2006 Hop Plantations

[johnno]

Gday Johnno.

I asked a question regarding wet hopping elswhere in this thread and was told you could do that, however, the article under the link you passed on to me the other day reckons dont do it unless you like beer tasting like grass!!??

Also, how much to a brew when wet?

cheers

ATOMT

nothing wrong with grass

nah have never done it myself but I will give it a try. First wort hopping will probably be the go.

As for estimating the AA's. that will be another story.


cheers
johnno

 

[Lukes]

ATOMT,
Last year the guys from Basic Brewing in the U.S. did a video on fresh hops from the back yard.

Link:


- Luke

 

[johnno]

After getting a lot my shoots dying of a couple of weeks ago I thought the POR was a goner.
I gave it the vinegar solution and fed it a coule of times and it seems to be growing well now.

Here is a piccy of when it was rater sick.


A lot of the sho0ts just strtaed dying of and going brown.

It may have been the extra hot weather but I am really not sure.

 

[T.D.]

I thought I'd post a few pics of my hops. Its their first year and to date I have no signs of any flowers. I have trained the strongest shoot up the wire, and tried to strike layers with any others (that's what is in the troughs). One didn't make it (cascade), but all others have done pretty well so far. I have also taken smaller cuttings (not long enough to be layered) and tried to strike them in water after seeing the impressive results that Batz had doing the same thing.

 

[Steve]

TD - you are going to need bigger pots than those im afraid. Especially the troughs :blink:
How much sun do they get in that area? Looks a bit shady?
Cheer
Steve

 

[capretta]

How much sun do they get in that area? Looks a bit shady?
Cheer
Steve

yeah, it looks like they might only get a few hours direct sun a day there. as i understand it, the length of sunlight they are exposed to is crucial for telling the plant when to bud (as well as for growth). so in that position they may not get any cones at all? :huh:

 

[Lukes]

I got some signs of flowers for this year, over the weekend.

Here is a pics



:super:

- Luke

 

[AngelTearsOnMyTongue]

yeah, it looks like they might only get a few hours direct sun a day there. as i understand it, the length of sunlight they are exposed to is crucial for telling the plant when to bud (as well as for growth). so in that position they may not get any cones at all? :huh:

Hrs of light is usually the trigger for flowering rather than direct exposure to sunlight , however, I still reckon the exposure to sun is critical for flowering. My plants recieve first sun hitting the tops and then exposing all the plants by about 8- 8:30AM. They are in direct sunlight until about 3:00PM when the houses shadow starts moving from the base up. The east side of the plants and particularly the tops of the plants were recieving sunlight all day. The side of the plants that recieved the least sunlight had the least spectacular flowering and lagged behind the most exposed parts of the plant.

My wet harvest of 650g chinook seems to have settled out at about 180-190g dry.

Still havent got to do the second harvest yet but a lot of the cones I left becuase they were still soft and small have increased in size considerably.

Any advice for end of season handling of the hop plants? Do I leave them in the ground and just prune them back?

ATOMT

 

[Steve]

ATOMT - leave them in the ground and prune them back to an inch or two above ground, cover with leaves if you are in an area that gets frost.
Cheers
Steve

 

[T.D.]

I did plan to plant the vines out in the open. Its up in the Hunter Valley on my folks' property and rain has been a little scarce of late, so I decided to keep them in the pots. I know they are too small, but at this stage I just want to get a growing season out of them and then hopefully next year when I transplant them into the ground they will take off! That's the plan anyway!

The troughs are just being used to strike the layers. As soon as they throw roots I will transplant into bigger pots.

Speaking of which... is there any point in stransplanting the hops in this growing season or should I wait until ~August-Sept?

And regarding the light, that was a bad time of day to take the photos - about 4pm from memory. That spot gets a reasonable amount of light for most of the day. The main reason I have them there is so I can tap them into the irrigation system. This year I have concentrated on trying get the plants to multiply. I would like 5 or so of each variety. So far it only looks like Cluster will get me 5 plants (if they all survive!) so I may have to keep trying over a few years!

 

[T.D.]

ATOMT - leave them in the ground and prune them back to an inch or two above ground, cover with leaves if you are in an area that gets frost.
Cheers
Steve

Steve, is frost only a problem after they have shot? If they are hit with a frost while dormant is that a problem?

 

[Steve]

Steve, is frost only a problem after they have shot? If they are hit with a frost while dormant is that a problem?

TD transplant in Aug-Sept. Once they're underground they'll be right if theres frost about. You wouldnt get many frosts in Sydney though?
Cheers
Steve

 

[T.D.]

But will the frost affect a dormant vine if its exposed? That is, if its not covered with leaves etc. y hops are in the Hunter Valley on my parents' property. They get quite a few frosts in winter - not a whole lot in spring though...

 

[Steve]

But will the frost affect a dormant vine if its exposed? That is, if its not covered with leaves etc. y hops are in the Hunter Valley on my parents' property. They get quite a few frosts in winter - not a whole lot in spring though...

nah - it'll be right. Dont know why I started putting leaves on once I pruned it. Sort of covering it up with a blanket for the winter nights made me feel better. Plus the leaves breakdown over the winter months to create there own compost in the dirt above the rhizome.
Cheers
Steve

 

[newguy]

Steve, is frost only a problem after they have shot? If they are hit with a frost while dormant is that a problem?

You can't kill a hop. Trust me. Once you get the rhizome in the ground, it will survive. Don't know about the effect of severe drought, but cold doesn't hurt them. How cold? -50C for certain - that's how cold it gets here, and I've never lost a hop, and I've never heard of anyone around here losing one either.

 

[T.D.]

A friend of mine lives in Calgary and he has hops growing all over his back fence. Every time I go there the hops are thicker than the previous year so evidently the cold is not a problem. And yeah, it gets pretty cold in Calgary (maybe not -50 too often but easily -30).

I was more wondering if having the plant exposed to frost, even when dormant, would harm it's growing potential the next year.

 

[newguy]

A friend of mine lives in Calgary and he has hops growing all over his back fence. Every time I go there the hops are thicker than the previous year so evidently the cold is not a problem. And yeah, it gets pretty cold in Calgary (maybe not -50 too often but easily -30).

I was more wondering if having the plant exposed to frost, even when dormant, would harm it's growing potential the next year.

If the root froze, yes. But with it planted, no. Our frost doesn't get deeper than about 12 - 18", and I really doubt that more than the top 2" of the ground in your neck of the woods would freeze. Just plant the hop and forget about it. It will be fine.

 

[Batz]

I have flowers on my POR and Tettnager
Perhaps not as good as you brewers in the colder climates,but I am happy


View attachment 11340
Tettnager

View attachment 11341
POR


View attachment 11342


Batz

 

[Steve]

Green grass! Wow i'd forgotten what it looked like.

 

[Fingerlickin_B]

Green grass! Wow i'd forgotten what it looked like.

At least you've got grass Steve...I gave up mowing our "front dirt" :lol: