sell them ?


----------



## DJ_L3ThAL

Do they come with a warranty?


----------



## punkin

I'm a collector.

It's a sickness.


----------



## kalbarluke

Don't know if anyone has tried 'Power Feed' fertiliser for their hops but I have had some success with it. It is made by the same company that makes Seasol but it has a soil loosening agent in it which is really good if your soil is too hard or clay-like (like mine). Hops hate not being able to expand their rhizome so for me this stuff has been positive. Anyone else used it before?


----------



## hoppy2B

I have.............. NOT! :lol:


----------



## dubbadan

Weizguy, those trellises are pretty impressive.


----------



## Mr. No-Tip

Sneaky bastards!


----------



## shaunous

Some impressive hops going on here.

Mine are struggling in the constant daily heavy winds we are having here, out of character winds. I didn't think winds would be a huge problem like the books say, turns out they are. They went flat out to about a foot tall and now keep coming off the strings and the ends of them wearing off flying around rubbing on the pots. I Reckon I might have to tie them to the strings for a while.


----------



## shaunous

Also my goldings failed to appear from the ground so I cut the cascade rhizome in half and now have a couple of them.


----------



## kalbarluke

shaunous said:


> Some impressive hops going on here.
> Mine are struggling in the constant daily heavy winds we are having here, out of character winds. I didn't think winds would be a huge problem like the books say, turns out they are. They went flat out to about a foot tall and now keep coming off the strings and the ends of them wearing off flying around rubbing on the pots. I Reckon I might have to tie them to the strings for a while.


Along with poor drainage, wind is a huge enemy of hops. My hops were going okay last year until an ex tropical cyclone floated down the east coast of Australia with 80 knot winds (and plenty of terrible flooding to quite a few QLD towns). The hop plants got smashed and the hop flowers shrivelled up and died.


----------



## Dunkelbrau

So after all my issues with the cascade, its come good, and is starting to pop more shoots out. Its looking quite strong at the moment. I have pretty much neglected it, let the rain water it and thats about it. I have just started to water it on the hot days and thats it. I think it likes the abuse haha

Will have to string it up soon!


----------



## shaunous

Ain't nuttin like rain water. You can water and water from the tap and fukall will happen, just a small shower of rain and things go mental. Even with our untreated river water here.


----------



## carniebrew

shaunous said:


> Some impressive hops going on here.
> 
> Mine are struggling in the constant daily heavy winds we are having here, out of character winds. I didn't think winds would be a huge problem like the books say, turns out they are. They went flat out to about a foot tall and now keep coming off the strings and the ends of them wearing off flying around rubbing on the pots. I Reckon I might have to tie them to the strings for a while.


I saw a good little trick when I dropped in on UncleBarrel the other day....he has twisted multiple strings together so that if/when needed, he can thread the bines between the strings to give them extra support. Might be worth a try in those winds?


----------



## shaunous

carniebrew said:


> I saw a good little trick when I dropped in on UncleBarrel the other day....he has twisted multiple strings together so that if/when needed, he can thread the bines between the strings to give them extra support. Might be worth a try in those winds?


Yeh I've used hay bailing twine, I've just done exactly what you said, ran them around clockwise but in and out of the strands.


----------



## SimoB

Goldings saying to take shape, joint garden with strobe on here... Cascade a little slower.

Sent from my HTC_PN071 using Tapatalk


----------



## timmi9191

2 x smurto chinooks.. First attempt at growing hops..


----------



## hoppy2B

My POR growing on 6 bamboo canes. Some of the bines have reached the end of the 4 metre canes.


----------



## LiquidGold

That's a beast!


----------



## nu_brew

Jealous


----------



## philmud

How are yours nu_brew? Mine went quiet for a few months but have really kicked it up a notch the past 2 weeks


----------



## nu_brew

I got really lazy and only just put some strings up but they're looking ok. No where near as big as others on here. Not sure what to do when they get up to the roof though.

The chinook is going way better than the por.


----------



## pilgrimspiss

First year hop garden for me. 14 varities going well. All growing at different rates but I think they will even out in the end. I got them in late about 6-8 weeks ago. Should I run string 'ladders' between each 2 strings of each plant for support?


----------



## hoppy2B

Looks like yours are doing ok Pilgrim. I have no idea about the ladder suggestion. Its up to you to decide what works best.

The Flinders looks interesting, I wouldn't mind getting some rhizome if they're any good, maybe swap for any variety I have that you might like.


----------



## Yob

You may well have trouble next year with them being so close together, they will spread and bines from one will pop out on its next door neighbour.. Looks great though  a rough rule of thumb is a couple of meters between varieties.


----------



## pilgrimspiss

Ok thanks Yob. I have a couple more trusses and plenty of room so I will spread them out further next winter.


----------



## yum beer

My garden has been plugging along very slowly, I thought that being over the septic trench they would be well fed....everything else grows like the clappers....
Anywho, fed with Seasol 2 weeks ago and they have tripled in size........wish I'd started that 6 weeks ago...lesson learned, mistake made, never again.


----------



## GurkanYeniceri

I think I lost this year's window with my hops. I have gotten 2 red earth and 2 Cascade from Colin, they were doing good in the bag and sprouting already. I prepared the best soil for them with manure, worm castings etc, built the trellis on top, made a mound and put them under ground. It has been 3 weeks today and I am not seeing anything. The weather was quite strange lately but mostly sunny and warm. I don't want to loose my rhizommes, what would you recommend? Should I dig them out and take them into intensive care in pots?


----------



## SimoB

GurkanYeniceri said:


> I think I lost this year's window with my hops. I have gotten 2 red earth and 2 Cascade from Colin, they were doing good in the bag and sprouting already. I prepared the best soil for them with manure, worm castings etc, built the trellis on top, made a mound and put them under ground. It has been 3 weeks today and I am not seeing anything. The weather was quite strange lately but mostly sunny and warm. I don't want to loose my rhizommes, what would you recommend? Should I dig them out and take them into intensive care in pots?


Mine took ages to get going man... easily 3 weeks before i saw a shoot.

Im no expert but maybe just wait and see?


----------



## GurkanYeniceri

I will give them another week and pour some seasol on top. Hope they show their heads soon.


----------



## Yob

dont over fertilise while young, its likely they are getting some roots down.. resist the urge to dig at them as you may damage any young bines heading up


----------



## Weizguy

shaunous said:


> Some impressive hops going on here.
> 
> Mine are struggling in the constant daily heavy winds we are having here, out of character winds. I didn't think winds would be a huge problem like the books say, turns out they are. They went flat out to about a foot tall and now keep coming off the strings and the ends of them wearing off flying around rubbing on the pots. I Reckon I might have to tie them to the strings for a while.


Strong winds in Newie too. Got a phone call at work on Friday last week, that my A-frame had toppled in the wind.

The other end had also come loose and actually twisted off one of the coach screws securing the support to the power pole.

Finally got around to re-connecting the lines to the power pole, untangling the bines on the ground and untangling the support strings, and finally re-erecting the A-frame (with help from my daughter - it's not a one-man job).

Lost a few bines and got some slippage of the strings, which I could mostly drag back into place.

Onward and upward. Chinook, Mt Hood and Perle have some bines up to 3 m tall.


----------



## GurkanYeniceri

Yob said:


> dont over fertilise while young, its likely they are getting some roots down.. resist the urge to dig at them as you may damage any young bines heading up


Himmmm, may be too late for fertilizer tip :blink: . I already added sheep and chook manure plus worm castings to the soil.

But this morning, I noticed one of the Cascade is shooting out. They are obviously building the root structure first.


----------



## hoppy2B

Yeah I have noticed pilgrimspiss is in W.A. so those of us outside of W.A. are unable to trade rhizomes with him. :huh:

You've probably had a few people interested in your Flinders variety. Now is a good time to bury some bine to make rhizome. If you bury the first one or two feet of bine before you run it up the string it will turn into rhizome. Has to be done early in the season.


----------



## Rubix

Perle




Goldings



Chinook


----------



## Rubix

Hersbrucker



Fuggles



Saaz


----------



## Rubix

Cascade



Pride of Ringwood


----------



## Yob

Gosh.. Go hard!!

Love it, nice looking yard


----------



## Rubix

Cheers Yob. The way I see it, you can never have too many hops...


----------



## Danwood

Preaching to the choir there...


----------



## shaunous

Gentlemen, I realize most people try and get there's climbing around the 12foot mark.

Can they, like grape vines, be trimmed to a shorter length, which see's them use there energy to grow a shorter, fuller bine and heavier cones????

More suited to a 2nd+ year bine, so you can grow many short runnings instead of a couple full length ones???


----------



## hoppy2B

Smurto grows his on mesh to a height of 3 metres producing a very bushy plant. 

Doesn't really work in my opinion. Going on data he has posted it appears that he gets fewer cones which dry out to a lot less than those that grow on well spaced plants that receive more sun. And it appears that his have a weaker aroma and bittering potential.
Sorry but that's just how it looks.

Pruning them as you have suggested shaunous, will result in the laterals growing really long and knocking about in the wind leading to damage more that likely.


----------



## punkin

Just plant dwarves.


----------



## Yob

hoppy2B said:


> Smurto grows his on mesh to a height of 3 metres producing a very bushy plant.
> 
> Doesn't really work in my opinion, *FWIW*. Going on data he has posted it appears that he gets fewer cones which dry out to a lot less than those that grow on well spaced plants that receive more sun. And it appears that his have a weaker aroma and bittering potential.
> Sorry but that's just how it looks.
> 
> Pruning them as you have suggested shaunous, will result in the laterals growing really long and knocking about in the wind *possibly* leading to damage more that likely.


FTFY

and

FYTSS


----------



## punkin

FYTSS?

http://users.rowan.edu/~orlando/firstyearsurvival.htm

You two are...nevermind.


----------



## shaunous

To easy, thanx, will carry on regardless, and Yob are you intoxicated


----------



## punkin

shaunous said:


> To easy, thanx, will carry on regardless, and Yob are you intoxicated



He has peole singing love songs to him, he's high on hisself. h34r:


----------



## hoppy2B

punkin said:


> Just plant dwarves.


Yeah that's a good point. Dwarf hops are the only ones that I would recommend growing on mesh because the laterals don't grow out as far.

Growing on mesh was a prospect I became interested in during my first season of growing hops because it seemed like it would be an easier proposition, but I found during my second season that as my plants became bushier than they had been in the first growing season that it led to a decline in yields.

No offence intended to Dr S. I'm just going off my own observations and the figures that he has provided. Other people have said on here that they have had plants that were all leaf and few cones.

I'd recommend that Smurto try taping some bamboo canes at about 2 metre intervals along his mesh trellis as an experiment to see how many cones are produce above the mesh on the canes. He might be surprised by the results.


----------



## pilgrimspiss

Thanks hoppy2B. I will push some bines under and see how they go. Quarantine laws are good but spewing we cant trade interstate! What diseases and/or bugs are we preventing by not trading interstate?


----------



## shaunous

I tried mesh to start, and they didn't like growing up on it, now I've used hay bailing twine and they are climbing, very slowly though against winds and crazy heat.


----------



## hoppy2B

pilgrimspiss said:


> Thanks hoppy2B. I will push some bines under and see how they go. Quarantine laws are good but spewing we cant trade interstate! What diseases and/or bugs are we preventing by not trading interstate?


I'm not really sure. I think it just applies to all seeds etc. WA simply has tough quarantine laws.


----------



## CoopsOz

I'm late to the party, probably won't get anything this year but at least they have started their climb. Chinook and Mount hood, both rhizomes from my LHBS.






.


----------



## shaunous

Looking better then my storm stricken plants.


----------



## hoppy2B

The rhizomes will grow into each other in that pot Coops. Would have been easier sticking them in the ground and having them climb up the trellis. Not as good a yield as growing them the conventional way but maybe a bit more practical than what you have there. :blink:


----------



## carniebrew

Anyone reckon they know what's going on with my Columbus? My other 4 varieties (Chinook, Cascade, Hersbrucker and Hallertau) are all growing well, with excellent colour and leaf health. But the Columbus, which is in similar soil, sun position, and has had the same watering/feeding regime, is looking crook.






The only difference is that the Columbus was a large root ball I got from someone who'd dug it up from their property, whereas the others were single rhizomes. Perhaps the larger root ball with its multiple shoots needed more of something to get it going again? I've given it some more Easy Wetta fertiliser tonight (the granules you can see sprinkled around) and a good watering, hopefully it helps. The only pics I can find on the web seem to suggest it could be a potassium deficiency, but that seems to be soil related, so wouldn't explain why the chinook a few metres away is thriving.


