2012 Hop Plantations

[hoppy2B]

Soil? Looks like sand to me. My soil is black.

Actually its red clayey soil, little bit loamy as well. Varies somewhat over the paddocks but is highly alkaline and high in iron and other minerals so my crops generally grow very well. I took a good first year hop harvest last year.

 

[kalbarluke]

Last year I put some cuttings in some small pots with potting mixture. Made sure they were watered for a few weeks then forgot about them. They had been sitting in the same spot for a few months.

I went to move them today as I thought they were probably dead through neglect. As I picked them up I realised that roots had grown out the drainage holes and into the ground underneath. Not only were they alive but some were ready tp go with little rhizomes starting.

Absolutely amazing plants. Looking forward to summer.

 

[hoppy2B]

Raven let me have some side growth off the bottom of his Victoria hop last year 8 days before Christmas. I stuck about 60 cuttings in small pots but only 2 took. Transferred them to nursery bags that hold +15 litres of soil and they came out the bottom of those too.
I achieved a handsome yield my first year from bits of root cuttings. These Victoria will be the largest rhizomes I have planted and am looking forward to a bumper crop this season. ^_^

 

[Yob]

Last year I built a hop trellis and it did a reasonable job. I had it strung with a bunch of wire I got from a mate for nicks, the problem was that the hops couldnt really grasp it very well.

So yesterday I ripped it all down and replaced it with some rope which I rekon will be loads better.

The pole was loosely tacked into place last year, that was also pulled down, cleaned and fully welded up...

aaah.. tinkering days are a good excuse to stand about with a beer :icon_drunk:








The top line in this one will be lowered on the left to give it an angle similar to the bottom one.

Bring on Spring!!

Yob

 

[samward]

I was under orders this weekend to get my rhizomes out of the fridge (apparently they were taking up too much space...)

So I got them potted out.


I've got a mixture of cascade, hallertau, chinook, saaz, and pride of ringwood. So we'll see how they go this year. Hopefully being where they are they should be sheltered enough for the moment. I'll move them to their final location once 'winter' ends (apparently its winter at the moment)

Also picked up some posts for making a trellis. Hopefully 3.5m should be high enough

 

[Wolfy]

I was under orders this weekend to get my rhizomes out of the fridge (apparently they were taking up too much space...)

Make sure you label each variety well, those plastic tags easily get lost or misplaced or the writing fades on them, so it would be easy to get each of the varieties mixed-up.

 

[Yob]

Does anybody "Tip" their bines?

I had one last year (Doc's first year Chinook) that when it reached the trellis got the growing tip eaten off and it was by far the best producer I had... almost ONLY producer..

It seemed to grow in a bunch when this happened and was planning on doing so again this year as a form of control.. here's a picce of the "bunch" from last season.



It would be handy to grow a bine to a certain spot and then arrest the "length" development and promote lateral growth..

just a thought and was wondering if anybody else has had this experience? I will certainly explore this over growing season this year.

Yob

 

[qwertyfly]

Does anybody "Tip" their bines?

I had one last year (Doc's first year Chinook) that when it reached the trellis got the growing tip eaten off and it was by far the best producer I had... almost ONLY producer..

It seemed to grow in a bunch when this happened and was planning on doing so again this year as a form of control.. here's a picce of the "bunch" from last season.

View attachment 56022

It would be handy to grow a bine to a certain spot and then arrest the "length" development and promote lateral growth..

just a thought and was wondering if anybody else has had this experience? I will certainly explore this over growing season this year.

Yob

I had not thought of Tipping a hop bine, interesting Idea.

Looks like the topic has been covered here before.
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=36376

 

[Yob]

aww ****... got me... didnt search... :lol:

I swaers I usually do!!

:icon_cheers:

 

[qwertyfly]

aww ****... got me... didnt search... :lol:

I swaers I usually do!!

:icon_cheers:

The thread is from back in 2009,
It would be interesting to hear from some of the original posters to see how things have progressed over the last few years.
Wonder if a few seasons may have changed some opinions?

 

[samward]

I was listening to a podcast recently (don't remember which one) where they were speaking to a professional hop grower. One of the comments made was that by letting the hop grow past the top of the trellis, and the top folding over, that triggered the plant to start lateral growth and producing cones.

Haven't backed that up yet with my own research, but given a have a couple of rhizomes from the same root stock, maybe I will try one of each and see what happens.

