2012 Hop Plantations

[pk.sax]

Whoops!

 

[Yob]

Might be an idea to put a piece of chook wire over the pots to risk the inevitable? Reduce the likelyhood of another blonde moment?

couldnt hurt anything mate...

 

[Wolfy]

Once the hops are established chooks make a great addition to the garden, they eat the bugs and turn the top of the mulch over and help keep the weeds under control.

 

[Golani51]

I was looking this afternoon at splitting my magnum (I think it is anyway!) and started to clear away the dirt. Loads of spidery roots spreading very close/above the surface. A couple 15mm thick roots coming off it too. The soil is pretty crappy so I dug a big hole before putting the rhizome in 2 years ago. Filled it with a mix of potting mix, guinea pig droppings and straw etc and it came up really nicely. Didn't find any rhizome though apart from the crown which has grown large and is producing many bines. Do additional rhizomes for splitting come off the main crown or do they appear somewhere else along the root system?


Also, I managed to pull up some sort of grub. WTF?!?
Anyone know what it is?

 

[Golani51]

These things are huge. Cicada?

 

[KingKong]

These things are huge. Cicada?View attachment 56191

Is there an entomologist in the building ?

 

[drew9242]

They are just witchdy grubs, chuck them on the fire and have a aboriginal snack.

 

[Golani51]

I decided the chickens needed some protein.

 

[felten]

witchety grub, eat it*.




*don't actually eat it.

 

[Yob]

guinea pig droppings

mutant guinea pig embryo...

 

[kymba]

Mmm...mini bbq'd guinea pigs on sticks :icon_drool2:

 

[Golani51]

I was actually I was serious. I don't want some mutant chowing down on my hops and killing them. I'll let the wife do it instead.

 

[kelbygreen]

lol you never seen a witcherty grub?? they are like dirt filled mucus things lovely to eat

I think they eat rotting matter and dirt like worms so I cant see them being a problem to the hops

 

[nifty]

I was actually I was serious. I don't want some mutant chowing down on my hops and killing them. I'll let the wife do it instead.

Witchetty grubs are a lot bigger, the grubs in the photo look a lot like these critters -

lawn curl grubs

I have a jillion of them in my compost, i dig them out and feed them to the chooks.

cheers

nifty

 

[Golani51]

Witchetty grubs are a lot bigger, the grubs in the photo look a lot like these critters -

lawn curl grubs

I have a jillion of them in my compost, i dig them out and feed them to the chooks.

cheers

nifty

That is it!! Little Fruckers. The chooks did enjoy it. As long as they stay eating roots and not the hops I care not. Of course, I didn't really have any grass there in the first place.

 

[Wolfy]

Do additional rhizomes for splitting come off the main crown or do they appear somewhere else along the root system?

Yes, typically rhizomes are 'shoots' or 'suckers' that spread from the main crown away from the root-ball, they will be easily identifiable as they are thick and have nodes every few inches along the length.

 

[capsicum]

they look like nice planters..about 1m cubed?

I could probably whip up something like that cheaper than buying a half wine barrel and would hold more soil. might have a crack this weekend!

Do you have any designs for stringing up the bines? I would really love to see peoples ideas for a self supporting/ free standing structure that allows hops to grow high in a suburban backyard.

I have a sort of teepee looking arrangement. I got a 5 or 6 m length of galvanised square section from Stratco or something like that and put some screw in eyelets around the top. Ropes go up from where the rhizomes are planted to the top, through the eyelet and then down to a tie-off point so I can hopefully lower the bines for harvesting (or yank them down).

The centre post just slips over a looong star picket bashed deep into the ground and sits on some bricks to keep it off the ground. Pretty stable once it's guyed with the hop ropes, we'll see how it goes before I concrete it in.

No sprouts yet though

 

[hoppy2B]

I was looking this afternoon at splitting my magnum (I think it is anyway!) and started to clear away the dirt. Loads of spidery roots spreading very close/above the surface. A couple 15mm thick roots coming off it too. The soil is pretty crappy so I dug a big hole before putting the rhizome in 2 years ago. Filled it with a mix of potting mix, guinea pig droppings and straw etc and it came up really nicely. Didn't find any rhizome though apart from the crown which has grown large and is producing many bines. Do additional rhizomes for splitting come off the main crown or do they appear somewhere else along the root system?


Also, I managed to pull up some sort of grub. WTF?!?
Anyone know what it is?View attachment 56189

They're dung beetles. Should be good for the ecology. Chooks do love them.
They can be a bit of a nuisance to crops. They get into potatoes and onions.
You would have to dig up your whole hop plant to check over it. I wouldn't worry about it. Not much you can do really is there, except maybe do a Doc Smurto, (pile manure around your hops), and perhaps they will be distracted with the manure and feed on it instead.

 

[domfergo]

They look alot like what i would call a wood grub.

When i was back down south we use to go out to a mates property and look for some fresh saw dust piles on the trees, especially the willows along waterlines...

you would then either split the wood or if you foind a heap in a big section of a tree cut the whole lot out and save them for spliting later.

They are the best Murray Cod bait you can get! Personaly i think better then yabbies

Best thing is you can chuck them in an ice cream container with some wood shavings or even cardboard and they will stay live for a long time!

 

[jyo]

Continuing with the larvae discussion- We used to eat all sorts of things with the old man as kids- rabbits, kangaroos, witchetty grubs, native plants...I know what a witchetty grub looks and tastes like (nutty pork crackle if done in some oil until crispy) and the above little buggers are NOT witchetty grubs...

Anyway, we were out getting wood when we were kids one day and we found a heap of the above grubs in an old log. We left them because we knew they weren't the right ones....My Pop was a stubborn bugger and to 'prove' to us that it was a witchetty grub he ate one raw...

He ended up with that black shit at the end of it's tail all down his lips and chin and tried not to dry retch as he downed it...suffice to say, he didn't have another!