2009 Hop Plantations

[Back Yard Brewer]

My Chinook (foreground) and Pearle are going great guns.
The other three are lagging a bit behind, but look very healthy.

View attachment 32444

Doc

I had a thought the other day and that is if you plant different varieties close to each other how hard is it to separate / identify the rhizomes when it comes time to dig up.
In a previous part of this thread you will see my Mt Hood going nuts. The Hood is only in its second season and I am looking at doing a bit of culling when it is finished. I do have room for another 1 or 2 varieties but am concerned about trying to keep them seperate under the ground.

BYB

 

[raven19]

Chinook is level with the top of the shed. Others are progressing nicely. Expecting more significant growth with this hotter weather too.





First year potted Victoria and Goldings.

 

[Mantis]

Was in the big green shed last night buying root hormone and noticed Beat a Bug. Its very similar to the concoction i used to make when i had a pyrethrum plant - chilli/garlic/pyrtherum and soap, except this had an additive (piperonyl butoxide) which is supposed to increase the potency of the pyrtherins.

Ended up buying it and gave the plants a good spray this morning. A few earwigs and harlequin bugs got a good soaking! Will give the chinese cabbage a spray too as the earwigs are loving that.

What are the beer and barby fat traps? I normally just wipe some newspaper over the bbq plate, roll it up and tie it up. Every morning i opened it up over a bucket of hot soapy water and shook all the earwigs into it. A trap sounds a lot easier.

Not so much traps as they are just old marg containers with the beer and barby fat mixture in them. The earwigs love the stuff and get in and drown
I have tried tubs of left over trub from the kettle for tonight to see if that works. But i think it might be the yeast they are attracted too, but not sure.

 

[drsmurto]

Not so much traps as they are just old marg containers with the beer and barby fat mixture in them. The earwigs love the stuff and get in and drown
I have tried tubs of left over trub from the kettle for tonight to see if that works. But i think it might be the yeast they are attracted too, but not sure.

Finally a use for Hahn ice (I think, or maybe carlton cold). 6 pack sitting in my shed for nearly 2 years now when a mate rocked up with it and then chose to drink my beer.

Set up the irrigation system for the vegie patch and the hops so now 1 timer tap drip irrigates the entire garden. The slow soak combined with the weekend heat and my chinook grew 6 inches overnight.

 

[MarkBastard]

Mate my Chinook grew about that much too. I gave them a seasol and then there was some erratic heavy rain / heavy sun / heavy rain style weather. The hops loved it.

 

[Luka]

Not so much traps as they are just old marg containers with the beer and barby fat mixture in them. The earwigs love the stuff and get in and drown
I have tried tubs of left over trub from the kettle for tonight to see if that works. But i think it might be the yeast they are attracted too, but not sure.

The guys I work with are organic/bio-dynamic gardeners and they use the shallow take-away containers, like the ones you get at a supermarket deli. You cut some slots in the top, half fill with used cooking oil and the earwigs love the stuff!

 

[Pennywise]

My Chinook is not doing well at all I don't think, has started to go real pale and limp. Looking at most others Chinook palnts I'm quite jelous

 

[MarkBastard]

My Chinook is not doing well at all I don't think, has started to go real pale and limp. Looking at most others Chinook palnts I'm quite jelous

If it's going pale doesn't it need some food or something?

 

[glennheinzel]

My son decided to pick some "treasure" over the weekend so my hops took a beating.

 

[Pennywise]

If it's going pale doesn't it need some food or something?

Dunno, I have been giving it some seasol once a week, maybe my solution is too weak. I'll up the strength, realyl I don't have much to loose now, woke up thismorning to find a couple of leaves in real trouble. Not looking good

 

[raven19]

Dunno, I have been giving it some seasol once a week, maybe my solution is too weak. I'll up the strength, realyl I don't have much to loose now, woke up thismorning to find a couple of leaves in real trouble. Not looking good

Have you got it covered in mulch? Is the soil really damp (wet when finger stuck into the soil?)
If so, I would remove the mulch and let it dry out.

Go easy on the seasonl, and just use water imo, they are essentially weeds.

If it is dry give them a good soak every 3 or so days.

If you are really worried, cut one or two of the offending bines back so the plant can concentrate on just one or two bines per plant...

 

[drsmurto]

Dunno, I have been giving it some seasol once a week, maybe my solution is too weak. I'll up the strength, realyl I don't have much to loose now, woke up thismorning to find a couple of leaves in real trouble. Not looking good

What you may be doing is actually over feeding them. Yellowing of leaves is sometimes of sign of 'burning' from too much fertiliser. My partner did that once to a few of our plants. She was out by a decimal place and used 10 times as much fertiliser. The leaves turned yellow and a few of them died.

Hops grow like weeds, all they need is water and sun. Giving them a feed every now and then is fine but once a week is overkill. Once a month would be fine. I've fed mine once since they first emerged from the soil and the largest is now >2m in height. I have simply been keeping the water up.

Are they in pots or in the ground?

If in pots they could be drying out too quickly and simply increasing the water (not fertiliser) could be the solution. I assume you used potting mix not soil.

If in the ground, do you have similar problems growing any other plants?

 

[Tim]

My 4 year old columbus seems to be still deciding what it wants to do. There are plenty of leaves coming out of the crown but its yet to send up a shoot which wants to climb. Anyone else had this problem? Should I pull most of the leaves off except the buds which I think may climb??

