2007 Hop Plantations

[Maeldric]

My columbus has already reached about 5m in the air and has started to flower! Have about 30 little flowers on it and a few decent sized cones now ill post a pic of it later on for yas

 

[mudsta]

Kabooby,

I think I will leave all the side shoots on the main bines.
To stop them getting mixed up or tangled I will train them onto the same string with the host bine.

That should keep the little buggers under control!

Mudsta :beerbang:

 

[drsmurto]

Cluster starting to head along the string


Wayne - thought i was meant to make them grow straight up until they start to shoot sideways?

Was planning on building a 3+ metre tall trellis to allow them to grow straight up until they want to go sideways.

Also, i have planted mine less than 2 metres apart. How do i stop them from getting tangled up? Can i make them grow left, then right then back again?

Cheers
DrSmurto

 

[domonsura]

Wayne - thought i was meant to make them grow straight up until they start to shoot sideways?

Was planning on building a 3+ metre tall trellis to allow them to grow straight up until they want to go sideways.

Also, i have planted mine less than 2 metres apart. How do i stop them from getting tangled up? Can i make them grow left, then right then back again?

Cheers
DrSmurto

lol, I dunno man I'm just trying to keep up with the bugger.....I have just been manipulating them to where I want them to go - if they wind around something i don;t want them too, I just carefully unwind, and rewind around something more suitable. It does seem to want to keep going up though, so i may have to move the other end of the string to a higher point......

 

[Lukes]

Well as a first time hop grower I'm pretty happy with my hops so far.
They have been in just on two months and are growing crazy!!

See attached pics of my hop yard. Poles are 4.5m high off the ground, with two wires strung between the tops of each pole.
I have a total of 84 strings (6 for each plant) tied up to the overhead wires.

The current hight of my hops are below:
Goldings 2.8m!!!
Hersbruker 2.0m
Hallertau 1.9m
Tettnanger 1.25m
Cluster - 0.85m
Chinook - 0.4m

I think my Goldings will reach the top of my wires in two weeks at the speed they are growing.
I spent a few hours this week removing the excess bines and leaves around the root crown and have also given them a dose of fertilizer.
I have had some issues with leaf wilt; some powdery mildew and the snails also seem to like them.
The wind down here was also really giving them a beating, so I put up some shade cloth, which helped a lot.
They are starting to shoot out side runners all the way up the main bines at each leaf segment, I cant wait to they start to flower!!!

Does anybody know if I should leave the side shoots on the main bines on or cut them off?

Mudsta :beerbang:

I would leave the side shoots.
Someone once posted here the mix of 1 part vinegar to 9 parts water to solve mold and mildew issues and I tried it and it worked.

Check out the Red Hill Brewing hopyard as they have been growing for a few years now for the beer they brew and you probably will need a few more poles like this to hang them on as they kick in.

- Luke

 

[drsmurto]

I would leave the side shoots.
Someone once posted here the mix of 1 part vinegar to 9 parts water to solve mold and mildew issues and I tried it and it worked.

- Luke

Just mixed up and sprayed on the leaves?

At what point do you remove the lower leaves?

 

[Lukes]

Just mixed up and sprayed on the leaves?

At what point do you remove the lower leaves?

I just mixed it up in a soft drink bottle and poured it into the base of the plant root ball.
I get rid of the lower leaves when they started to look like they are not working any more and before they go yellow or when I start mulching around the base (in a circle just a little away from the stem) to retain water in summer.

- Luke

 

[etbandit]

Im starting to grow hops for the first time. I got a rhizhome cutting of Saaz with a shoot that was 40cm long. I kept it in direct sunlight but the tip of the shoot whithered and died but the bottom half of the shoot is still green and looks ok. Will it continue to grow and climb or is it doomed for this season?

Anything I can do to remedy this?

 

[mfdes]

Im starting to grow hops for the first time. I got a rhizhome cutting of Saaz with a shoot that was 40cm long. I kept it in direct sunlight but the tip of the shoot whithered and died but the bottom half of the shoot is still green and looks ok. Will it continue to grow and climb or is it doomed for this season?

Anything I can do to remedy this?

Keep the water up to it, careful not to waterlog. Assuming you don't have a root rot issue then the plant should continue to grow. You may not get anything but 1st year yields are often negligible.

Also, what are people's experiences growing Saaz?

Here in TAS the commercial growers can't get any crop out of them, as flower initiation consistently fails. Their take is we seem to be too close to the equator for them. Anyone had success getting them to flower?

MFS

 

[mfdes]

Forgot to add, in my experience one of the most crucial issues in establishing 1st year cuttings is to minimise competition: keep the weeds well at bay. Once established they are weeds themselves, but you'll get better yields if you keep them free of competition.

MFS.

 

[troydo]

mmm red hill brewer .. i like their beers!!

Im keen to try growing some hops!

What time of year is best to take a tip cutting and get it going?

