2010 Hop Plantations

[Wolfy]

I can't get over just how dodgy they look h34r:

They only look dodgy if you have experience growing something else more dodgy to compare them to!

 

[wakkatoo]

They only look dodgy if you have experience growing something else more dodgy to compare them to!

Ha ha. No, no experience growing and very limited in other areas. I did however attend boarding school for 2 years and was good mates with a guy who did a lot of "work" in the greenhouses in a relatively remote part of the school grounds.

 

[rendo]

Hey Siborg,

How's it going mate!! My hops are going well...probably 20cm high. I have a trellis on the fence just waiting for them to proliferate and fornicate on... I cant wait....Cant believe I am growing my own hops. How cool...and sad...and beer geeky...but **** it, I love it. Always been a green thumb and grown lotsa chillies to satisfy my chilli cravings, so growing my own hops is just a natural progression.

What hops do u have mate? I have POR and Chinook, we might have to do a swap in a half year/years time when our rhizomes have grown.

Rendo

Mine aren't doing anything yet. Had them planted for a few weeks now. Maybe gotta find a more sunny spot.

 

[Wolfy]

I have a trellis on the fence just waiting for them to proliferate and fornicate on... I cant wait....

Sorry but there are no male hop plants around for all our girls to fornicate with, all their reproduction is done asexually.

 

[rendo]

Why the ????

If I am reading ur post right, then that means our hop vines are all a big bunch of rampant lesbians happily fornicating on our trellises and fences etc...

THATS HOT...

even more so is that we put the fruit of these crazy lesbians in our beer and it makes it taste good....

The more I learn about beer, the better it gets. Beer.... golden nectar.... on so many levels

Cheers to LESBIAN HOPS :icon_drool2:

Sorry but there are no male hop plants around for all our girls to fornicate with, all their reproduction is done asexually.

 

[Bribie G]

Quick question for anyone wot knows, I was talking to a grapevine guy and he says that if you pinch out the end of a vine it throws two new vines off the end and he wonders if hops do the same.

I'm espaliering mine along fence wires with 3 leaders left and 3 leaders right. I've got the 3 right ones well under way but only 2 for the left so far. If I pinch one out do I just lose that bine or would it chuck 2 new ones?

 

[Bongchitis]

Quick question for anyone wot knows, I was talking to a grapevine guy and he says that if you pinch out the end of a vine it throws two new vines off the end and he wonders if hops do the same.

I'm espaliering mine along fence wires with 3 leaders left and 3 leaders right. I've got the 3 right ones well under way but only 2 for the left so far. If I pinch one out do I just lose that bine or would it chuck 2 new ones?

Yeah they do. I did a bit of experimenting last year 'tipping hop bines thread' to reduce the hieght of the plant and possibly increase yield. hops got cooked whilst on summer hollidays but was looking promissing until then. What did happen though was that laterals started to form even 3-4 nodes down and I got 6-8 spindly leaders. I should have trimmed all but the top 2 or 4 laterals and only tipped the strongest leaders to begin with.

My cascade and goldings have just broke the surface so here we go again.

 

[clarkey7]

Quick question for anyone wot knows, I was talking to a grapevine guy and he says that if you pinch out the end of a vine it throws two new vines off the end and he wonders if hops do the same.

I'm espaliering mine along fence wires with 3 leaders left and 3 leaders right. I've got the 3 right ones well under way but only 2 for the left so far. If I pinch one out do I just lose that bine or would it chuck 2 new ones?

Bribie,

Last year (my first as a hop farmer), one of the Chinook bines got snapped of by an unfortunate cricket ball incident after a couple of months (+ feet of growth).

The bine that go snipped by the tight string, threw out 3 laterals...they were a bit behind for a few months, but by February were pumping.....So to answer YES....but I'm no hop guru yet.

I'd be interested to know what the effect is if you snip them really early or really late....possibly just before flowering.......

Planted 6 varieties this year....will post pickies soon of digging day, day 7, day 20 (today).

PB

 

[Bribie G]

Sounds good. I'll wait till I've got one of the left bines about chest height and snip it then and see if it gives me 2 to run along the top and middle wires :icon_cheers:

 

[Wolfy]

Quick question for anyone wot knows, I was talking to a grapevine guy and he says that if you pinch out the end of a vine it throws two new vines off the end and he wonders if hops do the same.

I'm espaliering mine along fence wires with 3 leaders left and 3 leaders right. I've got the 3 right ones well under way but only 2 for the left so far. If I pinch one out do I just lose that bine or would it chuck 2 new ones?

Hops are almost like weeds once they get established, if you pinch/break/cut off the growing tips it will just sprout more and keep growing. (My unscientific observations:) It seems that there is some sort of 'foliage mass' that the hop plant likes to develop before they produce cones. Their preference is to grow straight up, but if they can't (cut, damaged, pinched) they will make up that 'foliage mass' by producing more leaders, stems and growing shoots. So you'll end up with plants that are shorter and more bushy as a result.

How - or if - that helps is debatable. If you were growing your hops in a traditional way (straight up) the vast majority of all the cones would be in the top section of the plant. But many home-growers pinch the tips out to encourage the plants to be more 'bushy' rather than continuing to grow upward - the theory being that since cones develop on the laterals - the more laterals the more cones. However, if that was true then commercial hop growers would no doubt pinch the tops to give a more abundant crop and make harvesting more easy since the plants would be short and bushy and easier to harvest, so I think it's mostly done for home-growing convenience rather than anything else.

 

[Bribie G]

Maybe to stop home brewers raiding the hop yards after dusk :lol:

I'd imagine that tall and thin enables more plants to the hectare.

 

[proudscum]

Quick question for anyone wot knows, I was talking to a grapevine guy and he says that if you pinch out the end of a vine it throws two new vines off the end and he wonders if hops do the same.

I'm espaliering mine along fence wires with 3 leaders left and 3 leaders right. I've got the 3 right ones well under way but only 2 for the left so far. If I pinch one out do I just lose that bine or would it chuck 2 new ones?

In the past i have broken the growing shoots off by mistake and the next thing they are throwing 2 shoots from where the leaves are(next set of leaves down).As with all growing tips the higher that it is on the plant the quicker it will grow.....funny that.Just make sure that it is a clean cut close to the leaves. Good luck

 

[MarkBastard]

Quick question for anyone wot knows, I was talking to a grapevine guy and he says that if you pinch out the end of a vine it throws two new vines off the end and he wonders if hops do the same.

I'm espaliering mine along fence wires with 3 leaders left and 3 leaders right. I've got the 3 right ones well under way but only 2 for the left so far. If I pinch one out do I just lose that bine or would it chuck 2 new ones?

If you break a hop bine the part above where it's broken will obviously die, but the part underneath will stay alive. Laterals will grow (usually from near the bottom of the bine) and they will climb up the existing bine and make their way up as if they were a bine growing from the actual rhizome.

Laterals like these grow regardless by the way, so don't both manually breaking bines or anything. I don't reckon there is any benefit to doing that.

 

[MarkBastard]

the theory being that since cones develop on the laterals - the more laterals the more cones.

The flowers do grow on laterals, but they are different laterals to the ones you get from 'tipping'.

The laterals you get from tipping are affectively exactly the same as a regular bine.

The ones that flowers grow on are short and grow near the top of regular bines, not the bottom.

 

[Frank]

If anyone is after some rhizomes, it is not too late, have a look here.

 

[Wolfy]

If anyone is after some rhizomes, it is not too late

Yeah it is too late, I've dug enough holes for this year, any more will have to wait 'til next year.

 

[MitchDudarko]

Saaz

PoR

I've got some chinook and cascade that haven't come through yet. :/

 

[rendo]

Sounds like you need to do a picture story BribieG. Take a before, after and month or two after photos and post your findings.

My hops are growing (first year), about 20cm at the moment, got the spot ready....5m of trellis on the fence...I cant wait....

rendo

Sounds good. I'll wait till I've got one of the left bines about chest height and snip it then and see if it gives me 2 to run along the top and middle wires :icon_cheers:

 

[Lecterfan]

Hello all,
Is it too late for me to be sticking a rhizome in the ground now? I am in Ballarat, Vic. We have only just had our first taste of spring today but will guarantee a return to cold and horrid conditions for another month or so.

There are some available on ebay, I have a couple of good spots ready but only kind of prepared them off the top of my head after a big day in the vegie patches. (the snow peas made me think of it).

I don't mind sticking it in the ground now knowing that it will grow but won't significantly produce anything for another few seasons...or should I hold off until mid winter '11?

Advice from actual growers would be appreciated as I have already googled the pants off this one.

Off topic: anyone prepared to sell me some cuttings? I will drive as far as western suburbs of Melbourne or Geelong for them...

Back on topic: Anyway, advice from growers would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Whiteferret]

Hello all,
Is it too late for me to be sticking a rhizome in the ground now? I am in Ballarat, Vic. We have only just had our first taste of spring today but will guarantee a return to cold and horrid conditions for another month or so.

There are some available on ebay, I have a couple of good spots ready but only kind of prepared them off the top of my head after a big day in the vegie patches. (the snow peas made me think of it).

I don't mind sticking it in the ground now knowing that it will grow but won't significantly produce anything for another few seasons...or should I hold off until mid winter '11?

Advice from actual growers would be appreciated as I have already googled the pants off this one.

Off topic: anyone prepared to sell me some cuttings? I will drive as far as western suburbs of Melbourne or Geelong for them...

Back on topic: Anyway, advice from growers would be appreciated.

Thanks.

My POR, Hallertau and Fuggles have been out in the open for about a month now and have survived 2 quite frosty nights and are going strong. the others about 2 weeks should have got them out sooner then they would be as big :huh: . The sooner you get them planted the quicker they give you flowers .
I think it was newguy's that got snowed on and were still going.