 

[jbirbeck]

My 4 year old columbus seems to be still deciding what it wants to do. There are plenty of leaves coming out of the crown but its yet to send up a shoot which wants to climb. Anyone else had this problem? Should I pull most of the leaves off except the buds which I think may climb??

sure have...all my mature plants have only just started to go after sitting there waiting for ages with just a few leaves. Leave them be and they will come when they are ready. only my more immature plants started early.

 

[luckyeatwell]

All of my first year rhizomes have stalled for the last month or so. My Hersbruker in particular only grew 3 shoots, all of 10cm long before stopping.

Then last week, I found the Hersbruker completely uprooted and upside down in a pile of potting mix, no-thanks to one of the local rabbits (my chicken-wire cage was burrowed under). The leaves were un-eaten though damaged and the rhizome looked to be bigger than when I planted it (I assume this is what the "stalled" bine growth was about), though some smaller sections were snapped in the uprooting.

I replanted the Hersbruker and while it's looking sad, it's not dead yet.

The same can't be said for the rabbit. Yesterday, I found a rabbit, lying out in the open on the grass, no bite or claw damage, just dead and lying in the open. Would the Hersbruker roots have poisoned the rabbit that dug it up looking for a tasty root to chew on ?

Surely if the Hersbruker survives to flower there's a tribute brew to be had. "Dead Rabbit Doppelbock" ?

Cheers,

Lucky.

 

[raven19]

sure have...all my mature plants have only just started to go after sitting there waiting for ages with just a few leaves. Leave them be and they will come when they are ready. only my more immature plants started early.

+1. The first few shoots are there to take in energy to grow the rhizome, then once the rhizome has grown some more, the shoots start growing again... at least thats my understanding of how these weeds grow!

 

[lochrockingbeers]

Columbus and chinook tend to be later shooting varieties, but once they go, they'll pass just about all other varieties in a matter of days or weeks. My chinooks have gone from nothing to 3m in 1-2 weeks and the columbus is only just starting to emerge.

My 4 year old columbus seems to be still deciding what it wants to do. There are plenty of leaves coming out of the crown but its yet to send up a shoot which wants to climb. Anyone else had this problem? Should I pull most of the leaves off except the buds which I think may climb??

 

[OzMick]

+1. The first few shoots are there to take in energy to grow the rhizome, then once the rhizome has grown some more, the shoots start growing again... at least thats my understanding of how these weeds grow!

I've had some strange behaviour on mine, I don't know if it is that straightforward that it can just be put down to root development. I got a rather scrawny (but solid, not fibrous) Hersbrucker rhizome off ebay (think something about the width of a ballpoint, maybe 20cm long), noticing two buds and being a cheapass (and late into season and not expecting a harvest first year anyway), cut it into two to try my luck and focus on root growth for next year's crop. Without stalling at all, these have absolutely taken off and are each well over 1m tall, one has a second bine rapidly catching up to the first too.

I also got a significantly healthier looking Chinook, about the thickness of a permanent marker (but more fibrous), and having two viable buds cut it into two as well. One has grown slow and steady to about 60cm, the other poked its head out to about 5cm and threw out a few leaves and has just stopped. Leaves aren't dying off and are a very healthy green, but not going anywhere either.

I'm new to all this myself, but I think it might also have something to do with how the rhizome was overwintered and dormancy broken, along with age of rhizome material. Older growth might be more fussy and succeptable to transplant shock and not have as much useful starch built up. I'm sure many a person has dedicated their lives to understanding and growing these beasts and still don't ultimately know much more than what has and hasn't worked for them in the past...

 

[Pennywise]

Have you got it covered in mulch? Is the soil really damp (wet when finger stuck into the soil?)
If so, I would remove the mulch and let it dry out.

Go easy on the seasonl, and just use water imo, they are essentially weeds.

If it is dry give them a good soak every 3 or so days.

If you are really worried, cut one or two of the offending bines back so the plant can concentrate on just one or two bines per plant...

What you may be doing is actually over feeding them. Yellowing of leaves is sometimes of sign of 'burning' from too much fertiliser. My partner did that once to a few of our plants. She was out by a decimal place and used 10 times as much fertiliser. The leaves turned yellow and a few of them died.

Hops grow like weeds, all they need is water and sun. Giving them a feed every now and then is fine but once a week is overkill. Once a month would be fine. I've fed mine once since they first emerged from the soil and the largest is now >2m in height. I have simply been keeping the water up.

Are they in pots or in the ground?

If in pots they could be drying out too quickly and simply increasing the water (not fertiliser) could be the solution. I assume you used potting mix not soil.

If in the ground, do you have similar problems growing any other plants?

Cheers for the reply's fellas, I got rid of the mulch once it poked it's head through, although there's still a tiny bit there, doubt it'll make any difference though. Could be too damp like you mention, and I'll obviously have to back off with the seasol. Not sure If I should cut it back as there's really only one shoot growing, with a second one only about 5cm high (which has been like that for a while). I have it in a pot with potting mix, which is the same potting mix I've been using for years with other plants and they seem to go pretty well. Here's a piccy anyway so you can see just how bad it looks

 

[tez]

I was watering my Victoria yesterday and the bloody thing snapped off from the water. What a friggin coward of a plant.
Thats a fitting name for it... Victoria, coz its soft! haha