2012 Hop Plantations

[hoppy2B]

My Fuggles is the only thing moving along at the moment. Second year zome, didn't do much last year, hopefully get cones this year. They're meant to like cool climate so that probably explains the early growth.

 

[Batz]

Mine are mostly going off now, Mt Hood seems to be struggling.
Bloody chooks pecked the middle out in a few that slowed them it a bit.

batz

 

[Dave70]

Any sign of burrs yet Dave?

****** it, is that one? Tell me if it is cos its the first time I've grown hops and I don't want to be hopping my beers with ******* burrs..

 

[drsmurto]

The beast has awoken

Victoria broke the surface weeks ago and there are vast numbers of shoots already 10cm high.

Today i spotted the first chinook shoot, once the beast breaks the surface i have only a matter of weeks to sort out strings for it to climb to point them in the direction of the fence rather than taking over the vegie patch. The chooks managed to get under the fence i crudely constructed* last weekend and gave the ground a good digging over. I suspect that pissed the beast off. The chooks should count themselves lucky to have been saved from a certain death.

* chicken wire, tomato stakes and string - held together with faith and bugger all else :lol:

 

[grimpanda]

I'm sure this has been discussed, but what is the consensus on limiting the number of bines growing from each rhizome? i.e: cutting them off at ground level

My 3-year-old Hallertau 'zomes are rocketing off, each have around 25 shoots varying between 5 and 15 inches above the ground.

Summer 2012 was the first time I had a decent harvest, and I can't for the life of me remember if I cut them or just let them fight it out amongst themselves.

 

[hoppy2B]

I'm sure this has been discussed, but what is the consensus on limiting the number of bines growing from each rhizome? i.e: cutting them off at ground level

My 3-year-old Hallertau 'zomes are rocketing off, each have around 25 shoots varying between 5 and 15 inches above the ground.

Summer 2012 was the first time I had a decent harvest, and I can't for the life of me remember if I cut them or just let them fight it out amongst themselves.

Last summer was my first ever go at growing hops and I am happy with the yields I picked up. I went to the insane extreme of trying and mostly succeeding training each bine to a separate string. I didn't trim anything off.
Dr Smurto has a good easy to manage method, where he just has a couple of posts 3 or 4 metres high with mesh strung up between and lets them grow wild on that. Gets a good yield with little work.

 

[drsmurto]

For ease of harvesting, commercial growers trim back the bines numbers to 4-6 per plant (from what i have read).

Does that result in higher yields? I haven't seen anything other than homebrewing urban mythology to support that theory.

I let my plants do what they want to within reason - i keep them from invading my vegie patch. I use tent pegs to put string from the ground to the fence and then string from the fence to the trellis above. They are allowed to climb all on their own and they do so. Plants have been evolving for millions of years, why people think they require help to climb when they are a climbing plant is beyond me.

There are plenty of people here who get much higher yields than me. Given how many factors are involved in growing a plant - soil type, soil pH, position relative to the sun, fertilisers, competion from other plants/roots, water, latitude, temperature etc - it's hard to work out the 'ideal' situation.

As a first year hop grower i was as guilty as everyone else for babying my plants, daily weeding, watering, fertiliser, training them, picking off bugs, spraying them with organic homemade pest sprays. I trained them horizontally across the chook run as i didn;t have a trellis for the first 3 seasons. I also had several varieties. Now i have just 2 (Victoria and Chinook). Drove my partner insane. This is my 6th season and i am at the other end of the scale. I haven't removed last years growth from the trellis, they haven't been weeded or fertilised since the bags of horse manure they got covered with at the end of April. Water is the only thing they we get until next Aprils feed of manure.

I've kept records of my yields every year and am getting between 15-20% less now than i did in the 2nd and 3rd year for about 500% less effort. YMMV, enjoy the obsession until something new and shiny grabs your attention!

 

[paulhill]

So iv got my fist crop of hops sticking its head out of the ground
since I rent, Iv gone with pots. yes I know this is not the best, so i made sure i got the biggest pots i could find.

