2007 Hop Plantations

[braufrau]

Just wondering if it's possible to import rhizomes from the U.S.A.

How would AQIS react?

You should ring them.
It looks like it would cost $100 + $17 / rhizome.
link

But here is the application form ...
http://www.daff.gov.au/aqis/import/applica...t-seeds-nursery

I think you might be able to import tissue culture more easily but getting the tissue
culture from an approved lab would probably be costly.

 

[T.D.]

i know ... I'm being silly.
Most of the fruit trees still don't have leaves. The glory vine is juuust starting to show green so why should I expect hop bines??

Now if everyone in QLD would stop showing off I could stop panicking and concentrate on finding seed potatoes which are turning out to be hard to find unless you want bright purple taties!

I wouldn't worry Braufrau, my hops are in the Hunter Valley and so far my EKG has not fired yet. I have very small shoots on the other varieties but nothing like the growth in the pics above. I am currently putting a new irrigation system in and will be planting them in the ground very soon which should make them go well. This will be the 2nd year and I'm hoping to get more than the 6 Cascade flowers I got in their first year!

 

[KillerRx4]

I wouldn't worry Braufrau, my hops are in the Hunter Valley and so far my EKG has not fired yet. I have very small shoots on the other varieties but nothing like the growth in the pics above. I am currently putting a new irrigation system in and will be planting them in the ground very soon which should make them go well. This will be the 2nd year and I'm hoping to get more than the 6 Cascade flowers I got in their first year!

T.D., You have a cascade? I didnt think we had them growing here since I havent seen it offered as a rhizome.

What are the chances of scoring some cuttings when its gets up & going?

 

[mfdes]

Are you guys aware of nettlehead?

You might learn from my mistake

Hops that sprout too early when the days are still short can think it's autumn and stop growing altogether, so it's best to trim all early growth till late september / early october. Not all varieties do this and it can be more of a problem the further south you are. It's called nettlehead because they look a bit like nettles when they do it.
In 1995 I planted Tettnang, Hallertau, Goldings, Fuggle, Cascade and Pride of Ringwood here in Hobart and all but POR sprouted too early, grew a few inches, then the internodes (stem between leaf joints) got shorter and they stopped growing.

Problems with this are two:

In newly planted hops they may not put in enough growth overall in the season (by the time they eventually resprout) to get bigger and yield hops the following year.
In mature plants they may resprout so late as to start flowering way before they reach the top of the support and you can get little or no crop.

Mine, being recently planted, resprouted in november and stopped growing again in mid Jan when the days started to get significantly shorter. They didn't put on enough size (in the 8 weeks of growth they had) to survive the winter well and I lost several plants. I've since learned my lesson to cut them hard till the time is right and never had the same problem again.

Cheers,

MFS.

 

[Fents]

^^^ so that means my hops i planted 3 or 4 weeks ago and havnt even sprouted yet are doing what there meant to do?

 

[Steve]

I was having a scratch around my 3 year old POR last night. Its starting to shoot. I was scraping leaves and twigs away then all of a sudden the earth started moving slowly....on hands and knees with my face inches from the plant I noticed lots of little black maggots. Same shape as maggots, just black and very slow moving. Loads of em writhing around and sticking their heads back in the soil and slowly wriggling their way back into the ground. It was bloody fascinating, my little boy didnt think so he picked up a stick and started beating them (and my plant). I quickly scraped the leaves back on top. Anyone else seen these before?
Cheers
Steve

 

[leeboy]

Hops are going strong. here is my goldings, climbing about 2-4cm per day depending on how warm it is. Currently about 70cm tall. Go you good thing.

 

[tangent]

Adelaide Hersbrucker

 

[Maeldric]

That could be the making of a beer horror movie steve! Gave me shivers just reading about it. Attack of the killer hop maggots!!

 

[mfdes]

View attachment 14891
Adelaide Hersbrucker

This is a perfect picture of what nettlehead hops look like. The internodes have got very short, and the leaves have unfurled, which indicates the plant has pretty much stopped growing, rather than putting on 5-20 cm per day as they will when the conditions are right for them to be allowed to sprout.