 

[Yob]

I was listening to a podcast recently (don't remember which one) where they were speaking to a professional hop grower. One of the comments made was that by letting the hop grow past the top of the trellis, and the top folding over, that triggered the plant to start lateral growth and producing cones.

Haven't backed that up yet with my own research, but given a have a couple of rhizomes from the same root stock, maybe I will try one of each and see what happens.

Back in the old days when I was more familiar with the hop cousin, we used to inhibit a hormone in the growing tip named Auxin which primarily (if I remember right) retards growth below the growing tip, resulting in the conical shape of that plant we are all familiar with..

the removal of the growing tip resulted in more of a "Bushy growth" with the hormones effect reduced.

I dont know if it's the same, but the behaviour I observed last year I think warrants further experimentation.. at the end of the day I dont have a lot to lose eh?

:icon_cheers:

 

[Golani51]

I have a couple hops and have no real idea what they are anymore as the labels faded.
At Bunnings yesterday I found and bought some copper plant tags. $3.50ish for 10. You write on them with a ballpoint and it 'engraves' it forever. I'll post pics in a couple hours but they appear to be perfect. Cannot fade obviously and are indestructible pretty much.


R

Back in the old days when I was more familiar with the hop cousin, we used to inhibit a hormone in the growing tip named Auxin which primarily (if I remember right) retards growth below the growing tip, resulting in the conical shape of that plant we are all familiar with..

the removal of the growing tip resulted in more of a "Bushy growth" with the hormones effect reduced.

I dont know if it's the same, but the behaviour I observed last year I think warrants further experimentation.. at the end of the day I dont have a lot to lose eh?

:icon_cheers:

 

[Wolfy]

I have a couple hops and have no real idea what they are anymore as the labels faded.
At Bunnings yesterday I found and bought some copper plant tags. $3.50ish for 10. You write on them with a ballpoint and it 'engraves' it forever. I'll post pics in a couple hours but they appear to be perfect. Cannot fade obviously and are indestructible pretty much.

Yep, I had the same problem some years ago, but after switching to the metal-type plant labels (I thought they were aluminium not copper) I've only mis-labeled 1 since (the tag got lost somehow).

In regard to tipping the bines, I really think it depends on how you wish them to grow.
I'd suggest that the plants will grow as many leaves/cones as they can, no matter what shape you let them grow into. If left alone they will grow tall and get bushy when they reach the top and if tipped they'd grow shorter and bushier (but there is no way I'm going to climb up 5m to tip my plants to test this theory).

 

[Yob]

In regard to tipping the bines, I really think it depends on how you wish them to grow.

Thats exactly it Wolfy.. its about trying to get more control over a limited space and being able to keep them separated to some degree.. The EKG last year went a country mile (7-8m) but produced nothing (1st season) and the chinook was probably about 3m high and produced a good yeild (1st year)... as Ive dropped it back to 2 lines and Ive got 4 different vaietys planned to go on it I do require a method of keeping them separate and tipping seems the likely method at this point.

:icon_cheers:

 

[hoppy2B]

Thats exactly it Wolfy.. its about trying to get more control over a limited space and being able to keep them separated to some degree.. The EKG last year went a country mile (7-8m) but produced nothing (1st season) and the chinook was probably about 3m high and produced a good yeild (1st year)... as Ive dropped it back to 2 lines and Ive got 4 different vaietys planned to go on it I do require a method of keeping them separate and tipping seems the likely method at this point.

:icon_cheers:

Wow Yob, 7-8m for your Ringwood Golding and you got nada off it? :blink: Mine only went about 5m in a bit of a zig-zag and I picked up 3kg wet. That was from a piece of rhizome that started out at about 20cm long by 1cm thick. I cut it into 2 bits and planted them about 1m apart.
No idea what you're doing, but I dug lots of sheep manure in at planting and gave lots of water and liquid manure throughout the growing season if that helps. Also I trained the maximum number of bines possible.

 

[hoppy2B]

Thought you might like a bit of motivation, something to aspire to. This is a picture of my 2012 Golding a week or 2 prior to harvest. Yes it is technically a 2012 hop pic.
Golding is a beautiful hop to grow. Its leaves are a lovely light colour and the cones are a nice golden shade of pale green.

 

[Danielscott26]

This is my Mt Hood hop plant.

 

[hoppy2B]

Is that a recent photo Dan? :blink: Wow, looks like they start early up your way.

 

[cam89brewer]

This is my Mt Hood hop plant.View attachment 56110

My Mt hood is also sprouting now and we are still getting frosts every second night :huh: