2011 Hop Plantations, Show Us Your Hops!

[jurule]

I have a Challenger, going really well, several shoots, Saaz nothing and a Hersbrucker with two very small shoots. Challenger just went in ground ready to climb the ugly stobie pole out front

 

[Malted]

I have a Challenger, going really well, several shoots, Saaz nothing and a Hersbrucker with two very small shoots. Challenger just went in ground ready to climb the ugly stobie pole out front

Up the stobie pole, I love it!!!

 

[timryan]

Hey guys I've noticed a few posts from people around Melbourne... Is it too early too be planting due to frost? I'm in Bacchus marsh about 30 min from melb would I right to plant yet?

 

[Wolfy]

It's bee nice and warm the last few days/week, if this continues should be fine to plant them.

 

[hoppy2B]

Are all you bright sparks out there sure that frost even affects hops? :huh:
Why don't you take that bucket off your head and use it to cover up your hops at night if you're that worried about frost? :lol:

 

[Wolfy]

Are all you bright sparks out there sure that frost even affects hops? :huh:

Yes, and if you need more evidence, a quick Google search will provide examples of home-hop-growers who have had their plants damaged by frost.

 

[hoppy2B]

I read one entry on an American blog where an individual stated that only one of his 8 plants, a Mt. Hood showed any damage after 5 or 6 days of frost and 4 days of snow. :mellow: That I found after you said to check google.

 

[newguy]

Keeping them covered in hay, and waiting to plant new rhizomes until 1st week of September (expected possible last frost).

No need. Twice I've seen my hops emerge in spring when the weather warmed, but then things turned and we had daytime highs of -10C for a week. Since my Hallertauer is on the South side of the house, it is always the first to emerge, even before all the snow is gone. Even with the week of freezing temperatures, it didn't even change colour, let alone suffer frost damage. They're very tough plants.

 

[newguy]

they look purple! Is that normal?

Yes. Some more so than others - my Centennials are very very purple, Mt Hood quite purple, same with Cascade. The others I have are more green than purple, but with red tinges.

 

[drsmurto]

I've had plants emerge before the end of winter and whislt not suffering any visible signs of dmanage from the frost they didnt grow for another 2 months.

My Victoria has poked its head through 10 cm of horse manure, a bit of a warm end to winter in Adelaide so it has been hoodwinked. I would expect a few more frosts before the end of September (usually no frost after the AFL GF) so will be interesting to see how it copes. The rest of my hops are still fast asleep.

 

[BigDaddy]

Dr Smurto: An option in this situation is to put a cloche over each plant where they are poking up.

This is as simple as cutting up a used OJ, soft drink or cordial bottle in 1/2 and placing it over the plant will keep it safe from any frost and might help it kick on instead of moving into a dormant phase by warming the soil. Having it open in the top is fine (ie the top of the bottle) but I punch a couple of holes in the bottom so the plant doesn't damp off).

Obviously if the rhyzome is sprouting all over the place it might look a bit messy for a while but they should get a good start - I do this with tomatoes and capsicum seedlings at this time of year and get earlier cropping and a longer season out of them. Here in Adelaide, I wouldn't expect for cloches to be needed for more than 4 weeks from now. Perhaps a little longer in the hills.

I've got my first lot growing in large pots and they have sprouted already - the Chinook has grown 20mm a day this week and the Hersbrucker has poked up 4 buds in the same timeframe. Despite this, I dont think I would have used cloches on the pots as they tend to have warmer soil anyway as they face north and get plenty of sun ATM.

 

[drsmurto]

Cheers for the tips but my hops have to survive on their own.

Frosts don't kill weeds...... just look at my lawn areas, yellow/brown grass, bright green weeds <_<

 

[hoppy2B]

I'm interested to know if anyone here in the Adelaide and hills region or elsewhere in Australia has had any trouble with diseases like downy mildew. I had a bad case of downy mildew on some grapes last season and have just started growing my first hops. :mellow:

 

[GrainStain]

Heres my Chinnok from Smurto and 2 Cascades from Hopswest on planting day. Third one is small Chinook completely covered.

 

[GrainStain]

And here is Cascade after 2 weeks in pot

 

[drsmurto]

I'm interested to know if anyone here in the Adelaide and hills region or elsewhere in Australia has had any trouble with diseases like downy mildew. I had a bad case of downy mildew on some grapes last season and have just started growing my first hops. :mellow:

If you know anything about grapes Hoppy2B you'd know that 2011 was the season from hell for grapegrowers in most of SA. Mildew (both kinds) in spades and lots of grapes that failed to ripen.

My hops seemed to suffer a bit from the wetter summer and yield was down on what i expected but still more than i use in a year (until i brew 10 min IPAs....).

It will take more than a nasty dose of mildew to hurt a hop plant. I think these things could quite possibly survive a nuclear explosion. :lol:

 

[wizard78]

This is my second year Chinook. This photo was taken in May, and there are more shoots now. Do you guys think I should do a heap of trimming?
My 3rd year PoR is looking very similar as well. Looks like it might be another good year. Last year between 4 plants I got over 2 Kg dry.