The reason, I should say, is that most varieties are descended from continental European hops where the spring thaw doesn't happen till much later than in our warm, oceanic climate capital cities.

MFS.

 

[Quintrex]

This is a perfect picture of what nettlehead hops look like. The internodes have got very short, and the leaves have unfurled, which indicates the plant has pretty much stopped growing, rather than putting on 5-20 cm per day as they will when the conditions are right for them to be allowed to sprout.

The reason, I should say, is that most varieties are descended from continental European hops where the spring thaw doesn't happen till much later than in our warm, oceanic climate capital cities.

MFS.

So, how do you overcome this, do you just cut back the early growth? If so how and what do you prune?

 

[Steve]

So, how do you overcome this, do you just cut back the early growth? If so how and what do you prune?

I just leave them

 

[mfdes]

The recommended way is that you cut all early growth to below the surface till at least late september (after the equinox) at least at this latitude. Will be different where you are a few degrees north but not by much.

Edit: Should also say that counterintuitively, this will not weaken your plants, but strengthen them long term.

MFS

 

[tangent]

i dunno about stopped growing... wasn't there a week ago!

 

[drsmurto]

I keep getting told that hops are like weeds - you are hard pressed to kill them.

Would have thought that if this was the case we should RDWHAHB. Or maybe HTFU.

I wont be doing squat tell the time comes to train them along a trellis.

And whats the consensus - should we treat them the same as the citrus plants and give them a regular does of urea?

 

[mfdes]

Once established they're impossible to kill. I've found them growing on hedges in places where no hops have been grown for yonks.
However they are trickiest in the first season... and if you want a crop you should look after them properly.

The text below is from this Link:

"Commercial hop farmers do not train up the first shoots of spring but prune them off mechanically. Hardier shoots are trained onto the string about 4 weeks later (early to mid-May in Oregon). Only 2-3 vines should be trained onto each string with 2 strings per plant. All subsequent vines, which can be extensive with older plants should be cut off. Vines are ready to be trained when they are about 12" long and must be gently wrapped clockwise onto the string without kinking. Once trained, the vine will take care of itself unless you wasnt the vine to grow horizontally, this must be done manually."

 

[Quintrex]

Once established they're impossible to kill. I've found them growing on hedges in places where no hops have been grown for yonks.
However they are trickiest in the first season... and if you want a crop you should look after them properly.

The text below is from this Link:

"Commercial hop farmers do not train up the first shoots of spring but prune them off mechanically. Hardier shoots are trained onto the string about 4 weeks later (early to mid-May in Oregon). Only 2-3 vines should be trained onto each string with 2 strings per plant. All subsequent vines, which can be extensive with older plants should be cut off. Vines are ready to be trained when they are about 12" long and must be gently wrapped clockwise onto the string without kinking. Once trained, the vine will take care of itself unless you wasnt the vine to grow horizontally, this must be done manually."

So if i had a columbus with 3 main shoots, all reasonably developed, but with the tip of the vine still "wrapped up" should I prune them all or just one or two, cos there are no further shoots from the base.

 

[mfdes]

So if i had a columbus with 3 main shoots, all reasonably developed, but with the tip of the vine still "wrapped up" should I prune them all or just one or two, cos there are no further shoots from the base.

Well, I personally pruned all shoots coming out of mine the moment they reared their ugly head until early October. They will continue to shoot up out of the ground, no worries.

MFS

 

[Yeasty]

You should ring them.
It looks like it would cost $100 + $17 / rhizome.
link

But here is the application form ...
http://www.daff.gov.au/aqis/import/applica...t-seeds-nursery

I think you might be able to import tissue culture more easily but getting the tissue
culture from an approved lab would probably be costly.

Imagine though if u got amarillo or the likes in, how u could make your money back on cuttings

 

[petesbrew]

My Columbus Rhizome, just on two weeks old.
Thanks Duff! :beer:
Pete