2009 Hop Plantations

[jyo]

Upgraded trellis system this year. POR has jumped out of the ground, other hops are Tettnang and Goldings. For both of these, I have already had to start pinching off the excess shoots, probably 20 pinched off the Goldings already.

Trellis is now about 18 feet tall, plenty of grow room! Each of my five hops now has this extended pole system. Each cross beam has a loop at the end, onto which I shall hang a string via a hook. To harvest I should be able to just unhook it and then lay the bine on the ground to harvest. Hmmm......"should".

This idea come from the hop growing guide


You blokes in Victoria must've benefited from the unseasonal warmth goin on over there. Here in Perth (still freezin our balls off) my Cascade and Hersbrucker have only just popped a few purple shoots up, my mates Chinook and Hall are the same.
Lookin good.

 

[HoppingMad]

If you are into Galaxy, you should plant up big on (easily available) Coumbus, they are pretty similar. Lots of fertiliser and sun and you will get those stanky stanky flowers cranking.

Great news Bizier :super: Planted a Columbus last year. Did very little in the spot it was in so no flowers. Maybe this year I'll get to see what their yummy flowers are like! Might have to move it into a primo spot.

Have shoots happening on my EK Goldings, Hallertau, Hersbrucker and good growth on a Willamette. Lots of little purple asparagus heads popping up! No action on the others yet.

Hopper.

 

[benno1973]

You blokes in Victoria must've benefited from the unseasonal warmth goin on over there. Here in Perth (still freezin our balls off) my Cascade and Hersbrucker have only just popped a few purple shoots up, my mates Chinook and Hall are the same.

Yep, me too. My Mt Hood has just broken the surface with the sunshine today. It's about 1cm, but there's more cold weather and rain for the rest of the week...

 

[JonnyAnchovy]

Well, I haven't been able to resist.

Thanks to a generous donation from AHBer O'Henry I've just put my already-sprouting Cascase in the ground, after adding a fresh 60L of compost to the soil. I've mulched with lucerne, and have promised myself to water and feed this baby like I have no plant before.

Expect to hear me asking noobish hop-related questions in this thread - it's my first season, afterall.

 

[drsmurto]

Well, I haven't been able to resist.

Thanks to a generous donation from AHBer O'Henry I've just put my already-sprouting Cascase in the ground, after adding a fresh 60L of compost to the soil. I've mulched with lucerne, and have promised myself to water and feed this baby like I have no plant before.

Expect to hear me asking noobish hop-related questions in this thread - it's my first season, afterall.

If you feed it and water it like no plant before you will kill it.

Overwatering and fertilising would be the #1 reason people kill their 1st year plants.

Hops are weeds!

 

[mckenry]

My chinook are beginning to sprout. the wired thing is the sprouts are eggplant purple! WTF?!?!

Same here. My chinook gave a bumper crop for its first year, last year and its poking up 5 or 6 shoots just now. 2 weeks behind my cascade.

My cascade sprouted 1st Sept. This plant was small and was first year last year. No flowers. This year, it's looking mighty strong.

Fingers crossed.

 

[~MikE]

mine are in pots and i made sure the soil was well drained so i couldn't physically over-water

the fertiliser i've been very paranoid about...

EDIT: mine start off purple as well, just chillax, it's fine

 

[therook]

What size pots are you blokes using?
What would be the minimum size to use?

Rook

 

[~MikE]

50cm diameter minimum and i'm only letting 2 bines grow this year per plant. half wine barrels are ideal but not exactly cheap...

with pots, the root system will be limited by space, so what little it has needs to be well watered and fertilised.

 

[apd]

What size pots are you blokes using?
What would be the minimum size to use?
Rook

50cm like Mike said.

Mine is 60x30x60cm, built from some fence palings and is on wheels. Hops on wheels!

There is a tiny Hallertau shoot in amongst the mulch.

 

[Shortstraw]

Anyone have a problem with dogs eating their plants? I have Chinook PoR and Tettnang and my dog keeps eating my PoR. Its gotten over 3' tall twice and she managed to get through mesh to eat it the second timebut she ignores the unprotected chinook and tettnang. Any anti dog ideas?

 

[JonnyAnchovy]

If you feed it and water it like no plant before you will kill it.

Overwatering and fertilising would be the #1 reason people kill their 1st year plants.

A cock-up before I even begin! thanks Dr.