 

[Shed101]

And here is Cascade after 2 weeks in pot

Nice work :icon_cheers:

As of this morning I had little shoots poking out of 3 out of 4 pots.

Only the Chinook to go ... or is it the Cascade?


Damn. I knew I should have labelled them :unsure:

 

[BigDaddy]

Cheers for the tips but my hops have to survive on their own.

Frosts don't kill weeds...... just look at my lawn areas, yellow/brown grass, bright green weeds <_<

I keep forgetting these things are weeds :blink: - anyway, warmer ground = faster start and therefore potentially better yield (certainly for vegies).

Red spider mite have generally been a bugger in my garden - they seem to love any sort of vine like beans etc in the warmer months which is why I put mine in pots for the first year. Never grown them before but looking forward to the experience!!

 

[ratchie]

Nice work :icon_cheers:

As of this morning I had little shoots poking out of 3 out of 4 pots.

Only the Chinook to go ... or is it the Cascade?


Damn. I knew I should have labelled them :unsure:

The Chinook was the short fat rhizome :icon_cheers:

 

[Shed101]

The Chinook was the short fat rhizome :icon_cheers:

Only kidding mate ... I planted them in alphabetical order. Wouldn't want to get my Cascade mixed with my Chinook now would I? :icon_vomit:

 

[drsmurto]

The Victoria rhizomes i planted that were cuttings from the original plant and the same size as the rhizomes i have sold have starting shooting as well as the parent Victoria rhizome!

Will be interesting to see how the younger plants deal with frost - they are slighlty more exposed (further away from a large tree).

 

[husky]

POR starting to flower after a week of good weather in melbourne. Was a bit disappointed that there was no splitable roots with nodes, might have to trim it off at the base this year and hope the nodes develope on the root system.
Cascade lagging behind by a long way.

 

[Wolfy]

Was a bit disappointed that there was no splitable roots with nodes, might have to trim it off at the base this year and hope the nodes develope on the root system.

You might have more luck doing the opposite. Bury some of the 'extra' bines in the ground (while the plant is still growing), and by the end of the season the parts you bury in the ground will have sprouted roots to create new plants (when you cut the rest of the bine from the parent after harvest).

 

[hoppy2B]

If anyone is interested I have a significant number of home garden variety strawberry plants to give away. They differ from the commercial varieties in that they tend to have a lot more flavour but don't keep as well. I have just transplanted a few hundred onto a couple of long mound type structures covered in plastic. Planning to use them for making strawberry wine.
Should mention that I definitely won't be posting them because that would not be economical. I'm in South Australia. I can drop them off around Strathalbyn, Mt. Barker and along the Freeway and down to Adelaide. I may be able to drop them a bit further for a few bucks for petrol of a few brews.
You may notice in the image between the mass of strawberries and the long plastic mounds in the background, there are some mounds. They are the homes of my recently aquired Chinook rhizomes.

 

[Lecterfan]

Well, there's plenty more cold weather to get through in Ballarat, but now the temps are at least in the teens most days and the sun is out for longer and longer I couldn't hold off...

They are all in the ground now. The colombus I got from Proudscum was a massive tangle of roots in the pot and it already has 4 shoots (which are still white as I'm keeping them under a lot of mulch). The Goldings from Dr.S looked healthy (been in the vegie crisper for ages), with one little white bud, but the POR (also from DR.S) is straining at the bit! Heaps of white buds all longing to get into the ground.

I've also planted some as-yet-unidentified-french hops from a friends property at Dunkeld.

Looking forward to this season after being so precious about it last year and not really making the most of it (picked alot of them too early and generally didn't believe their weed-like reputation haha). Cheers all.

 

[Fish13]

Just a query guys.

Does any one get any attention from undersiables?(re thieves) and the police for the strange looking vines covering there gardens?


What aroma do they give off on the vine? JUst curious before i ask SWMBO for permission to grow a vine of herald/columbos.

 

[Jace89]

Heres my Chinnok from Smurto and 2 Cascades from Hopswest on planting day. Third one is small Chinook completely covered.

GainStain, where did you get those wire trellis from? Or did you make them, if so what are they made from?

 

[Deebo]

Saaz is off and running, just hope the twine I used will be strong enough.

 

[Yob]

as it stands 2 chinook and one goldings in the ground, The cinooks planted slightly closer than I otherwise would have done if they were different types, and the goldings a good ways off with plenty of room to go op the lines... loved to see they were shooting coming out of the fridge + a rather sick Tett and a very ill POR (prolly wont make it but I live in hope) in a very big pot to see if I can nurse them back to health... if they spring I have a spot selected.

Im going to have to raise the pole and lines a bit too I think but it's all coming together nicely.. we moved 2m - 3m of nice compost/soil to the raised garden beds over the weekend.. puff puff...

going to be a good year for growing all sorts of things ... er.. vegetables and herbs I mean... er.. edible ones right :unsure:

Yob