2009 Hop Plantations

[newguy]

Thought I'd chime in with a pre-emptive answer to the inevitable "will a bit of frost kill my hops?" question which will come in about 4-5 months. Saturday night/Sunday morning we broke some records with a new low of -46.1C. My hops will be fine come spring. Last spring we had a late cold snap, from +22C one day to -14C the next, and it stayed below -10C for a week. A few of my hops had sprouted prior to that cold snap and they didn't even wilt.


When it gets below about -33C or so, the water vapour in car exhaust instantly freezes and won't dissipate, leading to what we call ice fog.


This gentleman had been out for a jog.


-34C? Feels warm.

Note: picture credits to the Edmonton Journal. I don't need them pissed off at me.

 

[Gout]

My hops which are 4 years old have never given me a single hop flower - i have tried tough love, i have tried seasol, etc etc pots ground and nothing

This year i had words with the buggers grow and give or make room for more veg.... they took off in fear and i was happy then died off to ground level and a month later they have started to grow again - strange

I gave another to my mate and his did the same so maybe its just a local thing or dud hops - soon dead hops

 

[~MikE]

wierd, they dont sound like healthy plants... how much will they typically grow?

 

[Gout]

they grow like mental to the roof level (thats as high as they can climb - where the twine stops)

this year tho it was warming up in melbourne then a cold came through now its warming up again. they grew to say 6 feet, then stopped for a long time and then died off however now leaves are growing back on 75% of it

that said when they die, leaves start to turn yellow brown as seen in one of these pics, the other is a nice green.

The brown leave/plant is in an area where the veg wont grow well either even tho i put good dirt in there this year ( this so near by tree is zapping everything out of the area)

quality of the pics are average as i wanted them small enough to post

 

[BobtheBrewer]

My hops which are 4 years old have never given me a single hop flower - i have tried tough love, i have tried seasol, etc etc pots ground and nothing

This year i had words with the buggers grow and give or make room for more veg.... they took off in fear and i was happy then died off to ground level and a month later they have started to grow again - strange

I gave another to my mate and his did the same so maybe its just a local thing or dud hops - soon dead hops

Maybe they are gay!

 

[Gout]

a gay hop plant hey? maybe i should put them together....

 

[white.grant]

Noticed that my first year POR is starting to flower this morning. Very exciting.

cheers

grant

 

[raven19]

Assistant brewer observing Victoria Hops growing slowly...

 

[daemon]

Well that's one way of keeping the bugs off Raven19!

My hops have been a bit mixed this year, the distinct lack of rain really isn't helping at all. I've lost one plant completely and more disappointingly the two large ones from last year are barely alive (two shoots each only about 10cm long). We've had about 1/2 of the normal annual rainfall here, combined with the hottest summer on record it hasn't helped much at all.

The biggest surprise has been the Goldings, only a first year rhizome but it's going berserk. Same location, same soil but it's outgrown the Cascade and Chinook by about a factor of 4. I expected to have the least growth from it so in that regards I'm happy.

Just had the first decent rainfall in about 3 months so they should all be happy as can be now, will give them a bit of fertiliser now that I know they can make use of it.

 

[user 12491]

After 3.5 months in the pot, I gave my hops plants a little extra Osmocote to help them along and maybe encourage some flower growth.
Bad move.
My Saaz plant, which until recently had been growing like crazy, has gone yellow on most of the lower growth, and a lot of leaves have died.
So I spent an hour or so this afternoon picking little fkn Osmocote pellets out of the soil, then dumped a couple of buckets of water into the pot to flush out all the extra N, P and K.
So much for flowering, it'll be a good thing if I can keep the bugger alive.
Let this serve as a warning!

 

[jyo]

After 3.5 months in the pot, I gave my hops plants a little extra Osmocote to help them along and maybe encourage some flower growth.
Bad move.
My Saaz plant, which until recently had been growing like crazy, has gone yellow on most of the lower growth, and a lot of leaves have died.
So I spent an hour or so this afternoon picking little fkn Osmocote pellets out of the soil, then dumped a couple of buckets of water into the pot to flush out all the extra N, P and K.
So much for flowering, it'll be a good thing if I can keep the bugger alive.
Let this serve as a warning!