----------



## Yob

It seems like sometimes they can take a while to settle in, my Fuggles is now starting to do something 2nd year round

Its not much to go on..

RDWHAHB?

Ed: PH?


----------



## DU99

mine has few brown leaves with holes at the moment cant see any insect issues could it be water damage.


----------



## HBHB

Most of mine currently look like they've been chewed up in a shredder and spat back out. Hallertauer is slowly showing signs of recovery, cascades are a bit humdrum and the Chinook are well, lets just say they're looking decidedly second hand.

They're not as bad as the sauvignon blanc or shiraz grapes, but not much better.

First hail storm in 7 years pretty much took it's toll almost as effectively as Ex Tropical Cyclone Oswald did last year. Womdering what the plague of locusts will be like next year at this point.

Have had 6 mtr tall towers built with a 1.5 mtr wide T top. I'll just call it as early installation for next year at this point. Doubt any of them will make the long journey up the towers this late

Martin


----------



## carniebrew

Yob said:


> It seems like sometimes they can take a while to settle in, my Fuggles is now starting to do something 2nd year round
> 
> Its not much to go on..
> 
> RDWHAHB?
> 
> Ed: PH?


Yeah, not too concerned, at least its spat out some bines...I'm not expecting much/anything in year 1, but I just don't want it to die completely if I can avoid it.

I've checked PH with one of those meters that do moisture, light and PH, for all my hops, and it shows pretty much perfect on each test.


----------



## kalbarluke

I had some stunted looking hops that looked really sick. They were in the ground because I wanted maximum growth. When I dug them up, I found their roots were soggy and waterlogged and almost 'sloppy'. I cut away the affected parts and replanted them in pots. That was about 2 weeks ago and they SEEM to be making a recovery of sorts. 

Digging them up and replanting them is a last resort scenario but if they get much worse it could be an option. My hops in pots always seem to do better.


----------



## unclebarrel

Hey carnie.
My Columbus off the same root ball looked the same not long ago.
I got aggressive and pretty much chopped all bines off.
I now have 3 new bines above ground with healthy leaves and 3 ready to break ground.
Hope they stay healthy !

UB


----------



## hoppy2B

carniebrew said:


> Anyone reckon they know what's going on with my Columbus? My other 4 varieties (Chinook, Cascade, Hersbrucker and Hallertau) are all growing well, with excellent colour and leaf health. But the Columbus, which is in similar soil, sun position, and has had the same watering/feeding regime, is looking crook.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> IMG-20131216-00055.jpg
> 
> 
> 
> IMG-20131216-00056.jpg
> 
> The only difference is that the Columbus was a large root ball I got from someone who'd dug it up from their property, whereas the others were single rhizomes. Perhaps the larger root ball with its multiple shoots needed more of something to get it going again? I've given it some more Easy Wetta fertiliser tonight (the granules you can see sprinkled around) and a good watering, hopefully it helps. The only pics I can find on the web seem to suggest it could be a potassium deficiency, but that seems to be soil related, so wouldn't explain why the chinook a few metres away is thriving.


Hi Carnie, how much water do you give it a day on average?

Did you water the ground during planting? Its important to only work the soil when its moist and not fully wetted. If the ground is too wet when you dig and work it then it becomes water logged.

I'd lift it if it were me in your position. If it has healthy zome that you can replant, then dig in some manure. Best not to chuck on any more chemical fert.


----------



## stakka82

As above... That plant looked overwatered and maybe mould affected. I would cut back on water frequency, make sure u only ever water the soil and not the foliage, and give it a dose or two with a copper based spray.


----------



## punkin

HBHB said:


> Most of mine currently look like they've been chewed up in a shredder and spat back out. Hallertauer is slowly showing signs of recovery, cascades are a bit humdrum and the Chinook are well, lets just say they're looking decidedly second hand.
> 
> They're not as bad as the sauvignon blanc or shiraz grapes, but not much better.
> 
> First hail storm in 7 years pretty much took it's toll almost as effectively as Ex Tropical Cyclone Oswald did last year. Womdering what the plague of locusts will be like next year at this point.
> 
> Have had 6 mtr tall towers built with a 1.5 mtr wide T top. I'll just call it as early installation for next year at this point. Doubt any of them will make the long journey up the towers this late
> 
> Martin



Same here, mine seemed to recover from the hail in 2012 but this years has decimated it. There's probably two dozen cones on there ready to harvest but i get depressed when i look at them so i'm not even going to bother, call it root development year.


----------



## carniebrew

Actually I've hardly watered my hops at all, I've been regularly monitoring the soil with my moisture meter, and only giving water when the needle tends towards dry. That's been pretty rare over the last couple of months, it is Melbourne after all. Maybe once a week on average.

UB, I forgot that was your Columbus that was looking crook...where did you cut the bines back, just down to ground level?

I might dig it up to have a look...to plant this I dug a hole, then mixed the soil with some mushroom compost and planted in that. Did the same with the Chinook next to it, whereas the Cascade and Hersbrucker are in eco kegs with potting mix.


----------



## gava

Here is my three HOP plants.

the first one (Left side) I trimmed back a little too much and it died off but it coming back now, the other two are going pretty good.
I put them in a little late and this is the 2nd month i've put some miracle grow on it.

Poles are 3m high put them on a angle to get a little more length


----------



## dubbadan

gava said:


> Poles are 3m high put them on a angle to get a little more length


That's what I do to get a bit more length on MY pole...


----------



## punkin

careful...

just saying.


----------



## JB

gava said:


> Here is my three HOP plants.
> 
> the first one (Left side) I trimmed back a little too much and it died off but it coming back now, the other two are going pretty good.
> I put them in a little late and this is the 2nd month i've put some miracle grow on it.
> 
> Poles are 3m high put them on a angle to get a little more length


Thanks for this Gava. My hops have gone absolutely mental growth wise & i have to build something taller to give them somewhere to grow to. I'll be using your fine design!


----------



## DU99

*this is my issue*


----------



## Yob

looks like a pretty small pot there DU99 are you sure it isnt drying out?


----------



## DU99

Checked with a moisture meter and showing moist to the dry side


----------



## mark0

DU99, looks like it dried out at some stage. I have had my hops looking similar after some hot dry weather, and missing a watering or two.


----------



## hoppy2B

DU99, the older leaves will go brown and shouldn't be an issue.

gava, if you grow your hops on bamboo poles then you only need a wire at 2 metres to tie them onto. In other words, replace the string with poles and go as high as you like. That's what I do. The bamboo I have available to me only goes to around 4 - 5 metres. I don't need to anchor the bottom of my bamboo poles, but I think that really long poles would need to be anchored on the bottom. Obviously tie the poles to your wire.

Carnie, I definitely think you are not watering enough. I suggest you give it a bucket of water every second day. Larger plants will need a couple of buckets every second day and full size plants will need 6 or more per day in hot weather.


----------



## Weizguy

Chinook has reached over 4 metres now (top of the trellis on that end).




Mt Hood is up over 3 metres now too.



A few cones starting to form now. A little early, isn't it?


----------



## unclebarrel

Yes carnie.
I cut them down at the soil. 
New shoots seem nice and green.


----------



## carniebrew

hoppy2B said:


> Carnie, I definitely think you are not watering enough. I suggest you give it a bucket of water every second day. Larger plants will need a couple of buckets every second day and full size plants will need 6 or more per day in hot weather.


Should I be watering based solely on time? I just figured I'd monitor my soil's moisture level and water when they need it...wouldn't that be the best approach?


----------



## dubbadan

punkin said:


> careful...
> 
> just saying.


Talking, of course, about my hop trellis...


----------



## shaunous

carniebrew said:


> Should I be watering based solely on time? I just figured I'd monitor my soil's moisture level and water when they need it...wouldn't that be the best approach?


If your fancy enough to have a garden water meter, well than yes.


----------



## wide eyed and legless

As Jane Edmanson would advise stick your digit in the surrounding soil and if its damp don't water, if its dry add water. I don't think I would be adding to much feed i.e. fortnightly would be fine but I would be adding trace elements to the surrounding soil as someone's earlier ( picture ) post looked like it was lacking in something.


----------



## unclebarrel

The soil around my hops is nice and moist usually, a good layer of sugarcane mulch keeps a lot of moisture in the soil.
However I did give the soil a good soaking this morning before this obscenely hot day in good ol' Melbs. Hope this combats any evaporation.

My plants have not gotten to the lofty heights like some of the photos here, but doing well.
Cascade has shot up to nearly 2 meters, probably grown a foot in the last week alone !!
Chinook a bit behind, and as discussed earlier the columbus is back to infant stage after a good pruning back to eliminate some downy mildew. New shoots on their way up now.
By the looks of things I have the startings of cones, or laterals growing to from just above the leaves, would they be the flowers ??

I don't care if I only get a few cones, really just looking forward to popping a fresh cone into a pint of beer !!


----------



## wide eyed and legless

I am not after hops this year just cloning off my original plants, only got one of each EKG & Challenger even planted a leaf and it formed roots but it will not make a rhizome, it has got to be a bine to form a rhizome. 
If, as some one in an earlier post was going to try to get a male plant does this affect the female plants as does its cousin?
I do realise that the females will go to seed if a male plant is within cooee but does it turn females into males?


----------



## lukiferj

I have 3 ekg that are over 5m tall but my cascade is still only about 1m. Hoping it takes off soon.


----------



## DAC

My cascade's hang'n in there at Hunter Valley 38'.


----------



## yum beer

37c - 40c the last 3 days, main bine on cluster has grown 3 feet in that time, plants are looking good since i started hitting them with compost 'tea' every 3 days and seasol every 2nd week.
Water everyday.


----------



## DAC

Yum beer, been doing same.
Been blasted by pest control dude / weeks ago
Neglected for 3 days ((shift work))
Now heat.


----------



## carniebrew

shaunous said:


> If your fancy enough to have a garden water meter, well than yes.


It aint all that fancy!
http://www.masters.com.au/product/902339133/garden-trend-combination-meter-moisture-light-ph-tester

And they're even cheaper on evilbay...


----------



## gava

Some of mine have gone over the top of my wire, Do you cut them back or just let them go?


----------



## brewologist

Hi all,

Time for an update. My second year hops are going well.

Chinook - almost at the top and has some large cones
Cluster (dwarf?) - 3 meters and cones ready to pick
Saaz - 6 meters and cones starting to form
Golding - was the first to shoot but stalled for a while but it has started to grow again recently.


----------



## timmi9191

timmi9191 said:


> 2 x smurto chinooks.. First attempt at growing hops..





What a difference 2 weeks makes..


----------



## Camo6

Is that a water feature erected in the middle of the bush?


----------



## timmi9191

One might call it a water feature..


----------



## nu_brew

I've added some height with an antenna mount.


----------



## dubbadan

brewologist said:


> Hi all,
> 
> Time for an update. My second year hops are going well.
> 
> Chinook - almost at the top and has some large cones
> Cluster (dwarf?) - 3 meters and cones ready to pick
> Saaz - 6 meters and cones starting to form
> Golding - was the first to shoot but stalled for a while but it has started to grow again recently.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 20131221_082302.jpg


Awesome. My Chinook are monsters too.


----------



## gava

Chinook : Not going to good because I trimmed it to early and too much, Its coming back but i think its too late.
Eastkent : Going off, got three bines eaching the top.
Hersbruka : Going pretty good, got a few bines to the top but not as good as my Eastkent.

Pretty much seeing how I go might get a few more next year maybe cascade or something..

Cheers


----------



## malt_shovel

How do you know when is a good time to pick the cones.

Here is a picture of the first year Chinook I have going at the moment. The cones are a variety of sizes from those pictured to very small flowers still emerging.

Cheers


----------



## KingKong

These are my first year Hops. Cluster,Golding, Tett, Saaz and PoR (from left to right). Very happy with the progress. Every two weeks they get 30ml of Powerfeed and 30ml of Seasol. Watered every few days or more when hot. North facing and partial shade of an afternoon. Mulched with lucerne. I dont think I would do much differently, followed the good advice from here. If I had a regulated watering system I would move them to full sun, but I dont so some shade of an afternoon is good because I can be away for a few days here and they dont dry out too quickly. 

Thanks H2B for the zomes. They are killing it.