I got some plastic 205L drums and cut them in half. This cost me about $10 a pot. the potting mix cost more

imm still thinking about what imm going to do with trestles
so looking forward to using my own hops

id also love to THANK thebeemann and gollani51 both are great guys


so the varieties i have are

hellertau (Golani51)
cascade (Golani51)
Saaz (thebeemann)
Hersbrucker (thebeemann)
fuggels (ebay )


Bottom is the hellertau and the top is the cascade


left is the hersbrucker right is the saaz


this is the fuggles

 

[Mr. No-Tip]

Here in Canberra my second year Herbsrucker and Saaz have broken through recently. Cascade is about 7" long and the chinook...well....

Two small rhizomes planted in a wine barrel last year - both shot out 25 each and are up to 10" now. I trimmed one right back to try the 'lose the first bines' theory. It still hasn't really hit back yet. The other one I was trying to leave to go wild (wish I'd seen doc Smurto's post before just now) but disease concern got the better of me and I halved the number of bines...

 

[jameson]

So iv got my fist crop of hops sticking its head out of the ground
since I rent, Iv gone with pots. yes I know this is not the best, so i made sure i got the biggest pots i could find.

I got some plastic 205L drums and cut them in half. This cost me about $10 a pot. the potting mix cost more

imm still thinking about what imm going to do with trestles
so looking forward to using my own hops

id also love to THANK thebeemann and gollani51 both are great guys


so the varieties i have are

hellertau (Golani51)
cascade (Golani51)
Saaz (thebeemann)
Hersbrucker (thebeemann)
fuggels (ebay )

View attachment 57186
Bottom is the hellertau and the top is the cascade

View attachment 57187
left is the hersbrucker right is the saaz

View attachment 57185
this is the fuggles

Do you have a sorce for the 205l drums? Was thinking today I could use on to set up a drip system. while running the chiller water in there for recycling.
Thanks Jameson

 

[HBHB]

Update on mine.

Newly planted 2 x Chinook both have shot and one's taken off like a rocket up the rope, the other is thinking about it but was disturbed by an overzealous brewer (me) and appears to have recovered.

2 x Halertau have shot but 1 is already up around 60cm up a star picket close-by.

2 x cascade have poked their heads out from the **** riddled soil for a breath of clean air but not much action....maybe 10cm.

looking forward to maybe geting some fresh harvest brews done come march/april.

Martin

 

[hoppy2B]

****** it, is that one? Tell me if it is cos its the first time I've grown hops and I don't want to be hopping my beers with ******* burrs..

Keep an eye on them, they grow pretty quick, you'll have cones before you know it.
My Fuggle is cropping already. Last week nothing, today I have cones ready to pick. Don't know what anyone else's Fuggle are like but mine have a citrus aroma tending to mmmmaybe orange.

 

[Rubix]

I sold the house recently so had to transplant all of my hops into pots and re-house them at the in-laws. It certainly hasn't affected them though. All seven have sent up bines. As is the same with other posts on AHB recently, my fuggles has taken the early lead followed by the chinook.

 

[HBHB]

Update on mine.

Newly planted 2 x Chinook both have shot and one's taken off like a rocket up the rope, the other is thinking about it but was disturbed by an overzealous brewer (me) and appears to have recovered.

2 x Halertau have shot but 1 is already up around 60cm up a star picket close-by.

2 x cascade have poked their heads out from the **** riddled soil for a breath of clean air but not much action....maybe 10cm.

looking forward to maybe geting some fresh harvest brews done come march/april.

Martin

Current pic of the Hallertau in the pot for about 3 weeks.

 

[punkin]

Bastards. Still nothing on mine.

I'm now positive they are subterrainean dwarves. <_<

 

[Robbo2234]

Update on mine!

 

[grimpanda]

Here are some pics of my unusual setup. The idea was to create a system that enabled maximum growth height as well as ease of harvest.

This shot attempts to show the whole rig, which is in a 1-acre wire/netting covered garden (essentially a giant circus tent).

The setup requires no vertical supports - there are just two steel poles; one sits on the outside of the wire/netting and provides support for the lower pole, which is suspended via fencing wire a meter or so below. Once the bines reach this first horizontal support they are tipped/trained around the pole as to prevent them from making a tangled mess in the netting above.