By fertilise - i actually mean condition with sea-sol. I'll be careful not to overstress it with piles of nitrogen-based fertiliser.

I'm hanging out to see those little shoots!

 

[JonnyAnchovy]

Anyone have a problem with dogs eating their plants? I have Chinook PoR and Tettnang and my dog keeps eating my PoR. Its gotten over 3' tall twice and she managed to get through mesh to eat it the second timebut she ignores the unprotected chinook and tettnang. Any anti dog ideas?

I'm paranoid about this - expecially since hops are so toxic to dogs. I'm building a makeshift chicken-wire fence.

 

[suorama]

hmm. Speaking about fertilise.
I live in finnish woods so our soil is quite sour I think.
I planted my rhizomes with compost and give some ashes and very little chicken manure. Well first year my Centennial and Willamette grow about 4-5m and not make any cones. But I remember, if hops leafs start turn lighter green I give some fertilizer with water and leafs go back greener and plant grow more faster.
This year I not give that much fertilizer and hops grow about same lenght pretty fast and stop growing. It took ~1,5 - 2 months. After that hapens nothing at long time. There was something like 4 - 8 week before i saw first signs of burrs. Well if we have warm autumn, maybe cones maturing well. But soon we have first frosty mornings...

My local nameless hops are makes they cones long time ago.

Question is.
What You think, must I fertilize more or need to change soil or what?

 

[Greg Lawrence]

expecially since hops are so toxic to dogs.

Im sure thart I read somewhere (here on AHB) that this is all a myth, but Im not going to search it.

 

[Sprungmonkey]

I'm not willing to risk it that why i planted my at the old folks hehehe

 

[Screwtop]

I'm paranoid about this - expecially since hops are so toxic to dogs. I'm building a makeshift chicken-wire fence.

Im sure thart I read somewhere (here on AHB) that this is all a myth, but Im not going to search it.

Had a dog nearly die from Marijuana poisoning a few years ago. Vet said it was fairly common occurance in parts hereabouts :lol: Same family, so I'd be doing whatever to prevent the dog from getting at them.

Screwy

 

[Greg Lawrence]

Had a dog nearly die from Marijuana poisoning a few years ago. Vet said it was fairly common occurance in parts hereabouts :lol: Same family, so I'd be doing whatever to prevent the dog from getting at them.

Screwy

Yeah same family so they say, maybe a distant distant cousin. Ive grown both in the past and fail to see the anything in common between the two.
One grows from a rhyzome, the other from a seed. One is a vine, the other a shrub/tree.
There is a slight similarity in the smell (of some varieties), and maybe the stickness of the cones is similar, but thats about it.
My dog isnt interested in my hops unless the tennis ball lands in the pot., so Im not too worried either way.

 

[Kleiny]

What size pots are you blokes using?
What would be the minimum size to use?

Rook

An old wine barrel i picked up sheap cut in half. 2 pots

Should give them a good bit of room to grow into.

On your block rook you wouldnt need pots judt put them in the ground.

Kleiny

 

[newguy]

hmm. Speaking about fertilise.
I live in finnish woods so our soil is quite sour I think.
I planted my rhizomes with compost and give some ashes and very little chicken manure. Well first year my Centennial and Willamette grow about 4-5m and not make any cones. But I remember, if hops leafs start turn lighter green I give some fertilizer with water and leafs go back greener and plant grow more faster.
This year I not give that much fertilizer and hops grow about same lenght pretty fast and stop growing. It took ~1,5 - 2 months. After that hapens nothing at long time. There was something like 4 - 8 week before i saw first signs of burrs. Well if we have warm autumn, maybe cones maturing well. But soon we have first frosty mornings...

My local nameless hops are makes they cones long time ago.

Question is.
What You think, must I fertilize more or need to change soil or what?

If you have a lot of pine/spruce trees then it's possible that your soil is too acidic, as you mentioned. Have you added lime to the soil to raise the pH? I've added some lime to the soil in my front yard because I have a huge blue spruce tree in the front and it's slowly killing the grass under it. The two hops I have planted there have done well so far.

You can also try digging cattle or horse manure into your soil. One last thing, I read somewhere that if the soil is lacking calcium that that can interfere with nutrient absorption by the hop. I actually watered my hops with watered down expired milk. One of them wasn't doing that well - very pale green leaves on the new growth and pale veiny patterns on the older leaves. Within a week of using the milk the plant had very deep green leaves everywhere.