----------



## Yob

malt_shovel said:


> How do you know when is a good time to pick the cones.
> 
> Here is a picture of the first year Chinook I have going at the moment. The cones are a variety of sizes from those pictured to very small flowers still emerging.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 20131223_183133 (768x1024).jpg


They'll start to change colour, Brown a little at the edges and feel papery a bit.. Pull one apart and rub it into your palm.. Aromatic? The lupulin should be turning almost orange and be sticky as baby shit..

Cheers


----------



## Phoney

3 x Chinook and 2x Cascade. Growing up the NSW mid north coast.


----------



## Yob

Got back yesterday from a week in Brisbane.. had a house sitter who I gave specific watering instructions to..

 :angry2:

Dry crinkly leaves on some, severely dehydrated... tis a sad time indeed, they were kicking along sooooo well...

will drench them over the next few days repeatedly and see if I can nurse them back to health.

<_<


----------



## unclebarrel

My cascade has gone off, grown a lot this last week ! One bine is about 3m. Got 5 healthy bines all shooting up very quickly.
Chinook not far behind.
Poor old Columbus is about 600mm at best, has multiple bines but just hadn't recovered from the downy mildew tragedy of November 2013.


----------



## Camo6

My chinook is powering away but my cascade and goldings which get more sun have stalled a fair bit.

I feel your pain Yob. I went away last year before my POR was ready for picking and had a heatwave for a week. My neighbour did water them but nowhere near enough. I still managed to salvage a good haul of hops but they'd browned off a fair bit.


----------



## Weizguy

*Garden flowering now ...*




*Perle flowering - still small yet, but numerous*




*Chinook cones*




*Chinook (zoomed in) - Pretty!*

*
*


----------



## Mr. No-Tip

My cascade that started flowering in November was well overdue when I came back from NYE. Burnt on all cones and some quite brown. Stupid unseasonably early harvest.


----------



## Mardoo

Yob said:


> Got back yesterday from a week in Brisbane.. had a house sitter who I gave specific watering instructions to..
> 
> :angry2:
> 
> Dry crinkly leaves on some, severely dehydrated... tis a sad time indeed, they were kicking along sooooo well...



That. Totally. Sucks. Next year get yourself some soaker hose and a timer. I did that this year knowing we'd be gone for over a week and I'm real happy I spent that $60. My plants are all close together so I just needed one length of hose but you could easily graft the soaker and some normal hose together to suit your setup.


----------



## Mr. No-Tip

Is anyone else harvesting full cones yet? I remember proudly posting back here on the nats weekend that I already had flowers on my Cascade. Those same flowers were browning off when I posted the other day. Not sure if its a result of being overipe or inconsistent watering while I was away over NYE - thoughts?

I dried the slightly brown hops and they're now packed. No cheese and still a pleasant smell, so what they hey?

Today, I was looking up and its baby flowers, but through the sunset I spied for the first time a heap of mature cones. They were very close to the bine and had been missed. I pulled the rigging down and got a handful of very dry cones infested with what I think is spider mites: http://instagram.com/p/ivRju3S7rN/#

I've re-rigged and given the bines a little shower which will hopefully upset the spider mites (who like dry IIRC) but should dry off before rotting any hops. The infested and very dry hops I'll keep in the roof for potential lambic or berlinerweiss down the track. Anyone else get spider mites?

This is all a bit meandering, so for quoting and TL;DR purposes:

Does anyone have a harvest yet? Particularly a 'past it' harvest?
Would the cones be browning and drying out through lack of watering or simply leaving on too long? (I don't think I've underwatered save a day or two here and there)
Spider mites - do you get them? How do you treat them?


----------



## waggastew

Its been a warm year weather wise so if your hops took off in Sept/Oct theoretically some of the hops may be mature.

My Chinook took off very late (late Nov) but already has some full size hop cones with lupilin developing while other bracts are just forming. The commercial guys get around all this buy giving the plant a chop to ground level a few weeks after it springs so that the main hop bines all start at the same time.

Only real way to tell is to test the cones for ripeness (papery, smell like hops not grass clippings, lowest part of bract come off easily, lupilin glands are large and oily etc). In my few years experience I think you are better leaving them on a (tiny) bit too long rather than harvesting early.

Stew


----------



## carniebrew

Anyone in Melbourne seeing cones as yet? It hasn't been hot here at all, and none of my varieties are showing any signs of flowering as yet.


----------



## unclebarrel

I thought for a little bit I was getting cones developing, but I think its just laterals branching out ?!?!? :huh:

IIRC someone in melbs has cones appearing, don't remember who.


Could be waaaaaaay off.

UB


----------



## Mardoo

Not mine.


----------



## unclebarrel

Well, next week has a string of warm days….bring it on !!

:beerbang:


----------



## Mr. No-Tip

I'd feel privileged if I hadn't browned out the lot.


----------



## Marybrew

[SIZE=11pt]I am in Richmond, Melbourne Vic. and I have a 2 year old [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]Wurtemberger hop growing well with many cones forming.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]It grew well last year also so this variety must like the Melbourne climate.[/SIZE]


----------



## Marybrew

Just worked out how to attach a picture.


----------



## Mardoo

Wow, cool. Never even heard of that one.


----------



## of mice and gods

Looks like we have quite the contingent of green thumbs here. Top work guys.

I wont even post photos of my hops because they look like shit. I have neglected them a lot this year (I didn't even both to train them). However they get a bit of a feed occassionally and are on automated irrigation so they get plenty to drink, I think my biggest problem is too many hops, not enough space. I've been mainly just building up the health of my crowns with plans to get them properly trained when we move out of this house and I have a little more space for next season.

Currently growing;
- Super alpha
- red earth
- cascade
- saaz
- tettnanger
- p.o.r
- cluster
- victoria
- hallertauer
- my brain tells me there is something else but I'm too lazy to walk down and check

I've got about 10 second year crowns of both super alpha and red earth if anyone in bris is keen to do a swap for a rhizome/cutting of a variety I don't already have?

cheers,
Al


----------



## carniebrew

Marybrew said:


> [SIZE=11pt]I am in Richmond, Melbourne Vic. and I have a 2 year old [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]Wurtemberger hop growing well with many cones forming.[/SIZE]
> [SIZE=11pt]It grew well last year also so this variety must like the Melbourne climate.[/SIZE]


Isn't Württemberg (actually Baden-Württemberg) the state in Germany where the town of Tettnang is located? I'd hazard a guess they're Tettnang hops...

My Hersbrucker is the best of the five I have planted, so maybe Melbourne is best for Noble stuff? it's growing massively, so much so I had to let down some of the string on my adjustable trellis yesterday to give it more room. The Columbus has all but given up I'm afraid, despite being an entire crown rather than just a rhizome. Cascade is getting really bushy down low, with a couple of bines growing tall. Chinook has 5 healthy bines, but they all seem to have stalled at about 1m. And the Hallertau I planted as an afterthought just to keep it alive has a couple of very deep green, healthy looking bines. No cones on any of these yet though (all 1st year hops).


----------



## Yob

Its hard to get a good angle on my row..




Not as bushy as they were prior to their being a bit starved when I was away, but coming back to health slowly


----------



## Aces High

My POR and poorly undersized trellis.


----------



## unclebarrel

You got some flowers though aces !
I have good growth but no flowers yet.

I really just want one, just one. To dunk in a beer. 
It's not much to ask is it !?!?!


----------



## carniebrew

I'm pretty convinced this is a result of this "hottest summer in xx years" crap we keep hearing on the news. Apparently the whole of Australia set some new record for avg temps in 2013, despite our beloved Melbourne doing its red hot (not) best to drag everyone else down.

Next week will be our first real prolonged taste of summer, that should fire up our hops. I can't believe it's coming at the same time as my being away...I'm gonna have to rig up some kind of automatic watering system before I go....


----------



## bullsneck

Here's mine. Melbourne's summer is only beginning, so it's a bit late this year. The amount of laterals sprouting the past few days is phenomenal. I spotted 4 new shoots as well, so I put some more strings up. I'm hoping to get enough for a double batch of wet hop pale.


----------



## ian4379

i'm in vic and we're going to have 4 days next week in the high 30's/low 40's, will the hops survive?

obviously they will get a good soaking but i'm worried they'll bake. i'm trying to figure a way of shading them but they are pretty high.


----------



## Yob

Soak morning and dusk, they'll be ok.


----------



## malt_shovel

Hitting low to mid forties this weekend in Perth. Hope they survive!



The Chinook was first to have hop cones but the Cascade looks to be fast catching up. 

The others are not doing nearly as well but am happy the red earrh is throwing som cones.


All first year in the ground


Red Earth hop emerging


----------



## Dan Pratt

My first year growing hops. EkG growing horizontally along the fence and starting to flower.


----------



## CoopsOz

Should I be cutting back the smaller bines?


----------



## Liam_snorkel

of mice and gods said:


> Currently growing;
> - Super alpha
> - red earth
> - cascade
> - saaz
> - tettnanger
> - p.o.r
> - cluster
> - victoria
> - hallertauer
> - my brain tells me there is something else but I'm too lazy to walk down and check
> 
> I've got about 10 second year crowns of both super alpha and red earth if anyone in bris is keen to do a swap for a rhizome/cutting of a variety I don't already have?
> 
> cheers,
> Al


I have two 3rd year chinooks which you chop a rhizome off if you like. I usually dig them up at the end of winter.


----------



## waggastew

CoopsOz said:


> Should I be cutting back the smaller bines?


Nope. Commercial growers do this so that all bines grow uniformly and hops ripen uniformly. At a homegrown scale you can pick the hops when ready, even if thats multiple picks.

Other reasons is more leaves = more sugar = stronger rhizome for next year


----------



## Wilkensone

malt_shovel said:


> Hitting low to mid forties this weekend in Perth. Hope they survive!


Hey Malt Shovel,

Just wondering how you find growing your hops in Perth? I know I have missed the season this year but I am looking to get setup ready for next year as I have heard over winter is the best time to try find rhizomes.
Good luck with your harvest!


----------



## sp0rk

I'm getting a lot of little green grasshoppers on my hops 
Anyone know any good natural/organic pesticides?
The Yates Naturalyte I'm using doesn't seem to be doing anything 

Better throw up a pic, don't know if I'll get anything off it this year, it seems to be a lot smaller than all the other ones I'm seeing here


----------



## Liam_snorkel

I hate those bastards. They grow to be much bigger. EXTERMINATE~!!! Spend 1/2 an hour flicking them with your finger and pretend you're godzilla.


----------



## SimoB

Liam_snorkel said:


> I hate those bastards. They grow to be much bigger. EXTERMINATE~!!! Spend 1/2 an hour flicking them with your finger and pretend you're godzilla.


This is easily the most efficient way, sprays are for the weak.


----------



## malt_shovel

Wilkensone said:


> Hey Malt Shovel,
> 
> Just wondering how you find growing your hops in Perth? I know I have missed the season this year but I am looking to get setup ready for next year as I have heard over winter is the best time to try find rhizomes.
> Good luck with your harvest!


This is my first attempt so I don't have much to compare with but I learnt early on that they need an automated dripper system and some good mulch to prevent the soil drying out. The fuggles were early to sprout but suffered from lack of water and mulch. Other than that everything seems to be fine. The chinook and cascade and saaz seem to be the best performers. Next year should be better with them established. Hopswest in Albany supplied the rhizhomes.


----------



## LiquidGold

I've also found a few grasshoppers on mine over the last week, thinking of making up a chilli and/or garlic spray but not sure how effective it will be.






On a more positive note I'm very stoked to have some flowers forming on one of the 1st year golding, didn't think I'd see any flowers this season.


----------



## Christof

Geez I hope the Victorian hop crop is holding up ok in this heatwave- my stand of Cascade bines has been decimated just when the flowers were starting to mature


----------



## Yob

POR has not survived the heat, it's up against the wall of my shed and I guess with the reflected heat as well as ambient.. by the time I saw it, it's pretty shrivelled..

Hopefully I can save the zome.. its the potted ones that suffer the most in these extreme conditions..


----------



## DU99

my potted plant has suffered the same fate the leaves have shrivelled up...i am still giving it water.


----------



## Christof

yeah mine are all potted- renting...


