2013 Hop Plantations, Show Us Your Hop Garden!

[Rubix]

Just a quick update from the Island.


The Chinook is kicking along nicely


First year Goldings also coming along.




Pride of Ringwood starting to invade the front deck.



First year Saaz is going great as well.

I also have flowers on the Fuggles, Cascade and Hersbrucker. So far the only plant not to produce any of the goods is the Perle.

 

[Poobah]

You guys inspired me to have a crack at this caper and I thought it was about time I shared my hops with you. I got my hands on 5 rhizomes - Saaz, Cascade, Hersbrucker, Super Alpha and Red Earth - pretty late in the season. It was almost October if memory serves me correctly. I didn't have a great spot in the garden so 4 of the 5 are in self watering pots down the north side of the house. As you can see they have done okay.



There have been a few challenges, like marauding chickens scratching up young shoots and the Melbourne heatwave, but I've managed to keep them alive. I've now got a fair few flowers and I'm pretty chuffed. The most progressed is the Red Earth. It looks like I should get an okay first year crop.



The next is the Hersbrucker. It probably has the most flowers of them all.



The Saaz was the early performer, and is the bushiest of the lot, but doesn't have as many flowers yet. It's also a bit tangled up with the Hersbrucker. I won't put them so close together next year.



The Cascade was the first to break the dirt but then it just sat there. Some of the others had hit the gutters before it decided to climb. It grew pretty quick but it has no way near as many laterals as the others. I should get a few flowers though.



Last but not least is the Super Alpha. It was against the side of the shed and just didn't have enough height to grow. I'll get a handful of flowers though. I might just feed them to the chooks. Apparently hop flowers are pretty good for them. Almost as effective as antibiotics for keeping bugs at bay.



I feel like I'm in the home stretch now. If I keep doing what I'm doing (like giving them lots of water in this hot weather) and pick them at the right time, I should get more hops than I can use (I'm the only one that drinks beer in this house and I only do small batches).

Thanks guys for all your help.

 

[carniebrew]

Sorry for the 'new to hop growing' question, but I've noticed my Cascade and Hersbrucker have both started sprouting what I'm guessing might be the beginning of their actual hop flowers. Both of them are producing heaps of these little flowery looking items, but only in the top maybe half of each bine, the lower part of the bines don't have any. Are these little spiky green fellas you can see amongst the leaves what will eventually turn into cones?

 

[technobabble66]

I've just started to get the same, CB.
I'm assuming they're flowers in blissful ignorance. They certainly look like flowers. Though they don't look very cone-like to me...

 

[Yob]

You have flowers forming

 

[Camo6]

That's the flowers alright. Came back from almost a week down at Lake Tyers to find my cascade covered in them. Was beginning to worry.

 

[carniebrew]

Excellent! So for anyone who's seen this before, do all flowers usually become cones? Or does this happen with only some?

It's both of my potted hops (Hersbrucker & Cascade) that have a proliferation of those flowers. The two I planted in the ground out the front of the house...well the Columbus is dead, and the Chinook, despite starting strong, has stalled at just over a metre high well over a month ago. I think I didn't do enough to prepare the soil for those, will do a bit more with those spots next year. The drainage is pretty ordinary in that space, even half a bucket of water leaves a puddle that sits around for quite a while.

 

[hoppy2B]

I think the technical name for your hop flowers is 'burrs' carnie. Most should turn into cones. A few will dry and shrivel if they don't get enough water or if they become knocked around by the wind.

 

[gunbrew]

5th year Chinook, with the smaller 2nd year Cascade next to it.

 

[shaunous]

You cut that 5th year back to nothing every year gunbrew???

Anyone know if cattle eat hop bines, or they should be safe to plant in open paddock, considering they are basically a weed.
My current spot on the hill near my house has smashed my first attempt at hops with wind. tallest is about 3 feet, but rest snapped off in winds and just kept growing smaller shoots from the rhizome. Think about throwing some down near the creek were we dont see much wind, but not sure if cattle will eat them up.

 

[hoppy2B]

My sheep eat the leaves I throw them, they also eat any shoots that grow out through the fence I have around them, so I think cattle will get into them too.

 

[Danwood]

Your sheep eats(,) shoots and leaves ? You should take the rifle away from it...arming sheep is irresponsible !

 

[Danwood]

...and put up a fence so it can't leave...

 

[hoppy2B]

And make silly posts about them. h34r:

 

[gunbrew]

Hey shaunous
I don't cut down the old hop bines.
Just let them die in place, then the next year the plant can grow up the dead bines.

 

[DAC]

 

[DAC]

ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1390983675.995510.jpg

ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1390984093.788236.jpg

after your thoughts, do these cascade's look ready for pick'n?

 

[Yob]

after your thoughts, do these cascade's look ready for pick'n?

lookin close

How do they feel? hey look like they have a touch to go, but if they are starting to feel like paper when you squeeze them....



My decimated POR and badly damaged Tett.. (Heatwave)



Oddly, the Tett has thrown 6 new Bines!!

The Tett has been a weird plant to grow, unlike all the rest, last year it grew a bit and died off, this year it was doing the same so I cut all the bines off in a fit of rage, it then came back and threw a couple of bines that grew like all ****.. till the heatwave almost killed it, not the main leaves are a bit damages and the laterals are springing out and it's got 6 new bines.. weird ass feckin plant :lol:

 

[DAC]

Yob, a couple are starting to have that papery sound/feel & can flick off a few of the lower petal things. The same ones are just starting to brown on tips of petals.
So I think they must be close & if so the bulk of the rest prob another week.
Have done a little research but a first timer.

 

[shaunous]

My sheep eat the leaves I throw them, they also eat any shoots that grow out through the fence I have around them, so I think cattle will get into them too.

But cattle are a bit more picky than sheep food wise, might just throw a rhizome in the ground at the end of winter and see what happens, even if I can get it to climb up a tree and just fence off around the tree.

Hey shaunous
I don't cut down the old hop bines.
Just let them die in place, then the next year the plant can grow up the dead bines.

Cheers mate.

Your sheep eats(,) shoots and leaves ? You should take the rifle away from it...arming sheep is irresponsible !

Your about as useful as an ash tray on a motorbike