2016 Hop Plantations, Show Us Your Hop Garden!

[Rocker1986]

My Hallertau plant has taken over its mesh support a fair bit now and also has a number of burrs and flowers on it. It is throwing out quite a few laterals, the majority of which have burrs on them too. Some of these have attached themselves to the mesh and are growing up it as well. Will be interesting to see how much I end up getting off it, but I'm not expecting huge things given it's only a first year plant. The Fuggle plant is getting there now as well although it isn't as aggressive as the Hallertau. It has a few flowers and burrs on it but I could probably count them on my fingers at this point. It is throwing out a few laterals as well.

Hallertau top, Fuggle bottom. Can kind of make out some of the cones on the Hallertau.

 

[Bruer]

Well, I have four first year potted ones going - two POR and two cascade. All but 1 are over 2 m. I went to move the pots today (just rigging in a drip irrigation - finally!) and the damn roots have grown out the bottom. Crazy! I was thinking of plating them out in the garden bed next year. Any ideas on how to contain them to a certain area? I was thinking fly wire or that shade cloth. Any solutions?

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Note: I got my wires crossed in my initial post and have edited it accordingly.
The pic below is of my Victoria showing dual foliage styles.

image.jpeg

The pic below is of my Chinook

image.jpeg
•The Chinook has just reached the top of the 3.1m tall pole today and only started shooting laterals last week so maybe it'll come out with the other leaves too?
•The Victoria is about half as tall as the Chinook but went mental with laterals weeks ago.

Nothing to do with cross pollination being the reason for the difference in leaves, it is the stage the plant is at when the leaves develop.All quite normal and nothing to worry about.

Bruer the roots are difficult to contain and if you plant the varieties to close to each other the chances are you will have POR mixed in with the cascade and visa versa, I would say all you can do is chop off the new growth as it comes up, the rhizomes are lateral runners, I was reading with horseradish if you want to contain its lateral movement a barrier should be 1 meter deep.

 

[Rocker1986]

I've been doing a bit of Googling on this and I think some of my cones might be ready to harvest this week.. they feel dry and papery, there is obvious yellow powder in them. I pulled one off earlier and crushed it up and smelled it and it smelled pretty much like how the pellets do. All the signs they say to look for. I don't want to make the mistake of harvesting too early though, and the one that I picked off wasn't very big either so I dunno if they're meant to be all different sizes, but at the moment some are larger than others. The largest ones feel the driest but the smaller ones feel similar too, just not as dry yet. What's the consensus on this? :unsure:

 

[Mardoo]

Regarding size, my Chinooks at harvest last year ranged in size from 2cm to around 12cm long.

 

[goatus]

12cm long.

Its a boy!

 

[Mardoo]

Dry and papery is good. Try snapping the middle stalk. If it snaps crisply inside the hop that's said to be a sign of readiness. If the cones are still dense and tight, or dense in the middle they're usually not ready.

I read an interesting article for which the author interviewed 5 commercial growers from multi-generation family farms. He noticed that, when all the growers were talking about the great growers in their families, they made a gesture wherein it looked like they were rolling a cone between their thumb and index finger. Asking one of them the grower said the best yard bosses could tell when the cones were ripe by doing that. It seemed to me to be the best way, together with the "snap" of the centre stem.

It's a combination of moistness, density, smell and lupulin/yellow powder that will tell you when to harvest. Do the finger roll. It'll all start to come together.

Once they're ready though, it's time to harvest. They'll go too far in a matter of days. The subtleties will quickly fade and they'll take on the smell of grass clippings, and I don't mean The Cousin.

 

[Rocker1986]

Thanks mate. I'm pretty sure they're ready, and I'm gonna go get some stuff tomorrow to make a drying screen. I did roll a few through my fingers, they made a crackly kind of sound, which suggested to me that they're close to, if not ready to be harvested, along with the dry/papery feel and the smell of them. Will try the snapping of the centre stem too.

 

[Mardoo]

Better a bit early than late if it comes down to that.

 

[Matplat]

Dont the tips start to brown when they're ready too?

 

[Mardoo]

Not necessarily. Often, but as far as my opinion is worth anything, I've always taken it as a minor sign.

 

[AJ80]

Climbed the ladder for a closer look this evening and was happy to discover burrs forming on my Mt Hood (heaps, thanks Mardoo!), goldings and cascade. Laterals are sprouting from the chinook so I may have burrs there too in the near future.

Given these are all first year plants I'm quite chuffed to be getting anything at all.

 

[Rocker1986]

Climbed the ladder for a closer look this evening and was happy to discover burrs forming on my Mt Hood (heaps, thanks Mardoo!), goldings and cascade. Laterals are sprouting from the chinook so I may have burrs there too in the near future.

Given these are all first year plants I'm quite chuffed to be getting anything at all.

Same thing's been happening with my Hallertau. Surprised at the amount of burrs on it for a first year plant but then again I don't really know what I'm meant to be expecting either. :lol:

I bought a couple of 2mx1m raised garden beds the other day, and during the winter I'm going to transfer my Hallertau and Fuggle plants (or root systems) from their current pots into these garden beds, and also construct a different type trellis with 5 or 6 wires running from the soil to the top. Might build it a bit bigger as well perhaps 3.5/4m high.

i'll keep the pots because I'd like to get a Cascade rhizome and I'll use one of them to grow it up in before moving it to a garden bed somewhere as well if I can find room.

 

[sponge]

I should be harvesting my first lot of cascade over the weekend. Quite surprised by how many flowers have been produced from first years, especially not getting any sunlight in the afternoon.. a few burrs coming through on the chinooks but still nothing but laterals from goldings.