----------



## Christof

I'll give the flowers a sniff and decide if they're worth using- looking pretty crackly


----------



## Rubix

I've got 11 plants, all of them in pots and this week has seen them go crazy. Sending out new bines, laterals and flowers. I just gave them a good soaking and a good hit of seasol / powerfeed in the days prior to the heat coming and then just a squirt in the mornings.. Mind you, i'm also on Phillip Island so we're a few degrees coolers here as well.


----------



## sp0rk

So glad we're only getting high 20's here in Coffs


----------



## Mall

My Mt Hood have had it, all shrivelled up. My Cascade, in the pot right next to Mt Hood are flourishing....same water care and feeding to both :blink:

The Melbourne heat is a killer.


----------



## Spiesy

Bottom of my Cascade seems to have born the brunt of the white flies and extreme heat that has plagued this year's growing season. Most leaves have disappeared, stalks turned brown - but the tops are doing well, if only I had more vertical support for them to grow. 
Soaking every second day in this heat, adding fertiliser every second week.


----------



## Christof

Same- I'm watering morning and night, fertilizing every few weeks. I guess this kind of damage is expected in these conditions, given they are positioned to maximize hours of direct sunlight exposure, and are too tall to throw shade cloth over. Pretty crushing, oh well always next year. 
I'm more concerned about the commercial farms - hope their crop survives!


----------



## philmud

Well, heatwave over for now. My chinook still seem OK (some I had in a pot are a bit singed). They are first year hops and I've grown them along a fence, yet despite this they seem to have started flowering during this crazy hot week!


----------



## kalbarluke

I'm finding the heat is particularly getting to my Goldings and Hallertaur. Cascade and Chinook seem to be coping a bit better.


----------



## Martrix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6WszhMurxw&feature=youtube_gdata_player


----------



## ian4379

here's some of mine, my first time growing them. i got some bigger rhizomes off "mmmyummybeer" from this site, they've gone great guns. i got a few smaller rhizomes off an ebay seller, far less growth. i'm in gippsland, vic, mt hood came up first, cascade next than for a while i thought the willamette and POR weren't going to shoot, about a month later they popped up.


mt hood flowers







mt hood
 





cascade, 2 rhizomes





younger rhizome off ebay, cascade on the left, willamette on the right





will be on the lookout for some centennial and chinook this year

edit: i bought some cheap rope from supercheap and rigged up a "close-line" using old treated pine lying around, i had no idea they would grow so well, will change the set-up next year.


----------



## malt_shovel

First harvest.
Chinook. Two bines that gave 125gm wet.

The Cascade looks to have about twice that off a single bine.

Thinking I will throw some of these in half a batch of APA as a wet / dry hop and dry out the rest.

Anyone else harvesting early?


----------



## DU99

My poor old thing is getting over last heat wave in melbourne,starting to get new leaves and new bines..don't think i will get any crop this year


----------



## Yob

Despite the furnace of last week, the cascade and the chinook seem to be holding up OK

Others dont seem to be as well off.. POR has been decimated. Like DU99, others are sending new shoots, Tett fro example has 3 or 4 new bines erupting, the laterals seem to be having a go, so maybe it'll be ok.. who the hell knows :blink:




Cascade




Chinook


----------



## technobabble66

Houston, we have FLOWERS !!

and several new bines also, but ... flowers!
It's a 1st year Chinook 'zome from DrS, so i didn't think it'd produce. So i'm obviously rather stoked i've got something to harvest. B)

In the 4x 40+°C heatwave from ~10 days ago, i was watering it morning & night - had only 2 tiny laterals lose a few inches from scorching. Pretty happy getting through it unscathed. (commiserations to those not so fortunate!)

FWIW, i've grown mine in a large planter box, where the bines grow up about 1.8m then extend horizontally another metre or 3. So the horizontal thing doesn't seem to affect them too detrimentally, though obviously you never know if they'd be twice as prolific if i'd grown them 100% vertically. The flowers are mainly across the horizontal (upper) section, with a few on laterals of the lower vertical section.
Just putting this out there in response to some interest in training the vines horizontally/espalier (from earlier this last year in this thread).

PS: Happy Australia Day !! :kooi:

PPS: those chinook & cascade are lookin good, Yob!


----------



## Rubix

Just a quick update from the Island.




The Chinook is kicking along nicely



First year Goldings also coming along.






Pride of Ringwood starting to invade the front deck.





First year Saaz is going great as well.

I also have flowers on the Fuggles, Cascade and Hersbrucker. So far the only plant not to produce any of the goods is the Perle.


----------



## Poobah

You guys inspired me to have a crack at this caper and I thought it was about time I shared my hops with you. I got my hands on 5 rhizomes - Saaz, Cascade, Hersbrucker, Super Alpha and Red Earth - pretty late in the season. It was almost October if memory serves me correctly. I didn't have a great spot in the garden so 4 of the 5 are in self watering pots down the north side of the house. As you can see they have done okay.




There have been a few challenges, like marauding chickens scratching up young shoots and the Melbourne heatwave, but I've managed to keep them alive. I've now got a fair few flowers and I'm pretty chuffed. The most progressed is the Red Earth. It looks like I should get an okay first year crop.




The next is the Hersbrucker. It probably has the most flowers of them all. 




The Saaz was the early performer, and is the bushiest of the lot, but doesn't have as many flowers yet. It's also a bit tangled up with the Hersbrucker. I won't put them so close together next year.




The Cascade was the first to break the dirt but then it just sat there. Some of the others had hit the gutters before it decided to climb. It grew pretty quick but it has no way near as many laterals as the others. I should get a few flowers though. 




Last but not least is the Super Alpha. It was against the side of the shed and just didn't have enough height to grow. I'll get a handful of flowers though. I might just feed them to the chooks. Apparently hop flowers are pretty good for them. Almost as effective as antibiotics for keeping bugs at bay. 




I feel like I'm in the home stretch now. If I keep doing what I'm doing (like giving them lots of water in this hot weather) and pick them at the right time, I should get more hops than I can use (I'm the only one that drinks beer in this house and I only do small batches).

Thanks guys for all your help.


----------



## carniebrew

Sorry for the 'new to hop growing' question, but I've noticed my Cascade and Hersbrucker have both started sprouting what I'm guessing might be the beginning of their actual hop flowers. Both of them are producing heaps of these little flowery looking items, but only in the top maybe half of each bine, the lower part of the bines don't have any. Are these little spiky green fellas you can see amongst the leaves what will eventually turn into cones?


----------



## technobabble66

I've just started to get the same, CB. 
I'm assuming they're flowers in blissful ignorance. They certainly look like flowers. Though they don't look very cone-like to me...


----------



## Yob

You have flowers forming


----------



## Camo6

That's the flowers alright. Came back from almost a week down at Lake Tyers to find my cascade covered in them. Was beginning to worry.


----------



## carniebrew

Excellent! So for anyone who's seen this before, do all flowers usually become cones? Or does this happen with only some?

It's both of my potted hops (Hersbrucker & Cascade) that have a proliferation of those flowers. The two I planted in the ground out the front of the house...well the Columbus is dead, and the Chinook, despite starting strong, has stalled at just over a metre high well over a month ago. I think I didn't do enough to prepare the soil for those, will do a bit more with those spots next year. The drainage is pretty ordinary in that space, even half a bucket of water leaves a puddle that sits around for quite a while.


----------



## hoppy2B

I think the technical name for your hop flowers is 'burrs' carnie. Most should turn into cones. A few will dry and shrivel if they don't get enough water or if they become knocked around by the wind.


----------



## gunbrew

5th year Chinook, with the smaller 2nd year Cascade next to it.


----------



## shaunous

You cut that 5th year back to nothing every year gunbrew???

Anyone know if cattle eat hop bines, or they should be safe to plant in open paddock, considering they are basically a weed.
My current spot on the hill near my house has smashed my first attempt at hops with wind. tallest is about 3 feet, but rest snapped off in winds and just kept growing smaller shoots from the rhizome. Think about throwing some down near the creek were we dont see much wind, but not sure if cattle will eat them up.


----------



## hoppy2B

My sheep eat the leaves I throw them, they also eat any shoots that grow out through the fence I have around them, so I think cattle will get into them too.


----------



## Danwood

Your sheep eats(,) shoots and leaves ? You should take the rifle away from it...arming sheep is irresponsible !


----------



## Danwood

...and put up a fence so it can't leave...


----------



## hoppy2B

And make silly posts about them. h34r:


----------



## gunbrew

Hey shaunous
I don't cut down the old hop bines.
Just let them die in place, then the next year the plant can grow up the dead bines.


----------



## DAC




----------



## DAC

DAC said:


> ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1390983675.995510.jpg
> 
> 
> 
> ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1390984093.788236.jpg


 after your thoughts, do these cascade's look ready for pick'n?


----------



## Yob

DAC said:


> after your thoughts, do these cascade's look ready for pick'n?


lookin close 

How do they feel? hey look like they have a touch to go, but if they are starting to feel like paper when you squeeze them....




My decimated POR and badly damaged Tett.. (Heatwave)




Oddly, the Tett has thrown 6 new Bines!!

The Tett has been a weird plant to grow, unlike all the rest, last year it grew a bit and died off, this year it was doing the same so I cut all the bines off in a fit of rage, it then came back and threw a couple of bines that grew like all ****.. till the heatwave almost killed it, not the main leaves are a bit damages and the laterals are springing out and it's got 6 new bines.. weird ass feckin plant :lol:


----------



## DAC

Yob, a couple are starting to have that papery sound/feel & can flick off a few of the lower petal things. The same ones are just starting to brown on tips of petals.
So I think they must be close & if so the bulk of the rest prob another week.
Have done a little research but a first timer.


----------



## shaunous

hoppy2B said:


> My sheep eat the leaves I throw them, they also eat any shoots that grow out through the fence I have around them, so I think cattle will get into them too.


But cattle are a bit more picky than sheep food wise, might just throw a rhizome in the ground at the end of winter and see what happens, even if I can get it to climb up a tree and just fence off around the tree.



gunbrew said:


> Hey shaunous
> I don't cut down the old hop bines.
> Just let them die in place, then the next year the plant can grow up the dead bines.


Cheers mate.



Danwood said:


> Your sheep eats(,) shoots and leaves ? You should take the rifle away from it...arming sheep is irresponsible !


Your about as useful as an ash tray on a motorbike


----------



## Spiesy

Got back from overseas and my cascade has just begun flowering!


----------



## Camo6

I reckon they'd strip it bare Shaunous. Especially in summer once the grass has dried out and lost its flavour but there's your tasty chinook lovingly watered every day. Nothing that a few star stakes and a 12v fencer wouldn't fix though.


----------



## shaunous

Camo6 said:


> I reckon they'd strip it bare Shaunous. Especially in summer once the grass has dried out and lost its flavour but there's your tasty chinook lovingly watered every day. Nothing that a few star stakes and a 12v fencer wouldn't fix though.


True dat!


----------



## sp0rk

Grasshoppers are still punishing my Hallertauer and I still don't have any burrs showing up
Not holding out much hope for this season


----------



## DU99

This my hops at the moment..starting to get some new growths


----------



## Mr. No-Tip

My cascade is showing a second lot of burrs. I missed the ideal harvest on the first lot, so this pleases me.


----------



## carniebrew

Here's a shot of one of my little branches full of burrs. Both the (potted in eco kegs) Hersbrucker and Cascade are swimming in them, albeit the top half of all the bines only. This is on the Cascade:


----------



## Danwood

I have been accused of both silliness and being unhelpful. Unfortunately, I don't have much evidence to refute these libellous slurs.

Oh well, here's the hops.

Cascade (2nd year star performer), foreground first pic and burr shot.

Goldings (2nd year) middle ground. Doing ok, no burrs yet.

Fuggles (1st year) at the back. Struggling, might do better next year.


----------



## HBHB

Following weeks of relentless wind (typical Hervey Bay) i'd almost given up on anything from mine. Then the grasshoppers arrived. Hungry. One chinook was eaten back to bare stems. Followed by a cascade. Not 1 shred of leaf, flower or cone left. Trimmed the chinook back to ground level gave them a hit of Liquid fertilizer and they've hit the turbo button again, growing at over 10cm per day since. Not hopeful of any harvest this year.

That said, hops are bloody hardy and amazing growers. Impressive recovery. I'll sit here now with dry lagoons surrounding and await the inevitable wet season.

Must be time for a beer i reckon.
Martin


----------



## hoppy2B

Don't give up on them just yet Martin, you may still get some late cones. How tall are the new bines?