When it's time for harvest, steel cables are passed up over the top support and secured to the lower support (ala pulley system), enabling the whole thing to be lowered to a nice chest height for harvest. Last year we harvested the entire crop in one go as the cones all matured quite evenly, but the pulley system means you could lower/raise the bines at will for a staggered harvest.

The rhizomes themselves are planted in stainless steel perforated drums (salvaged from discarded washing machines) that are dug into a garden bed. My 'theory' is that this allows better moisture retention than free-standing pots, whilst also preventing the 'zomes from invading the rest of the garden. This is their second year in the pots and the rhizome growth in terms of bulk was phenomenal - my theory again is that limiting the space for root growth helps the plant consolidate it's energy. How it will compare to free-planted rhizomes in the long run I'm yet to see. Some of the long roots however still managed to escape the stainless drums by tapering down to 1mm, growing through the perforations, and then shooting out the other side... rather astonishing.

This shows last year's growth just as the bines reached the first support and shows the setup a little clearer - you can see a few tendrils making a run for the top netting before they were tipped/trained.

Finally, shot of this year's Hallertauer as of this morning.

Hopefully others will be inspired to implement a pulley-system with their next setup!

 

[Yob]

thats f'kin awesome man...

:super:

 

[kymba]

i was wondering wtf is happen with my POR so i went searching. there i was carefully moving soil out of the way by hand, breaking a few new shoots, muttering a few swear words

then i found the herpetic alien queen...

 

[PhantomEasey]

i was wondering wtf is happen with my POR so i went searching. there i was carefully moving soil out of the way by hand, breaking a few new shoots, muttering a few swear words

then i found the herpetic alien queen...

View attachment 57266

I almost spewed when I saw that....from the awesomeness.

 

[Malted]

then i found the herpetic alien queen...

Does it drain ok? It looks very wet.

 

[petesbrew]

My little Perle has popped it's head out of the ground on the first week of spring.
I still haven't used last years crop - I have a boho pils ready to brew, so I might HTFU & pair it with the saaz.

 

[kymba]

Does it drain ok? It looks very wet.

yeah, i had just used the watering can to clean the dirts off the knobules for the photo

 

[Liam_snorkel]

and that's after 1 year of growth. fk me dead.

 

[kymba]

and i was rough getting it out of the other planter - i sleeved a few of the major roots trying to pull them out. got the ***** with that so just chopped them with a shovel about 40cm away from the business...rougher the better i'd say

 

[Rob S]

YMMV, enjoy the obsession until something new and shiny grabs your attention!

You got me in one......

Tettnang was the first to shoot at 2 weeks in the pot, followed the week after by POR, Chinook, cascade, goldings, cluster & centennial.

Still waiting for Mt Hood & hersbrucker to sprout. Had a dig & the roots are going berserk so hopefully won't be long.

They're planted with cow & chook poo and watered from the discharge from the biocycle sewage treatment thing. Nutrient rich for sure.

 

[I like beer]

i am tidying up my hop garden and have por, cluster, & chinook to give away. These arn't just cuttings or rhizomes they are the main plant after I have chopped off what I need, only things are pick up only from portland vic, this weekend or early next week. pm me.

 

[hoppy2B]

i am tidying up my hop garden and have por, cluster, & chinook to give away. These arn't just cuttings or rhizomes they are the main plant after I have chopped off what I need, only things are pick up only from portland vic, this weekend or early next week. pm me.

Pity you're so far away, I'd consider grabbing the Chinook despite not having any room in my hop yard to accommodate it. :lol:

 

[drsmurto]

i was wondering wtf is happen with my POR so i went searching. there i was carefully moving soil out of the way by hand, breaking a few new shoots, muttering a few swear words

then i found the herpetic alien queen...

View attachment 57266

That is a fantastic amount of growth for 1 rhizome in a season - :super: .

The only downside is you will need to keep the shovel handy and possibly a chainsaw if you are to keep the alien under control.

 

[kymba]

That is a fantastic amount of growth for 1 rhizome in a season - :super: .

The only downside is you will need to keep the shovel handy and possibly a chainsaw if you are to keep the alien under control.

doc i think i got this one off your mothership last year?