2016 Hop Plantations, Show Us Your Hop Garden!

[BottloBill]

Victoria

I'd probably get some more lines up, I'd say those young shoots will leave the older one's behind in growth rate.

 

[Matplat]

Cascade

 

[Matplat]

EKG

 

[Curly79]

So they are first year plants im guessing Matplat? If so don't expect too much from them this year. Next year they should shoot up to 3 Mtrs or more. By the 3 rd season they will go bananas.

 

[Matplat]

Yeah all first years, so as you say im not expecting heaps, its just odd that they seem to be going great guns at the bottom and nowhere at the top! I sqeezed one of the cluster cones yesterday and it smelt freaking awsome though so im still happy!

 

[Benn]

Question; My Victoria hop plant has a mix of variegated (3 prong) and non variegated (heart shaped leaf with only one point) leaves-hopefully I'm using the correct wording, whereas my Chinook has only got variegated leaves i.e 3 prong.
Is the differing foliage on the Victoria a result of cross/selective breeding or something?
Cheers,

 

[BottloBill]

Question; My Victoria hop plant has a mix of variegated (3 prong) and non variegated (heart shaped leaf with only one point) leaves-hopefully I'm using the correct wording, whereas my Chinook has only the non variegated leaves.
Is the differing foliage on the Victoria a result of cross/selective breeding or something?
Cheers,

Can you get a picture of them mate?

 

[BottloBill]

Yeah all first years, so as you say im not expecting heaps, its just odd that they seem to be going great guns at the bottom and nowhere at the top! I sqeezed one of the cluster cones yesterday and it smelt freaking awsome though so im still happy![/quote

+1 to curry's comment. That being said look after them above the ground and establish a sold rhizome below the ground

 

[Benn]

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.


The pic below is of my Chinook

•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.

 

[Mardoo]

I had that on my Victorias. Didn't seem to be any issue. No idea why though.

 

[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?