----------



## booargy

weeds i say weeds bloody nice family of weeds at that.
hersbrucker


----------



## HBHB

hoppy2B said:


> Don't give up on them just yet Martin, you may still get some late cones. How tall are the new bines?


1.8m from top of the pot mate. They'll be 1.9 by tomorrow morning :blink: average growth is currently about 10-12 cm per day for each Bine :super: . Hops will surely rule the world along with cockroaches one day.


----------



## waggastew

First harvest of 3rd year Chinook. Picked about 1/10th of the hops on the bines, just the hops at the top that were fully mature. I left them a bit longer this year and the aroma is much stronger. Pungent grapefruit/mandarin aroma when rubbed. Ended up with about 800g wet, should dry down to about 150-200g.






Will go nicely as a massive 0min addition in a Harvest Pale Ale


----------



## flano

mate that is awesome.
How do I know when to pick mine?
First time Ive tried and I have a few on my cascade...not as many as yours though.


----------



## unclebarrel

I am pretty happy with the progress of mine here. 
I have cascade, chinook and Columbus. The close up is of cascade and does not even show half the burrs !
I won't get a massive haul but I am wrapped all the same.especially as they only get half day of sun. And as you can see due to space limitations I had to train them diagonally downwards toward the fence ! That was a daily effort of tying them off ! What a pain ! Haha


----------



## sp0rk

still no burrs and other than a few lateral bines, I haven't seen any growth in the last few weeks
Guess I'll stop holding out hope for a harvest this year
I'm thinking I'll build a raised garden bed later this year for there to be a nice big area for root growth for the next season


----------



## hoppy2B

Nice pics waggastew.


----------



## carniebrew

sp0rk said:


> still no burrs and other than a few lateral bines, I haven't seen any growth in the last few weeks
> Guess I'll stop holding out hope for a harvest this year
> I'm thinking I'll build a raised garden bed later this year for there to be a nice big area for root growth for the next season


I reckon that's what helped me...the two varieties I planted in pots (kegs) have gone nuts, as I've shown earlier in this topic. But the ones I put in the ground, where all I did was dig a bit of a hole, mix in some mushroom compost with the dug dirt, filled the hole and planted the rhizome....have stopped growing and are showing no burrs at all. I think the roots grew in the removed/replaced dirt, but then hit the solid ground where I didn't dig and just stopped. I think next year I'll dig a much larger hole and put potting mix in it, then plant in that.


----------



## unclebarrel

Interesting theory Carnie.
I have also got mine in a raised planter, each in its own box of approx 600 long, by 400 wide and 400 high.
Once I get into a larger property I am looking at planting in raised beds…..big ones !!!
Also building tall towers so I don't have to tend to the bones every day ! Although it has been fun getting out there and faffing about with a beer in hand each evening.


Has anyone dried their hops in a food dehydrator ? If so, how long and what method (e.g. tray switching)
I hope I haven't missed that in earlier discussions somewhere.
I had flyscreens but gave them away !haha

By the way, waggastew thats awesome mate ! As hoppy2B said, great pics.


----------



## waggastew

Flano said:


> mate that is awesome.
> How do I know when to pick mine?
> First time Ive tried and I have a few on my cascade...not as many as yours though.


I am in no way an expert but from my experience the best way to know is your nose.

In previous years I have focussed on how dry they feel, browning etc. I think this led me to picking my hops too early resulting in hops that lacked resin aroma/flavour and strong grass clipping/tea aroma/flavour.

This year I waited until they smelt strongly of resin aroma when rubbed. Basically pick the biggest hop you can find and rub it vigourously between your hands then smell. It should smell strongly of resin/aroma with only a faint grassy/chlorophyll smell if any. By the time most of the hops are at this stage you will have some that have browned off completely and should be discarded.

Another thing to remember is that unless your bones all grew at the same time you may have mature and immature hops at the same time. Commercial growers wait for the first bines to grow and then mow them to the ground again. That results in new bines that all grow and mature at about the same time.

When i picked yesterday it was only really the hops at the top of the plant that were fully mature. The rest I left on and will pick later (if I can be bothered as I have more than enough for what I need) when they ripen. Even some of the laterals that I picked had both mature and immature hops on the same bit of stem. Any hops that looked too light in colour (pale white green) or were too light in mass I chucked. Again the big commercial growers get around this by the method described above and also having a lot of hops that are on average perfectly ripe with the odd under/over cooked hop.

There are some resources on the net that have some nice photos off the progress of hops from mature to overcooked. I might try and take a photo myself and post it if I have time.

Sorry long answer to a short question.


----------



## waggastew

OK, here is a quick picture I took of some samples of my Chinook. Remember that different varieties will get to different sizes etc. These were all off the same rhizome so it shows you the spread of maturity you will get unless you do an early season chop of the early bines and then trim the base throughout the season.







1. Burr
2. Very early hop
3-8. Growing hop increasing in size and darkening in colour
9. Mature hop with slight browning, cone feels heavy, 'petals'/sepals are loose and opening, full length
10. Past their use by date, more brown than green.


----------



## Mr. No-Tip

It's heaps annoying whenmost of your harvest is at 6-7 but some of it is at 9...and then when you pull it down you find a whole pocket of 10 under some leaves...

Awesome post mate!


----------



## Martrix

Finally got a bunch of burrs showing up on mine. Looking promising but am hoping for some good returns as there is plenty of height and bush there for lotsa Cones.


----------



## Phoney

How long do you guys reckon until my buds are ready for harvest? They still feel a bit moist, but most have these brown hairs growing down the sides of them. They are approx. 1 inch in length.


----------



## daveHQ

My cascade is covered in buds, the chinook I have is pretty sad looking, it took a fair beating from the recent heat wave, the cascade faired well though!!


----------



## philmud

Most of my chinook are not at this stage yet, I'd say they're a 5 or 6 by WaggaStu's post. Pretty stoked. I have a RIPA in the pipeline.


----------



## technobabble66

That is a brilliant post, waggastew! Should get that pinned or wiki'd. 
Nice cones, phoney & prince. 

Checked mine a few mins ago - within the last few days it seems a patch of mine have gone from a 2 to a 5. Getting excited!!
Btw, I assume you pick them at the "9" stage?


----------



## hoppy2B

Which variety are your hops Phoney? They look like they might be lacking sunlight. You only get very light fluffy cones when they don't get sufficient sun.

Should be at least a couple of weeks before they are ready to harvest.


----------



## technobabble66

They're very light n' fluffy??
What's the tell-tale sign? How can you tell?
[keen to learn]


----------



## Mardoo

hoppy2B said:


> Which variety are your hops Phoney? They look like they might be lacking sunlight. You only get very light fluffy cones when they don't get sufficient sun.
> 
> Should be at least a couple of weeks before they are ready to harvest.


Damn. That means I'll lose mine. They've only just burred and we have to move in four weeks. Oh well, first year growth, and my main intention was to grow healthy, monster rhizomes, which definitely seems to be happening. But they're sooooooo beautiful!


----------



## pilgrimspiss

The hop garden at night time. All first year. All flowering well. Just waiting for them to mature a little more. Hop aroma is not as full as it could be I don't think. Also a pic of some of the Cluster.


----------



## Yob

Mardoo said:


> They've only just burred and we have to move in four weeks.


Where ya moving to mardoo?


----------



## Phoney

hoppy2B said:


> Which variety are your hops Phoney? They look like they might be lacking sunlight. You only get very light fluffy cones when they don't get sufficient sun.
> 
> Should be at least a couple of weeks before they are ready to harvest.


Chinook and Cascade. Most of them are out in full sun, but I've had a few creepers grown inside the shade cloth of the green house which are pictured. I didn't bother building a trellis, next time I will though.


----------



## Mardoo

Yob said:


> Where ya moving to mardoo?


We actually looked at a place almost next door to you. "Heeeeeey there neighbor!"

Base of the Dandenongs hopefully. FTG, The Basin, Kilsyth etc.


----------



## Yob

phaaark, that would have been *bad* for both our livers :lol: :beerdrink:


----------



## HBHB

Chinook regrowth coming along nicely after being eaten into oblivion by grasshoppers. Then a second attack by some sort of sucking insect this week, which was halted using confidor. About 4m high in a matter of a few weeks. Hops will rule the world.


----------



## philmud

This ******* wind. Hoping my hops get through it. Thinking of those in danger if fire too.


----------



## pilgrimspiss

1st year Red Earth. They really do turn red!! Cool hey!! excuse the photo quality. Mrs took it while i'm at work.


----------



## philmud

So, can I ask, at what point do the cones smell like hops? Mine (chinook) are still a bit grassy smelling but have only a very, very faint hoppy scent. I assume they won't be as pungent as pellets, but does the scent come in all of a sudden?


----------



## Spiesy

The last hot-spell we had (last week) caused a lot of my leaves to turn brown, and even the end on the burrs (which are now turning into cones).

Have been pumping a watering can of water onto my Cascade since, and it seems to be holding fort - but not going a lovely lush green at all… still, hopefully I'll see some hops that I can use this year. Bloody global warming!


----------



## JB

Really happy with my hop babies growth. First year of flowers - cascade & chinook.


----------



## sp0rk

And now all my leaves are starting to turn yellow 
I think I'm not skilled enough to grow hops...


----------



## Martrix

sp0rk said:


> And now all my leaves are starting to turn yellow
> I think I'm not skilled enough to grow hops...


I think that happens anyway at this stage of the game as all the energy is directed to the flowers. Lots of my leaves are turning Brown also. Must get some more nitrogen into them


----------



## sp0rk

No flowers have even started to form yet


----------



## sp0rk

I was looking at the Bunnings website investigating drip feed systems, but found this gadget instead
http://www.bunnings.com.au/holman-adjustable-watering-spike_p3110295
If figure if I grab 2 and put 2 x 2L coke bottles of water on to drip, I can just fill them every afternoon
I can also fill one with seasol and some trace nutrients every 2nd week for fertilising


----------



## HBHB

If you're living within about 20klm of the coast and used garden soils or loams for the basis of your planting, your soil is most likely lacking magnesium and Iron. A tablespoon or each dug into the soil and watered in well will improve the plants ability to take up and utilize nitrogen applied. End result is much lusher green growth, & more robust plants all round. Not a hops only issue, applies equally to anything in the garden.

Martin


----------



## hoppy2B

sp0rk said:


> No flowers have even started to form yet


Which varieties did you plant and how tall did they get?

You need to give very large plants as much as 100 litres of water in hot weather depending on how much you are watering them between hot spells. A 20 litre cube with a tap set to drip if you are away at work for the day and want to give them a trickle.

Liquid manure on a regular basis should get a yield out of most varieties.


----------



## carniebrew

When to pick eh? The top part of the bines seem to have hops ready to go, they feel kind papery, and when i break one open it's got yellow lupulin all through it. Here's some shots:





The lower part of the bines have a heap more that are half the size, so I guess I'll be harvesting a few times over the coming week(s)?


----------



## Tex083

Brewhardware or bobby from nj has a good YouTube vid on when to pick the hops. He explains it well for the non plant person.


----------



## carniebrew

Tex083 said:


> Brewhardware or bobby from nj has a good YouTube vid on when to pick the hops. He explains it well for the non plant person.


I assume you mean this one? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlsT-x19III

Good video, my most mature hop looks like the one he plays around with first, that he says is still a week or so off from being ready....I'll hold off, thanks Tex!


----------



## Spiesy

Old mate Bobby needs a faster auto focus. Good informative video though.


----------



## unclebarrel

Helpful vid.
Thanks Tex and carnie.
Going on his instructions I reckon I am a week or so off also.


----------



## sp0rk

HBHB said:


> If you're living within about 20klm of the coast and used garden soils or loams for the basis of your planting, your soil is most likely lacking magnesium and Iron. A tablespoon or each dug into the soil and watered in well will improve the plants ability to take up and utilize nitrogen applied. End result is much lusher green growth, & more robust plants all round. Not a hops only issue, applies equally to anything in the garden.
> 
> Martin


I used a premium gardening mix from a landscaping joint




hoppy2B said:


> Which varieties did you plant and how tall did they get?
> 
> You need to give very large plants as much as 100 litres of water in hot weather depending on how much you are watering them between hot spells. A 20 litre cube with a tap set to drip if you are away at work for the day and want to give them a trickle.
> 
> Liquid manure on a regular basis should get a yield out of most varieties.


Hallertauer, they're around 7-8 ft tall
I might give the cube idea a good


----------



## Mardoo

Bunnings, soaker hose $35. My hops are over the moon with it. Nice damp, not soaked, soil. Didn't even have to trust the housesitter. The flow-rate dial is a nice touch.

http://www.bunnings.com.au/pope-30m-water-weeper-soaker-hose-with-flow-control-dial_p3138581


----------



## Pogierob




----------



## technobabble66

And here is Rob.P's post-modern masterpiece, titled "Hops Under Ominous Sky"
:lol:


----------



## technobabble66

unclebarrel said:


> Helpful vid.
> Thanks Tex and carnie.
> Going on his instructions I reckon I am a week or so off also.


Many +1's for this
Great suggestion Tex - it's v helpful
And thanks to carnie for imbedding it, so i don't have to trawl youtube.

And definitely thanks to BobbyfromNJ i guess. Great bit of work.

I'm just going out to scrunch-test my hops...


----------



## Pogierob

technobabble66 said:


> And here is Rob.P's post-modern masterpiece, titled "Hops Under Ominous Sky"
> :lol:


Actually I was thinking something along the lines of "storm brewing"

He he


----------



## hoppy2B

sp0rk said:


> Hallertauer, they're around 7-8 ft tall
> I might give the cube idea a good


I've heard a few people mention not getting any cones on their first year Hallertauer. 

Mt Hood is a better option. It is an American hop bred from Hallertauer to be higher yielding.

Cascade is one of the better craft type hops to go for if you want a yield first year. There are a few good ones.


----------



## Camo6

My cascade seems to be the only one with a half decent yield this year. The Goldings might produce enough for a batch or two, but my treasured chinook has only a smattering of cones. It grows in front of the north facing side of the house, close to the brick, and it seems Melbourne's late season and subsequent heat waves have burnt the laterals just as they were forming. :angry:

Next year I'll split and transfer the cascade to the ground and piss off the Goldings. The chinook will just have to deal with it's position cause it shields the house nicely.


----------



## BlueMutt

First year Victoria and Chinook are performing well, also billeted some Cascade off to a few friends to grow on larger properties in the ground on an exchange beer for lots of hops program.


----------



## JB

Some of my Cascade fatties


----------



## JB

JB said:


> Some of my Cascade fatties


Sheesh, my hand looks deformed in this pic :blink: it's the angle ... I'm not deformed, I just checked :huh:


----------



## philmud

My chinook are just about ready to go


----------



## sp0rk

hoppy2B said:


> I've heard a few people mention not getting any cones on their first year Hallertauer.
> 
> Mt Hood is a better option. It is an American hop bred from Hallertauer to be higher yielding.
> 
> Cascade is one of the better craft type hops to go for if you want a yield first year. There are a few good ones.


Yeah, I might seek out another chinook from Dr Smurto if he's selling and a couple of Cascade rhizomes next year (I use a whole lot of cascade)


----------



## timmi9191

My first year smurto chinooks are booming!!

Once harvested, what's everyone's preferred drying technique?


----------



## carniebrew

I was planning on laying them out on an old screen door in my garage, up off the ground. Turning them occasionally. I'm hearing "a couple of days" of this should do it, but the info on the interwebs is pretty bloody varied in this regard....here's one:
http://www.northwesthops.com/Harvest_and_Drying_Hops_s/14.htm


----------



## carniebrew

Actually this is an interesting read: http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/drying_hops_on_a_small_scale

It suggest that hops can dry out to around 25% of their original weight when picked...which gives me an idea....

1. Lay all my hops out on my screen in the garage
2. Measure out a ~100 gram sample of those hops onto my scales, and put the sample back on the screen, separated from the other hops.
3. After a couple of days, weigh the sample hops again to see how much they've dried (e.g. the 100 grams should be getting down towards 25 grams)
4. Repeat step 3 every few hours, and when the weight has stopped dropping, assume they're as dry as they need to be...bag, label & vac seal them.

Thoughts?


----------



## brewtas

I dried mine with a food dehydrator.


----------



## hoppy2B

carniebrew said:


> Actually this is an interesting read: http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/drying_hops_on_a_small_scale
> 
> It suggest that hops can dry out to around 25% of their original weight when picked...which gives me an idea....
> 
> 1. Lay all my hops out on my screen in the garage
> 2. Measure out a ~100 gram sample of those hops onto my scales, and put the sample back on the screen, separated from the other hops.
> 3. After a couple of days, weigh the sample hops again to see how much they've dried (e.g. the 100 grams should be getting down towards 25 grams)
> 4. Repeat step 3 every few hours, and when the weight has stopped dropping, assume they're as dry as they need to be...bag, label & vac seal them.
> 
> Thoughts?


A screen door works well as long as you don't put them too thick. No more than about 2 inches depth seems ok.

I wouldn't bother turning them as it will likely just cause the lupulin to drop out of the cones, with some varieties more prone than others e.g. Golding. But it does pay to check if they are drying properly all the way through.

You should be able to feel when they are fairly dry, and anyway different varieties tend to dry down to different weights.


----------



## Weizguy

I cut down my Chinook about a week ago. Dried and bagged, but not weighed. I have a large zip-lock bag full. Maybe 200g...

Hoping for the same from the Mt Hood and the Hallertauer and the Perle. Maybe a ounce from the Cascade, and the Hersbrucker produced no no flowers yet, but a nice ground cover. Photos to come.


----------



## Danwood

Here's a sample of my Cascade...they're huge! Almost fist sized !

And my fox jumper is pretty spesh also...


----------



## hoppy2B

I won't argue with you Danwood as I have some pretty nice Cascade cones coming along also, but I must mention that your hand is looking a bit fat and puffy. You might want to get a professional to check it out. :huh:


----------



## SmallFry

Danwood said:


> Here's a sample of my Cascade...they're huge! Almost fist sized !
> 
> And my fox jumper is pretty spesh also...


Also, looks like you've never done a hard days manual labour in your life...


----------



## Danwood

I'm actually very sensitive about my fat hands and wrists...'sniff'.

My wardrobe is killer though, so I'll get over it.


----------



## pilgrimspiss

First 3 vines picked, dried and bagged. Cluster, hersbrucker and flinders. They all pumped for 1st years. Flinders did really well. Beautiful 'Piney citrus' aroma. See how it goes for bittering. Bagged hops, Mrs screwin around with her 'hop antellers, and me loving the hops!!


----------



## Dan Pratt

First year harvest.....lol. Not really going to get much but it was fun picking them and smelling them fresh of the bine. 

Cascade, only half a bowl.



East Kent Goldings, full bowl. 




The home made drying screen.


----------



## Danwood

Look forward to next season, Pratty. If your Cascade is like mine, your harvest will be 3-4 times the size.


----------



## Yob

First fresh hops in a glass, Chinook, picked the other day and left to dry so as to minimise grassiness... 

Delightful


----------



## unclebarrel

Oh yeah man. 
thats rad.


----------



## Danwood

Crowbaring more hops into your beers there, J ?


----------



## Yob

Bottle opener from the FIL but you know I would of I could


----------



## Camo6

Dan, that is why I'm always carrying when I rendezvous with Yob. You never know what he's gonna pull.


----------



## Dan Pratt

What do I do with the hop vines?? I have harvested the cones and have now just leaves on wires....where do I cut and is the anything I should do until next season?


----------



## Danwood

Best to be prepared when you go meet the dealer. ..


----------



## DU99

mine has nothing on it.wasn't expecting much for a 1st year,and nearly dying a few weeks ago.see what happen's over the next few weeks


----------



## Yob

Pratty1 said:


> What do I do with the hop vines?? I have harvested the cones and have now just leaves on wires....where do I cut and is the anything I should do until next season?


Leave them until totally dead and dry, the rhizome will pull nutrients back out of them, some people even leave them and let the following years growth climb on them.


----------



## Camo6

DU99 said:


> mine has nothing on it.wasn't expecting much for a 1st year,and nearly dying a few weeks ago.see what happen's over the next few weeks


I got more from my first year chinook than I did this year. Those hot spells came at the wrong time for mine and fried the laterals I suspect. I might not live on a farm anymore but I'll still bitch about the weather!


----------



## Yob

First you complain about the lack of blue stuff up there and now too much... 

You sir, are a hard man to please 

But yeah, my laterals suffered badly too


----------



## Camo6

I'm gonna stick to Cascade and Chinook next year. My Goldings hasn't impressed me yet so it can go.

When's the best time to transplant a potted plant into the ground? I was planning to do it once I cut them back.


----------



## Yob

Dunno mate, probably no harm once they've gone to sleep


----------



## pilgrimspiss

Yob said:


> DSC_0272.JPG
> 
> First fresh hops in a glass, Chinook, picked the other day and left to dry so as to minimise grassiness...
> 
> Delightful


Nice label Yob. Is that you?


----------



## Yob

Yep, is an older one of mine 

Cheers


----------



## shaunous

Yeh my first years did nuttin, the Chinook didnt even merge from the ground so I transplanted another Cascade rhizome i cut of the back end of the original one and it grew. Both grew to a foot of so and kinda snapped off, i noticed once a bine snaps, thats it, its fuked, wont continue to grow past the break like most other plants, just put energy into growing my little ones. But in alol fairness they are in a bad spot, its been really really windy, and its hailed on them 4 times.

Onwards and upwards...


----------



## Spiesy

Nobody using them wet in a brew?


----------



## mckenry

I posted this in the freaky hop cones thread, but thought id put it here as well.

I have a strange thing happening to my 'old' hops. I call them old, because they got away, under the fence and into the neighbours yard. I offered to dig them out, but she is a strange one - not going to get into it here. Anyway, they have been left neglected for 3 years. They just die and start again each year. I can see this years (just out of reach!) that have run up a tree in the neighbours yard. The cones are a beautiful sight right now, but some of them have this little 'chain' kind of growth hanging down from them. They are not bines, They look more like a plaited piece of leather, but made of hops?? Very hard to explain and I'll try to photograph them tomorrow if no-one knows what this is. They look like a girls necklace almost, but light green like the cone material, not like the darker green the bine is. Any ideas? Google images isnt helping, but maybe because I dont know the right term for this 'growth'


----------



## Mall

Mt.Hood, 1st lot of flowers 

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/gallery/image/8132-img-20140223-160415/


----------



## mckenry

mckenry said:


> I posted this in the freaky hop cones thread, but thought id put it here as well.
> 
> I have a strange thing happening to my 'old' hops. I call them old, because they got away, under the fence and into the neighbours yard. I offered to dig them out, but she is a strange one - not going to get into it here. Anyway, they have been left neglected for 3 years. They just die and start again each year. I can see this years (just out of reach!) that have run up a tree in the neighbours yard. The cones are a beautiful sight right now, but some of them have this little 'chain' kind of growth hanging down from them. They are not bines, They look more like a plaited piece of leather, but made of hops?? Very hard to explain and I'll try to photograph them tomorrow if no-one knows what this is. They look like a girls necklace almost, but light green like the cone material, not like the darker green the bine is. Any ideas? Google images isnt helping, but maybe because I dont know the right term for this 'growth'


Here's a pic. Not great, but it may help.


----------



## Liam_snorkel

is it dangling from the very end of the bine?


----------



## mckenry

Liam_snorkel said:


> is it dangling from the very end of the bine?


It could be, I cant tell from my side of the fence. Pic was taken with 150mm zoom....
Why would that change it though?


----------



## Liam_snorkel

mckenry said:


> It could be, I cant tell from my side of the fence. Pic was taken with 150mm zoom....
> Why would that change it though?


the very ends of some of my bines have looked similar to that over the last couple of years. as if the bine itself has miniature 'petals' on it for the last 100mm or so, culminating in a mutant hop cone - either a really small one, a huge one, or two joined together like some kind of horrible birth defect.


----------



## Weizguy

It looks like most of my hops are beginning to turn brown, so I shall chop them all down very soon, and dry whatever looks OK.
Only the Cascade appears to be mostly green. Anyone else get that issue in the last couple of week's rain?


----------



## technobabble66

Finally realized I can load photos from my phone (duh!). 
My first year chinook baby:


----------



## mckenry

Liam_snorkel said:


> the very ends of some of my bines have looked similar to that over the last couple of years. as if the bine itself has miniature 'petals' on it for the last 100mm or so, culminating in a mutant hop cone - either a really small one, a huge one, or two joined together like some kind of horrible birth defect.


Couldnt have said it better myself. Why does this happen?


----------



## Liam_snorkel

Dunno, I guess the plant is trying to squeeze just one more bud I mean cone out of the stem I mean bine.

here's a couple of similar examples I found on the googles:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hTiyKn1_3Fw/RvW5feSmqzI/AAAAAAAAAoA/QLqKEekBmow/s1600/IMG_6706.JPG

http://www.freshops.com/images/home_ssp_alt.jpg

http://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/attachments/f92/132379d1372649917-2013-hop-garden-photo-thread-2010-07-31-11.47.17.jpg

http://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/attachments/f92/132380d1372649917-2013-hop-garden-photo-thread-2010-07-31-11.46.49.jpg

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/data/12/medium/WTF_cone_1.jpg


----------



## Pogierob

This is on my cascade hop bine and is simply just the end shoot on the group.


----------



## Mardoo

Liam_snorkel said:


> Dunno, I guess the plant is trying to squeeze just one more bud I mean cone out of the stem I mean bine.
> 
> here's a couple of similar examples I found on the googles:
> 
> http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hTiyKn1_3Fw/RvW5feSmqzI/AAAAAAAAAoA/QLqKEekBmow/s1600/IMG_6706.JPG
> 
> http://www.freshops.com/images/home_ssp_alt.jpg
> 
> http://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/attachments/f92/132379d1372649917-2013-hop-garden-photo-thread-2010-07-31-11.47.17.jpg
> 
> http://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/attachments/f92/132380d1372649917-2013-hop-garden-photo-thread-2010-07-31-11.46.49.jpg
> 
> http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/data/12/medium/WTF_cone_1.jpg


That's some fetish hop porn there Snorky. "Who's a naughty hop, now?"


----------



## Mardoo

Hops in trees! Man, I rarely see anything so beautiful as hops growing into trees. Totally uninterested in difficulty of harvesting. They're just gorgeous.

Victoria:



Cascade:



If you look closely you'll see they're all through the gum.


----------



## Liam_snorkel

Gimme some hops amongst the gum trees,
With lots of plum trees...


----------



## hoppy2B

Liam_snorkel said:


> Gimme some hops amongst the gum trees,
> With lots of plum trees...


A hot dog or 2 and an ice cold brew


----------



## Jaded and Bitter

hoppy2B said:


> A hot dog or 2 and an ice cold brew


And an old rocking chair


----------



## unclebarrel

Harvest time at UB's.
I am stoked with how much my cascade gave up ! As I was picking the flowers just kept appearing ! Half filled this fruit box ! Some of them are big buggers too. Columbus and chinook top right and left respectively did ok, I didn't weigh them, will do that once dry and ready to vac seal.
Other pic is my super ghetto drying racks, they ain't pretty !
Still more small cones to grow up and be picked on all three plants.

Home brewing and all that comes with it certainly is a rewarding hobby.
CHEERS !

UB


----------



## SmallFry

Bit of a poverty harvest from my first year PoR.





88gm wet, so not going to be a big, hoppy hit I was looking for. Might need to chuck a brewie tomorrow and do a wet harvest ale.


----------



## Dave70

^Thats about what I harvested from each from my cascade and chinook even though the bines looked impressive. The hallertau, forget it..
That spate of blistering heat we had really knocked them around despite all the TLC they received. Got them drying in the dehydrator currently but in reality, hardly worth the bother unless I plan on doing a 2 pint batch.


----------



## Rubix

Here's my first lot of harvest pics from this year. I still have the Cascade and Pride of Ringwood to go.



Chinook



Saaz (Pretty happy with this as a first year harvest)



Goldings (Not bad from another first year that I simply threw into a pot up against the fence)



Drying in the ghetto dehydrator....

Cheers


----------



## carniebrew

I harvested my (first year) Hersbrucker today, they were really dry and some just starting to brown. Been watching 'em like a hawk for 2 weeks now.



I'm leaving the Cascade for a couple more days though, still a bit green and grassy.

121 grams worth of Hersbrucker, the portion inside the O-ring on the mesh is about a cupful, and currently weighs 42 grams including the cup. Will weigh that portion every now and then over the next day or two to see how they're drying.



What do I do now it's harvested? Cut all the bines back to just below soil level, cover in mulch and forget about it? Do I have to keep it watered during the off season?


----------



## shaunous

I hate all u successful hops growers....


----------



## technobabble66

carniebrew said:


> What do I do now it's harvested? Cut all the bines back to just below soil level, cover in mulch and forget about it? Do I have to keep it watered during the off season?


I believe current theory for home growers is to leave the bines so the plant can gradually withdraw nutrients from them & stockpile food in the rhizomes ready for next spring.


----------



## Pogierob

Absolute bumper crop for my first year Saaz, might have to give some away as there is too much for me to use alone.


----------



## yum beer

I'll take some Rob if someone's willing to go halves. :lol:

Makse me feel better about my small harvest which compared to that is very impressive.


----------



## carniebrew

Rob.P said:


> Absolute bumper crop for my first year Saaz, might have to give some away as there is too much for me to use alone.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1394241323.764622.jpg


Rob, didn't you grow them in an ecokeg like the one you gave me? I just used pure potting mix and had them sitting in basically full sun in my backyard, with my sailing ship-style trellis arrangement for them to grow up. Did you do something starkly different to that?


----------



## Pogierob

I think my location isn't right, they miss out on a fair bit of sun during the early morning and then evening. 

I have decided some backyard re-arranging is in order for next year.


----------



## Pogierob

Got a massive 65g of cascade too.


----------



## carniebrew

My 42gm sample of Hersbrucker became 38 grams overnight, and is 36 grams now. They're browning a bit, feel really dry and light...not sure how long to leave before vac sealing & freezing.


----------



## Danwood

I'd apply the same rules as with final gravity readings...once it's stable, you're good to go.


----------



## unclebarrel

Try breaking the stem in the middle, the 'strig' ? Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I let mine dry until they were extremely dry and the middle stem just snapped when the cone was bent.

I have a feeling I picked too early, but I know i dried them out well enough.
I ended up with just over 100g of cascade dry.
20g of columbus and 17g of chinook.
There is still more to pick on the bines, I will just do the last harvest and make it a bag of mixed lollies for dry hopping !!!


----------



## carniebrew

UB, did you weigh any of your hops before and after using your dehydrator? Just wondering how much moisture you got out of them.


----------



## unclebarrel

Nah man, I should have.
I actually didn't even use the dehydrator. I sat them on screens in the garage.
I haven't exactly been all sciencey about it !


----------



## hoppy2B

shaunous said:


> I hate all u successful hops growers....


That's it, I'm reporting you for your hate message Mr 0 Warning Points 4 eva!


----------



## shaunous

hoppy2B said:


> That's it, I'm reporting you for your hate message Mr 0 Warning Points 4 eva!


U win


----------



## catcher

Any tips where I can buy Rhizomes to plant in Spring? Just wanting a small selection.


----------



## Pogierob

I believe people sell them in here.

Also eBay has a good selection when the season is coming up


----------



## carniebrew

The Hersbrucker sample was 35gm at 9pm last night, and 35gm at 10am this morning, so I've bagged 'em. Without the cup, the sample size went from 13 grams to 5, so that's about 60% of their weight gone in a day and a half on the drying screen. I've vac sealed about 45 grams worth. As an aside, for anyone who's done that before, how much does vac sealing squash the poor bastards? Take a look at this:




That's about half the batch. I probably should just shoved the whole lot in the one vac bag, but I felt bad squashing them. Now I've seen what the vac sealer does to them I won't worry so much next time!

I've picked the Cascade today, they were a bit greener and felt a bit more moist, not sure if that's just a variety thing though. They're about 125 grams picked, so very similar amount to the Hersbrucker.


----------



## billygoat

Spiesy said:


> Nobody using them wet in a brew?


I brewed Argons Little Fellas Pale Ale on Thursday and used 250 grams of wet Cascade hops.
Used the wet hops at 60,20,10 and 5 minute additions.
Also used some dried Goldings from last years harvest at 60min.
Ran out of Chinook pellets so used some Columbus at 20,10 and 5 minute additions.
Its now fermenting using US05.


----------



## carniebrew

billygoat, can I just check, when you say "wet hops", do you mean hops that you've just picked? Do you dry them at all first, or is that only necessary if you're going to be storing them for down the track?

Also, can you tell me how many grams of hops you used at each addition?


----------



## Pogierob

Did a bit of research on this man, wet hops is actually just that. Straight off the bine.


----------



## hoppy2B

1850 grams of wet Cascade cones I picked on Saturday arvo. They are on about half a screen door covered with a sheet of calico. This is between about 10 and 20 percent of my Cascade for this year. The rest are not ready to pick yet.


----------



## technobabble66

Wow. 
Impressive H2B!


----------



## hoppy2B

technobabble66 said:


> Wow.
> Impressive H2B!


Thanks techno, Cascade seems an easy hop to grow. Picking them is amazing as it turns out to be a lot more cones than you would expect when looking at the plant.


----------



## billygoat

carniebrew said:


> billygoat, can I just check, when you say "wet hops", do you mean hops that you've just picked? Do you dry them at all first, or is that only necessary if you're going to be storing them for down the track?
> 
> Also, can you tell me how many grams of hops you used at each addition?


Carniebrew, the hops are straight from the bine, I picked them while the fly sparge was in progress.
I used them in a rough version of Argons Little Fellas Pale Ale.
75g of wet Cascade and 25 g of last years harvest of dried Goldings at 60 min,
50g of wet Cascade and some Columbus pellets at 20 min, (would have used Chinook instead of Columbus but had run out),
50g of wet Cascade and some Columbus pellets at 10 min,
75g of wet Cascade at 5 min.
Will dry hop at about day 5 with some dried Cascade.
Worked on a ratio of 5:1 with the wet hops. That is, that the wet hops weigh about 5 times more than a dry hop.
The AA% is a guess but hopefully around the 5 to 6% mark.
It is fermenting now so will be a couple of weeks away before I know the outcome.


----------



## carniebrew

Brilliant, might lock this one away for this time next year, hopefully my 2nd year Cascade will provide enough for the brew. Need to roughly double output.

H2B, how many Cascade plants do you have in the ground to produce 20kg+ of cones? Curious to know what the most is you'd expect to harvest off a single bine once the plant's been in the ground a few years.


----------



## Mardoo

IIRC BYO had a recent feature about wet hopping. If I'm correct I can copy it for you.


----------



## BlueMutt

First year Victoria going great guns, grown in a mini wheely bin and at 1550mtrs above sea level.


----------



## Lecterfan

I'm not able to post a pic for some reason, pretty annoying, but I had a pretty good harvest this year, two big w 19L pots full of cascade and columbus and a third equivalent size pot full of EKG and chinook. Pretty happy - going to do my harvest ale brew next weekend, looking forward to it!


----------



## carniebrew

Lecterfan, I recall your wet hop harvest ale from last year (the sodium perc bulk buy), it was a right ripper. The mate of mine you picked up your perc from in Ballarat still reckons it's the best home brew he's ever had.

Actually I'm a bit hazy after a huge day...was it yours we had, or Billygoats? I think yours.


----------



## hoppy2B

carniebrew said:


> H2B, how many Cascade plants do you have in the ground to produce 20kg+ of cones? Curious to know what the most is you'd expect to harvest off a single bine once the plant's been in the ground a few years.


Hey carniebrew,
I have probably harvested around 20% of the Cascade so my yield this year should be approaching the 10 kg mark of wet hops. I have 1 second year plant and 3 first year plants.

Last year I took 1.5 kg wet from my first year plant. I was surprised how much I got off it because it didn't look that big. My rhizome came from Queensland and was very slow to start in its first year.

I couldn't give you a figure for how much to expect from one bine. You need to train as many bines as you can to get big yields. And remember to water your hops well and feed with liquid manure.


----------



## nathanvonbeerenstein

Popped into Vermont bunnings on my way back from Uni and stumbled across a couple of 'Beer Herbs' (AKA american Cascade as confirmed in other threads), despite it being a little late in the season i snagged a couple up and whipped up a pot and something for them to climb up with an old cube that was too stinky to no-chill in.
Whats the worst that could happen i figure anyway.


----------



## hoppy2B

nathanvonbeerenstein said:


> Popped into Vermont bunnings on my way back from Uni and stumbled across a couple of 'Beer Herbs' (AKA american Cascade as confirmed in other threads), despite it being a little late in the season i snagged a couple up and whipped up a pot and something for them to climb up with an old cube that was too stinky to no-chill in.
> Whats the worst that could happen i figure anyway.
> 
> 
> 
> ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1394511599.173670.jpg


Should grow a little bit and strengthen the rhizomes up a bit. 