Shame to hear about your hops, mate.

In my limited hop growing experience (2 years) and with all the info I've read, stick to the organic stuff. Plenty of aged cow shit, blood n bone, and occasional seasol (promotes drought tolerance, good bugs in the soil and resistance to diseases).

I know many on here will be familiar with this, but for heaps of extra info, check this hop growing manual, cheers, John.

View attachment HopsManual.pdf

 

[Jazzafish]

Shame to hear about your hops, mate.

In my limited hop growing experience (2 years) and with all the info I've read, stick to the organic stuff. Plenty of aged cow shit, blood n bone, and occasional seasol (promotes drought tolerance, good bugs in the soil and resistance to diseases).

I know many on here will be familiar with this, but for heaps of extra info, check this hop growing manual, cheers, John.

View attachment 34052

Thanks for sharing that pdf, good read!

 

[raven19]

The main bine on my chinook has some lovely flowers fattening up now.
Will have to lower the supporting rope to check them this week, there may be enough on there for a pint or two! :chug:

My Cascade and POR are now catching up and fast approaching the top supporting rope. Figners crossed they keep powering on for some significant growth in the next month prior to flowering time...

Goldings and Victoria sitting there in pots doing not much... at least above the dirt...

 

[NickB]

Woo-Hoo!

Noticed yesterday that my dead Chinook (had grown to about 40cm, then died back to nothing but three 5cm brown stalks) has sprung back to life. As of this morning, he's grown nearly 5cm (in less than 24 hrs!), and the leaves look bright green and healthy! The other hops are loving the weather up here at the moment too (hot and humid days, lots of storms and rain in the evenings) and are firing. None are that tall yet (the POR is maybe 25-30cm) but they all have multiple bines, and they're really starting to bush up.

Expecting some pretty dramatic growth in the coming weeks!

Cheers

 

[winkle]

Effing possums selectively chew off the growing tips at about fence height at our place (bastards), they don't mind tomatoes either . The Perle and Goldings plants seem to struggle through best, cascade is not happy.
Good luck with yours Nick, and have a good Xmas.

 

[drsmurto]

I really should have built that trellis this year - my hops are starting to grow into each other! Spent far too long this morning untangling them and trying to reroute them. I have also been removing any new shoots that are emerging which is damn near a daily job. Partner found a chinook shoot growing in the corn plot which had climbed all the way up a corn plant. Thankfully she understands the rules and untangled it and carefully dug it up and put it next to the main plant. Think i have a keeper

From the left - POR, Goldings and Chinook (Victoria and Cascade not pictured and a fraction of the size of these 3)

The reverse angle

Chinook from reverse

Flowers on the chinook

 

[Mantis]

Looking really good DrSmurto. My chinnook is flowering too and putting out shoots everywhere. They are growing up the tomato stakes nearby and anything else they can find

 

[Greg Lawrence]

Anyone harvesting yet?
Mine are looking like they are ready, but Im not too sure if I should leave them a bit longer or not.
I will post a photo soon.

Gregor

 

[Gout]

i hate you so much DrSmurto. yours look atleast a million times better than mine. Mine died back and are only knee hight at the moment, they look younge and fresh/bright green but i dont think there will be hop flowers in my garden again this year!

maybe i should stick to carrots

 

[mckenry]

Anyone harvesting yet?
Mine are looking like they are ready, but Im not too sure if I should leave them a bit longer or not.
I will post a photo soon.

Gregor

Yes. Yesterday I took my first harvest. Chinook had plenty that were ready. There are still lots just started on the same plant. I am trying something new this year. Only dried them for 24hrs, then into the vacuum bag and into the freezer. Not dried out much at all. Going to use some 'wet hops' in 2010.
So I reckon if they're spreading a bit and feeling paperish on the vine, then harvest.
mckenry