2012 Hop Plantations

[jc64]

A quick question for the knowledgeable hop growers out there. I've cut off at ground level my hop plants after they died back. When should I dig around the plant to curtail the spread, and get any rhizomes? Should I wait until just before Spring? Cheers.

 

[hoppy2B]

How old are the plants and which varieties? They won't spread much for the first couple of years normally unless they are a very vigorous variety.

You can do it now if you like or you can wait a couple of months. I believe its best to plant them straight into the ground as soon as possible after removal from the parent plant as the roots and shoots do grow some at this time of year in our climate.

 

[jc64]

How old are the plants and which varieties? They won't spread much for the first couple of years normally unless they are a very vigorous variety.

You can do it now if you like or you can wait a couple of months. I believe its best to plant them straight into the ground as soon as possible after removal from the parent plant as the roots and shoots do grow some at this time of year in our climate.

I've got Chinook, Cascasde. They both grew really well giving a big yield, the Chinook seem's to have spread a bit more after having a little forage this arvo. I noticed a few 'eyes' on a bit of the Chinook one I unearthed. They are only first year plants so I wasn't expecting much but if you look back I posted a pic of them at full height, they grew to over the height of my gutters in the end. I'll post a pic of the Cascade yield.

 

[hoppy2B]

Nice first year harvest jc.

 

[jc64]

Cheers I'll wait for a few months before I dig around the perimeter, if it won't hurt to wait then I may as well give them more time to establish a good root system.

 

[hoppy2B]

If you're able to dig a hole or a bit of a moat around the plant and wash the soil off to expose the rhizomes, seems to be the easiest way to avoid damaging what you're after.

 

[phoenixdigital]

Hi All,

I bought 3x cascade hop rhizomes from an ebay seller about 2 years back. I also got 1 saaz rhizome as well.

This last year I am still yet to see any hop flowers on the cascade hops. However the Saaz went nuts.

Could it be that I got male rhizomes from the guy on ebay or would cascade maybe not flower in SEQ due to never getting a short enough night to trigger flowering?

Pretty sure the seller was recommended here at some point.

I just find it suss that the 3x Cascades have never done anything while the Saaz went gangbusters.

Any idea where I can source some cascades that will flower in SEQ?

 

[hoppy2B]

Did the Cascade grow well phoenix? People grow them in your area with good results.

 

[Yob]

I just find it suss that the 3x Cascades have never done anything

 

[hoppy2B]

Perhaps he thought they were Triffids and expected them to get up and walk around.

 

[phoenixdigital]

Did the Cascade grow well phoenix? People grow them in your area with good results.

They didn't grow as much as the saaz thats for sure. Only really grew about 2-3 meters. Maybe thats it? Next season I will fertilise the crap out of them. If that doesn't work I will bite the bullet and buy another rhizome.

Anyone got any suggestions of the best place to buy a cascade rhizome?

I might dig up my existing ones and put them out at my folks place. See how they go out there.

 

[beerdrinkingbob]

the key to hop growth and flowers IMO is plenty of water (daily, sometimes twice) and lots manure!!

Found my cascade to be a sensitive soul but once the above in check it flowered nicely....

 

[Yob]

Only really grew about 2-3 meters

Must be bloody dwarf cascade then… ffs… (dont take that seriously, context is prior in the thread)

Check soil ph, and as bob mentions above, there is an articles the wikki's for trouble shooting, have a gander at that and eliminate potential issues.

 

[hoppy2B]

They didn't grow as much as the saaz thats for sure. Only really grew about 2-3 meters. Maybe thats it? Next season I will fertilise the crap out of them. If that doesn't work I will bite the bullet and buy another rhizome.

Anyone got any suggestions of the best place to buy a cascade rhizome?

I might dig up my existing ones and put them out at my folks place. See how they go out there.

That's not surprising, Saaz is an extremely tall plant which is why I just sent all of my remaining rhizome around the country for free and will no longer grow it. I couldn't manage Saaz well enough to make it worth my keeping it.

I aquired my Cascade from Kimba who is actually in the Brisbane area if IRC. It was very slow to get going this first season for me but it did get to about 3 - 3.5 metres. Produced approx. 1.5 kilos wet which dried down to 400 grams.

The American Dwarf Hop Association grow Cascade on low trellis. I don't know if I'm assuming correctly but its probably not an overly tall variety. Certainly wouldn't be anywhere near as tall as Saaz which is easily the tallest variety I have grown. I'm sure Saaz would get to 10 metres if provided with suitable support. At least the strain I had would have.

Like Bob says, plenty of manure. Liquid manure works well too. I wouldn't use a lot of chemical fertilizer, but what I put on I mix with the liquid manure to buffer it and make it less toxic. The microbes in the liquid manure are also necessary as they help make the chemical fertilizer available to your plants.

 

[of mice and gods]

I think Yob's point about PH testing is also pretty important. If you're PH is too acid/alkaline then you'll be getting nutrient lock .. but you would probably see some clues of this as symptoms on the foliage.

 

[phoenixdigital]

Thanks for the tips guys. I might try and whack some cow manure on them next season and see how it goes. When is a good time to add that?


Pretty sure the PH is fine as I checked that all out in the first season.

Lets see what season 3 brings.

 

[waggastew]

Bit of a re-furbish of the hops.

1. Dug out a few varieties that either don't fire (Goldings/Tettanger) or I don't use (POR/Super Alpha).

2. Planted a few new Cascade rhizomes (courtesy of a good mate) in the free space

3. General weeding, trimming, fertilising, mulching etc of the new ones and my Chinook.

Hopefully will be able to add Cascade to my Harvest Ale in a few years. Aiming for a Chinook/Cascade AIPA.

Stew

 

[pedroj]

Hello mates. These are my hops that I'm cultivating here in south Brazil, they are WGV and Phoenix varieties that I bought from Aplus Hops, England. I have planted them in december 2012, and in february/march I got few flowers from WGV. I am still a begginer at hops growing, but expect to learn a lot here with you.

WGV



Phoenix


Cheers
Pedro

 

[Yob]

Looks like you have plenty of room mate, nice one!! I've not heard of any other folks from Brazil growing! Make sure to keep the photos coming

 

[pedroj]

Yeah! That's my house yard, still have a farm of 20ha to try something bigger if I want. But I'm still trying to get some different varieties to see what grows better here. There are rumours that the hops don't produce too much alfa acid here because the latitude (aprox. 30) is too low, but I doubt it, at least aroma they produce, as observed in my WGV flowers.