Any Brissy brewers wanna swing me a cutting?

 

[Steve]

What time of year is best to take a tip cutting and get it going?

Ive taking cuttings when the lateral shoots are at about 20-30cms long (half way through the season). Snip it off, pull the lower few leaves off and stick it in a glass of water, wait for it to shoot roots and plant it in a pot. Very easy.
Cheers
Steve

 

[randyrob]

In Pots



Goldings



Golden Cluster



Chinhook



Wuertemberger



Columbus Rhizome



Columbus Rhizome 2







me wild hops going nuts this year.

 

[NickB]

I'd be very keen for some rhizomes/cuttings for next season...anyone feeling generous Maybe we should have a "Rhi Swap" as well as a Case Swap each few months h34r:

Cheers

 

[drsmurto]

I still cant find whats eating the leaves of my chinook, possibly earwigs as they are in plague proportions this year and are almost as hard to kill as cockroaches. My garden is organic so that makes life much harder. I did notice some small webs higher up in the plant - spider mites? Altho my reading tells me they dont eat holes in the leaves which look more like aphids or caterpillars. The leaves turn yellow and i cant find any mites or any critters at all. Maybe earwigs after all....

Any organic remedies? I had thought to pick some flowers of the pyrethrum plant and mix that with some soap flakes, chilli and garlic.....

Cheers
DrSmurto

 

[Screwtop]

I still cant find whats eating the leaves of my chinook, possibly earwigs as they are in plague proportions this year and are almost as hard to kill as cockroaches. My garden is organic so that makes life much harder. I did notice some small webs higher up in the plant - spider mites? Altho my reading tells me they dont eat holes in the leaves which look more like aphids or caterpillars. The leaves turn yellow and i cant find any mites or any critters at all. Maybe earwigs after all....

Any organic remedies? I had thought to pick some flowers of the pyrethrum plant and mix that with some soap flakes, chilli and garlic.....

Cheers
DrSmurto

Same here, white oil worked and fertilise the shit out of them to beat the munchers.

 

[domonsura]

Yep, you gotta watch those earwigs, they destroy everything. I usually go completely organic, but the garden is getting annihilated by so many different bugs this year that we've been losing half of everything to the bugs :angry: even with garlic interspersed with the plants and using pyrethrum/garlic sprays etc - so reluctantly I have had to resort to a mixture of physical barrier (closing the garden in completely with shadecloth - except the hops) and real chemical warfare - which I'm hoping the exclusion of the bugs etc by the shadecloth will keep to a minimum the chemicals required. I hate chem's but I'm not putting all that work & $$ in to get 5kg of tomatoes back for us, and 25kg for the local insect population. Hopefully I will only need to use the chems once or twice..... <_<
Last year in the hills was earwig city - and they aren't easy to get rid of either. I managed to stave off everything else naturally, but the earwigs won in the end. I wouldn't be suprised if it's them eating the hops for you, they seem to eat anything and get in everywhere.

 

[Screwtop]

I'd be very keen for some rhizomes/cuttings for next season...anyone feeling generous Maybe we should have a "Rhi Swap" as well as a Case Swap each few months h34r:

Cheers

Happy to join in a Rhi/Cutting swap. If you want to kick off a thread for a swap in 2008 I'll join up Nick.

Took six cuttings near the end of last season, just stuck them in potting mix, all grew but unfortunately only two reappeared after winter. This year I'll take them earlier and strike them in water first as others have done. I owe four cuttings next year to brewers who missed out this year, but plan on taking a over a dozen Wurttemberger cuttings this season as the bloody thing has gone mental, flowering now.

Swapping plants that have taken root would be best kept among brewers who live close to each other, for longer distances rhizomes can be swapped via post during the winter rest, simply packed in damp cottonwool and wrapped in newspaper.

Screwy

 

[drsmurto]

Organic gardening is tough but the more chemicals you spray the more of the good bugs you kill. Earwigs are normally kept under control by lizards/geckos etc but i think the drought has affected their population. My garden is also next to a creek so it would be eco terrorism to apply anything chemical. I am hoping that if i keep restocking the pak choi they will keep eating that and leave my other plants alone.

i have interspersed companion plants amongst the tomatoes, capsicum etc. Pyrethrum, marigolds and borage.

My hop plants are all in the ground rather than in pots but are only 1st year. Am i likely to be able to pull of side shoots and not dramatically reduce my yields? I noticed already that shoots are coming of the sides from as long as 10 cm form the ground. Would these be good to remove and see if i can get then to take? I read that i am suppose to prune them below 1 m anyway to prevent mould etc but i thought that was once the cones appear?

 

[apd]

Anyone had to dig up and transplant their growing rhizome? Im moving house early december. My POR is already 3-4 metres tall :angry:
Cheers
Steve

Yes, I've done this but I did it after flowering when it was time to cut it back. I'm not sure that moving it mid-season would allow you to keep this year's crop.

Andrew