Question - I know a lot of folk put their hops on fly screens etc in the garage for a couple of days to dry, but how about a mesh oven tray with the hops on the tray on the lowest shelf in the oven with just the fan (and light) on and the door ajar? I'd be thinking it'd be a fairly gentle drying process but faster than just drying at ambient? Obviously not suitable for large harvests but just until I sort out something more permanent.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Similar product if you want to fast dry.

So, after trying several ways to quick dry hops I came across one that in my opinion works the best. We have all tried the standard oven treatment, and of course your left with hop that has lost some of it's kick not to mention that it comes out tasting like crap. So if your looking to maintain bitterness when quick drying hops try this:
You will need:

One four sided microwave safe dish with lid (something like small casserole dish)

Paper towels

A Microwave

And of course your fresh hops

First you line the bottom of the pan with DRY paper towels. Then you put your hops on top of that. Now wet enough paper towels to form a double layer to lay across the top of your pan (make sure that the wet paper towel is not touching your hops), wring the paper towels out so that they are damp but not wet. Now cover the paper towels and pan with the lid, sealing three of the four sides (or some space for steam to escape). Microwave for one minute on 40% power, take the pan out of the microwave and uncover for 20-30 seconds. Repeat these steps 3-5 times or until your hop is dry enough to use. Re-wet top paper towels as needed.

I'm sure many of you have tried this but it was a new method for me, and the hops turn out soooo much better.
Grow safe....

 

[NikZak]

Similar product if you want to fast dry.

So, after trying several ways to quick dry bud I came across one that in my opinion works the best. We have all tried the standard oven treatment, and of course your left with bud that has lost some of it's kick not to mention that it comes out tasting like crap. So if your looking to maintain potency when quick drying buds try this:
You will need:

One four sided microwave safe dish with lid (something like small casserole dish)

Paper towels

A Microwave

And of course your fresh bud

First you line the bottom of the pan with DRY paper towels. Then you put your bud on top of that. Now wet enough paper towels to form a double layer to lay across the top of your pan (make sure that the wet paper towel is not touching your bud), wring the paper towels out so that they are damp but not wet. Now cover the paper towels and pan with the lid, sealing three of the four sides (or some space for steam to escape). Microwave for one minute on 40% power, take the pan out of the microwave and uncover for 20-30 seconds. Repeat these steps 3-5 times or until your bud is dry enough to use. Re-wet top paper towels as needed.

I'm sure many of you have tried this but it was a new method for me, and the buds turn out soooo much better.
Grow safe....

This all sounds a little like something we probably shouldn't talk about

 

[sponge]

Find and replace: bud / hop


But agreed.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I've no idea what we are talking about here, its not as if we are distilling liquor.

 

[Fents]

did someone mention OG KUSH!

 

[wide eyed and legless]

did someone mention OG KUSH!

No I think it was Lupus Indica.

 

[Fents]

wonder if those hop shots would be any good in the vape

 

[Mardoo]

Now THERE'S a new market!

 

[goid]

I should be harvesting my first lot of cascade over the weekend. Quite surprised by how many flowers have been produced from first years, especially not getting any sunlight in the afternoon.. a few burrs coming through on the chinooks but still nothing but laterals from goldings.

Question - I know a lot of folk put their hops on fly screens etc in the garage for a couple of days to dry, but how about a mesh oven tray with the hops on the tray on the lowest shelf in the oven with just the fan (and light) on and the door ajar? I'd be thinking it'd be a fairly gentle drying process but faster than just drying at ambient? Obviously not suitable for large harvests but just until I sort out something more permanent.

If i remember correctly I read that drying the hops should not exceed 40c. Above this you will degrade some of the volatile oils in the hops. And when drying I work on a loss of 75% of original weight, which will give you approx. 8-10% residual moisture. Any drier and you also risk again, loss of oils.

Edit: Just re read your post. You are only using the fan with no heat, which will be fine. I use a fan under my mesh table when drying. It still take about 1-2 days to dry depending on ambient.

 

[Yob]

wonder if those hop shots would be any good in the vape

I almost got a bloke at the office to try it, he couldn't find an empty tube thingy to put it in h34r:

 

[sponge]

If i remember correctly I read that drying the hops should not exceed 40c. Above this you will degrade some of the volatile oils in the hops. And when drying I work on a loss of 75% of original weight, which will give you approx. 8-10% residual moisture. Any drier and you also risk again, loss of oils.

Edit: Just re read your post. You are only using the fan with no heat, which will be fine. I use a fan under my mesh table when drying. It still take about 1-2 days to dry depending on ambient.

Yea no heat, just the fan (pretty sure the light comes on as soon as the fan is on). I also read somewhere about keeping them <40'C which is why I thought that may be on option.

I almost got a bloke at the office to try it, he couldn't find an empty tube thingy to put it in h34r:

Gatorade bottle?

 

[Yob]

knife on the hotplate?

wait.. what are we talking about again?

 

[Mardoo]

Hmmmm, shisha with hop shots?

 

[Rocker1986]

I picked some of the flowers off my Hallertau plant earlier. They felt quite dry and papery to me and the aroma from crushing one was the familiar smell I am greeted with by the pellets I usually use. It's only a first year plant of course and this micro harvest gave me 8g, which I expect will dry out to be about 2g or so... I don't know if you can tell by looking at them if I picked them too soon or not? :unsure: There are more burrs on the plant so I can always leave those ones longer and see if they change more.

 

[Yob]

They'll usually lighten a bit as they ripen, these look a touch young still

 

[Rocker1986]

Cool, thanks mate. I'll leave the next lot of burrs a bit longer once they turn into flowers and see how they go.