2008 Hop Plantations

[daemon]

Just a quick pic of my second plant, you can see the growth spurt it's had in just 1/2 a week! The other is going well too but obviously this rhizome had a better energy store. I have very thick, clay black soil so although I did a fair amount to improve it and wasn't sure how it'd go. I used a good amount of gypsum, dry lawn clippings, chook poop and a bag of cheap potting mix to boost the soil quality a bit. That and a bit of seasol to water them in has worked well for all my plants so far (lots of herbs, fruit and veggies) and the hops seem to be following suit.

 

[Weizguy]

I've just ordered a cubic metre of Organic "supersoil" to be delivered tomorrow. That should more than fill the 2 - 120cm square by 20 cm deep treated pine sleeper raised garden beds for my 2 Chinook rhizomes. I calculated the volume of the 2 square beds at about 280 litres each. It looks like I'll have leftovers for the vege patch.

The hops will be trained to grow up twine attached to a nearby power pole. Perhaps this is the advantage to living in the bush?
Height? The sky's (almost) the limit. How tall is the power pole? Big enough I think.

Les the Chinook grower

 

[stueywhytcross]

have also wonder how you know what the AA% is when growing your own hops ?? anyone know ??

You can get your hops tested, however it is expensive, and each year the aa% can vary dramatically.

For cost and convienience;
bittering hops use store bought pellets with an alpha rating and just use the dried homegrown hop flowers for aroma and flavour.

 

[gibbocore]

Screwy, that makes loads of sense. My chinook has just got its first leaf, however this is its second season and the rhizome is massive and i have about 6 thick greeny/purple shoots slowly establishing themselves.

 

[wyatt_girth]

POR has taken a fair pizzling in the weather (storms, heat, gales) recently but is still standing.

 

[Barramundi]

OK so i was starting to get impatient and dug up the remaining rhizomes this morning that havent yet sprouted , seems i have managed to kill/rot 2 of them with possible over watering and maybe putting them a bit too deep in the dirt , however they were all planted watered the same and 4 of six have sprouted , oh well no POR or Goldings this year, does anyone still have zomes for sale at a realistic price ?

 

[Weizguy]

I planted out my 2 Chinooks yesterday. It was a good arvo for transplanting - overcast. Today we have light rain, s that helps too. I watered 5 litres on each immediately to assist with transplant shock.
The rhizomes were planted on a mound in a 120cm (4 ft) square made of treated pine sleeper, so the plants have excellent drainage, and yes! it's above the flood line at my place.

Each plant has at least 6 small shoots.

eBay link to Cascade and Perle rhizomes

 

[agraham]

Here is my Hallertau rhizome planted 3 weeks ago poking out for a look.

 

[BobtheBrewer]

G'day BB,
Based on what you've said, I'd let all three shoots go without cutting. All of the leaves are providing nutrients from the sun and to cut back the leaves to 1/3rd will retard growth in the first year. The advice you have is sound - but it applies to mature hop plants. Don't sweat yield in the 1st year - Cascade are a low yield plant anyway. Let them run and you'll be rewarded with exponential growth in years 2 and beyond.

Cheers,
TL

Thanks for that TL, will give all a go
BB

 

[gibbocore]

Hi All, i've got some greenery on my plant now, and i just have a few questions bout whats going on.

As you can see, i have one shoot with a few leaves and quite a few, what look like asparagus spears growing horrizontal out ofthe dirt.

At a guess, is my shoot with leaves providing energy for the ground shoots to snake across the ground to find something to climb? I have a stack of lattice just out of shot, should i put some stakes in near the new shoots to let them climb to the lattice?

its a second generation chinook, the rhizome when re-planted was about the size of two fists.

 

[Fents]

you can let them go for a fair while without anything to let them climb on, my shoots were nearly over a meter high and i just staked them last week and made them climb up to the lattice on my fence. in the next few days you will see those new shoots come out to play too, just relax and let it do its thing.

 

[gibbocore]

awesome, cheers mate!

 

[Fents]

heres a few of mine...

Tettnager without stakes

After stakes

Tett, Cascade, Cluster

Little cascade

 

[therook]

heres a few of mine...

Tettnager without stakes

After stakes

Tett, Cascade, Cluster

Little cascade

Good to see you put a lot of thought into the placement of the stakes Fents

Rook

 

[Fents]

shorcut stanley they call me wook!

nah they are actually placed belive it or not, photos just dont show, they are all sitting up under the first bit of trellis in the fence

 

[etbandit]

heres a few of mine...

Tettnager without stakes

After stakes

Tett, Cascade, Cluster

Little cascade

Fents,

Im growing hops for the first time and I've got my rhizomes in exactly the same pots. Do you get cones from growing them in pots, or do you really need to have them in the ground for best cone production?

 

[eric8]

Good to see you put a lot of thought into the placement of the stakes Fents

Rook

:lol:

 

[Fents]

Fents,

Im growing hops for the first time and I've got my rhizomes in exactly the same pots. Do you get cones from growing them in pots, or do you really need to have them in the ground for best cone production?

dont know etbandit i'll let ya know in march

nah seriously these are second year rhizomes i planted in those pots last year (neglected over winter too). i got one whole cone last year of one of the plants (which i promptly broke in half and sniffed till i couldnt sniff no more)....but last year they looked nothing like they do this year, this year they have way more shoots, leaves etc, im hoping i'll get just a little bit of cones this year.

99% of any plants will do better if they are in the ground than pots, incl hops, only reason mine are in pots still is because i've got to landscape my whole yard (all 5 meters of it) and just havnt gotten around to it yet...next year they are going in the ground without a doubt.

 

[Bizier]

A new depth of meaning to the words "beer garden".

 

[eric8]

because i've got to landscape my whole yard (all 5 meters of it) and just havnt gotten around to it yet...next year they are going in the ground without a doubt.

I know how you feel Fents, I just finished redoing my backyard, laid 90m2 of turf. I made a large garden bed in one corner of the yard, but was only allowed to plant one rhizome .

The other 3 are in 50 litre pots, which I will build little platforms for and have them on a wall that gets most of the sun.