If I understand correctly, you have 2 in the one cube? Are you planning to lift them and pot them up in winter for next season? They should give a good crop if you do that.


----------



## kahlerisms

Prince Imperial said:


> My chinook are just about ready to go
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1392667001.718816.jpg


My Tettnang and Willamette are starting to look a lot like this. Cones are starting to puff out like that and feel light. First year so I'm not exactly sure when to harvest. What's the downside of too early and what's the downside of too late? I plan to harvest Sunday at this stage. Tettnang will be a very late (or even dry) addition into a kolsch. I might donate the Willamette.


----------



## hoppy2B

kahlerisms said:


> My Tettnang and Willamette are starting to look a lot like this. Cones are starting to puff out like that and feel light. First year so I'm not exactly sure when to harvest. What's the downside of too early and what's the downside of too late? I plan to harvest Sunday at this stage. Tettnang will be a very late (or even dry) addition into a kolsch. I might donate the Willamette.


The aroma, flavour and bittering potential is at its best when harvest is delayed till the cones are properly ripe.


----------



## carniebrew

kahlerisms said:


> My Tettnang and Willamette are starting to look a lot like this. Cones are starting to puff out like that and feel light. First year so I'm not exactly sure when to harvest. What's the downside of too early and what's the downside of too late? I plan to harvest Sunday at this stage. Tettnang will be a very late (or even dry) addition into a kolsch. I might donate the Willamette.


Once you get the first signs of brown on the cones is a good sign. Watch this if you haven't already, it really helped me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlsT-x19III


----------



## surly

Good vid carnie.
My hops looked ripe, but were softer and more moist than his. Maybe I watered too much?


----------



## surly

Bucket o' hops.

Pretty happy with my harvest considering I only let the plant get about 8 ft tall. It also copped a hammering from the hot weather.

EDIT: Having had another look at my hops after watching Carniebrews video, mine DO look too young. This is interesting as there were a few cones at the top of the plant that were fully brown, but these TOO were soft, flexible and a bit moist if squeezed. 
None had the crumbly, papery texture.


----------



## carniebrew

If you're using them in a wet hop ale, it won't matter much. But if you're planning to store them, make sure you dry 'em out really well before packing. Do the trick where you weigh a sample every 6 hours or so until that sample stops dropping in weight, and you'll know there's no moisture left in them to evaporate.


----------



## Mr. No-Tip

It's funny the different stages in different areas. In Canberra, I had cones forming in early October, harvested at Christmas, and a second lot a few weeks ago. Now my Cascade is already yellowing off. If there were still cones they'd be brown as now.

Yet you guys are at peak harvest time...


----------



## hoppy2B

Had these hops drying in the shed for the last couple of days. In the front is 400 grams of Mt Hood, which is the entire crop from a first year plant. Middle is 700 grams of Chinook which is about a third of my first year plant. And at the back is a further 1400 grams of Cascade. These are wet weights.

Doesn't show that well in the photo but the Mt Hood is the lightest in colour followed by the Chinook, with the Cascade the darkest.

Thanks to Darkman who sent me a nice large Chinook rhizome. :super:


----------



## surly

Anyone have galaxy growing?

I use a bit of galaxy and would like to give this a go next year..


----------



## Camo6

I've got a mate growing Galaxy who says you're welcome to take a cutting or rhizome. Apparently due to their sensitivity it's best to take a cutting after midnight and you have his permission to cut the fence if it gets in the way. His only condition is you send me a rhizome for the heads up. PM for address. h34r:


----------



## surly

Camo6 said:


> I've got a mate growing Galaxy who says you're welcome to take a cutting or rhizome. Apparently due to their sensitivity it's best to take a cutting after midnight and you have his permission to cut the fence if it gets in the way. His only condition is you send me a rhizome for the heads up. PM for address. h34r:


Based on this, I am assuming that galaxy is closely guarded and not avail to the public?
Sounds like that close relative of hops grown down in Tas, though that is probably much easier to get your hands on.


----------



## daveHQ

This is my entire hop harvest! 9g of chinook and 153g of cascade, pretty disappointing, the string of 40+deg days really knocked them about, hopefully next year is better

I threw the whole lot in as a late addition (10 min) into a bright ale (b saaz was used for bittering)


----------



## Camo6

surly said:


> Based on this, I am assuming that galaxy is closely guarded and not avail to the public?
> Sounds like that close relative of hops grown down in Tas, though that is probably much easier to get your hands on.


This seems to be the case surly, looking forward to when it finds it's way into homegrower's hands though.




daveHQ said:


> ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1394957931.291049.jpg
> 
> This is my entire hop harvest! 9g of chinook and 153g of cascade, pretty disappointing, the string of 40+deg days really knocked them about, hopefully next year is better
> 
> I threw the whole lot in as a late addition (10 min) into a bright ale (b saaz was used for bittering)


My Goldings and Chinook did sweet FA this year, Dave. Looking forward to picking the cascade though. While it doesn't look to yield too many cones, the ones I've tested seemed to be full of gold.


----------



## Danwood

Good job, Cascade ! 1025g wet weight.

2nd year plant, but only allowed to grow to 2.5m, so not too bad.

Fuggles and Goldings however, 1st and 2nd years plants, only a few cones between them...boo !


----------



## Brendandrage

Hi all,
Well i harvested my hops last night and got a pretty good batch for the first year, my question is can anyone identify these for me?
I bought them from bunnings and they had no identifyer on them to say what flavor they might be.


----------



## PeteQ

If you bought them at bunnings and they were marked 'beer herbs' they are American cascade

Cheers


----------



## Brendandrage

Thanks PeteQ, any ideas on potential AA%


----------



## carniebrew

Anywhere between 4.5% and 7%, in reality none of us growing hops know. Use 'em late and/or in conjunction with hops you do know the AA% for if an IBU number is important to you...

To be honest, the actual AA% on any hops we buy changes significantly depending on the age of hops and how they're handled, so we're all really just estimating in the end.


----------



## technobabble66

First year chinook: I picked 600g (wet) yday, and that's about 2/3rds of what was there - I ran out of drying space! So I may get ~1kg in total. That'll sadly dry down to ~250g, I guess. 
Absolutely. Totally. Stoked. 
I didn't think I'd get any flowers in the first year! Must been a particularly rhizome from the good Dr :lol:
So big thanks to DrSmurto!


----------



## BlueMutt

Finally finished harvesting hops up here in the Alps today.
1.1kg wet Victoria.
.85kg wet Chinook
1.3kg Cascade.
All first year plants, look out next year.


----------



## carniebrew

Wow, they sound like ripping harvests for first year plants. You guys do anything particularly special to get such an output this year?? Would love to hear how you planted (ground v pot), in what soil, what kind of feeding regime you had etc. Just out of interest given a few of us managed only a couple of hundred grams or less.


----------



## BlueMutt

*
*
*Victoria, first harvest*

*Cascade was in the vege patch, grown 30kms up the valley from Rostrevor hops farm.*
*Victoria and Chinook were grown in mini wheely bins at 1550mtrs above see level.*
*The altitude may have helped the later plants to survive the heatwave that summer was. The cascade had some westery shading and daily deep watering.*
*All were grown in a mix of 2:1 potting mix to manure with some sand for drainage.*
*Seeweed fertilizer every week or two, changing up between powerfeed and seasol.*
*Lots of deep watering..*


----------



## Camo6

I got sweet FA from my Goldings and Chinook. My cascade yielded 1028gms which dried out to 340. Smells nice too.


----------



## Danwood

Camo6 said:


> I got sweet FA from my Goldings and Chinook. My cascade yielded 1028gms which dried out to 340. Smells nice too.


Oh yeah...that'd be right...3g more than my Cascade harvest !

Sure there wasn't a few stray stalks or leaves included in that weight, Cam ? A few grams worth ? 4grams maybe ?

Mine was all cones...all killer, no filler...just sayin'...


----------



## Camo6

Haha! I did spray it with about 4gms of flyspray to increase its potency. The hardest bit was wrapping each gram in foil.

What was your final weight dry Dan? I left them in the shed for 3-4 days but yesterday was a bit of a warm one.


----------



## Phoney

My chinook and cascade have grown too close together and have intertwined. That's my first problem. My second problem is that my mum picked them for me, because they're growing at her place 300km up the coast, and she didn't even try to separate them. So now I have approx 1 kg (wet) mixed hops, drying out.


What should I do with them, Besides make grapefruit IPA's?


----------



## Danwood

Camo6 said:


> Haha! I did spray it with about 4gms of flyspray to increase its potency. The hardest bit was wrapping each gram in foil.
> What was your final weight dry Dan? I left them in the shed for 3-4 days but yesterday was a bit of a warm one.


Don't know exactly, mate. I dried them for about 5 days on a plastic sheet and last Sat threw them all, in thirds, into a pale/IPA (10min,5min and flame out). Plus, left on the sheet was around a teaspoon of pure lupulin, so that magical powder went into the cube.

Should be good, I'll save you a bottle.


----------



## oakburner

Bit late to the party on this post but.... everyone like pictures!

Pulled around 450 500g wet (100g dry) off my first year Cluster this year (early Feb)... not bad for the subtropics...


OB


----------



## hoppy2B

Just thought I would put up an end of season photo of some Cascade cones. I finished harvesting several weeks ago.

If anyone is interested, I have some POR rhizome to give away. I am pulling it up tomorrow, (Saturday) and it could possibly be picked up as early as Sunday morning. There should be enough for 2 people. I need to lift it because its in the way where I am planting some garlic. I can include some Golding also if required. I won't be mailing it. Pick up Western suburbs in Adelaide.

Send me a PM if you want it. 

Cheers.


----------



## Phoney

Hey guys, need a bit of help here.


I picked my first harvest of cascade & chinook hops just when they started going brown, then I let them air dry in an mesh bag over the space of about 6 weeks. 65g in dry weight. 

Now look at them. The brown ones dont have any aroma whatsoever, but the green ones do. Yet they both taste like hops.

Are they ruined or still good for something?


----------



## carniebrew

Why did you dry them 6 weeks? You should have been able to get them dried in a couple of days, that's all I did with mine. What made you leave them 6 weeks?

I'd guess they're pretty stuffed now I'm afraid.


----------



## Mardoo

Lambic hops!

On another note all my hops are going yellow, getting ready for a long sleep. Save one. The Canterbury Goldings has decided it's time to go for broke, having been cut back a fair bit. "Cor blimey guv, English Summer!"


----------



## Phoney

carniebrew said:


> Why did you dry them 6 weeks? You should have been able to get them dried in a couple of days, that's all I did with mine. What made you leave them 6 weeks?
> 
> I'd guess they're pretty stuffed now I'm afraid.


Because they grew at my mums place 300km away and I let her harvest it, without giving her any instructions whatsoever.


----------



## CrookedFingers

Thats not a good enough reason.

Forest Gump would have jogged 300k's for his hops.


----------



## Pogierob

Phoney said:


> Because they grew at my mums place 300km away and I let her harvest it, without giving her any instructions whatsoever.


I was trying to think of something funny to write about your mother harvesting your hops for you, however I think the best thing for me to do is offer you a hug. You OK dude? there is always next year.


----------



## Phoney

I'm fine thanks.  First year + 65 grams = bugger all loss & lesson learnt.


----------



## Pilchard

Had a good look through this thread, some get more than others etc and it doesn't seem to be a location issue. Anyone here horticultrily trained? Giving them perfect root zone conditions with the elements doing their thing? My primary is horticulture but it really doesn't help here as I have never grown them. This year once they arrive I reckon I could contribute atleast something to the forum as my area of study has been plants for 2 decades. I cook to pay the bills. There is not a lot of information on growing hops in nsw. We are obviously too far north of perfect but I can't see how it can't be done.


----------



## Weizguy

I got a huge bag of Chinook this year and then we got a lot of rain and wind. The trellis (Bunnings 6m long treated pine) was blown over and snapped in half, leaving the remaining hops to hang in the mud. The cones never seemed to mature properly in all that rain anyway. lucky I got the Chinook. (I may be able add a pic later).

Note to self: Buy stronger trellis material (previously posted bamboo broke in half too, but admittedly was old bamboo).

Les


----------



## bromeo

Bit late but this was near harvest this year, first year plants going well on the farm


----------

