2016 Hop Plantations, Show Us Your Hop Garden!

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It was mostly to do with the failure at HPA and that it allows the smaller guys an opportunity to shine through and help out the industry where needed. I however feel it is unfortunate it's blokes like yourself that don't have access to the types of varieties that are needed to pick up the pieces when the big boys are down;)
 
Stu Brew said:
I got mostly crowns and its 95% failed. I dont really mind as Ill move the golding into that 200 plot 3.5m system later this year. I suspect they dwarfed due to sandstone not to deep under them. If plants roots hit rock they'll stunt if htey cant get the water and nutrients they are looking for. I suspect that the dwarf will revert into normal cluster again for anyone thats having luck with it. Could be different due to it stunting....just watch your crop numbers Id pull it if you're getting low numbers of flowers.
Bummer. 5 out of 30 cluster rhizomes did not survive. Only lost 4 out of 150 in other varieties, but luckily had extra and replaced them.
 
BottloBill said:
It was mostly to do with the failure at HPA and that it allows the smaller guys an opportunity to shine through and help out the industry where needed. I however feel it is unfortunate it's blokes like yourself that don't have access to the types of varieties that are needed to pick up the pieces when the big boys are down;)
Agreed...would love to be growing other varieties.
 
Well its is about offering different things. Im in talks with some viticulturalists because rhizomes and they've been studied a great deal. There is a whole bunch of rhizomes here that all started out the same 30-40 years ago and have all completely changed genetics now just due to soil water and micro climates. Rhizomes technically should do the same. So anything we put in as independent growers will eventually hybradise into something similar but not the same as the parent plants.

I couldnt believe that they posted our article followed by the HPA article. Stuff has gone off the charts here....kind of strange that Coopers has been the only brewery to contact me so far. Still were a couple of weeks off....Im doing a test today but we're still up around the 90% wet mark so its at least a week before anything gets picked. The columbus smells so amazingly good very Honey Dew mellon with a hint of passion fruit atm. I bet anything that they're completely different to a US Columbus already. Then you hear things like Cascade dont aroma up very well here....all sort of misinformation I have and will need to disprove as we get more experienced.

Very keen its a very very interesting plant thats for sure! Happy to be able to specialise in something as a horty....instead of being good at all of it but not a master of anything!
 
For a start. Ive had two rhizomes growing in a bucket of water for 5 months now, no air sitting in part sun.....So they defineatly like water ;) plus I got to see how the bines work the rhizomes will throw out shoots anything that goes down will pick up water for the rhizomes to bulk up. Each bine will put out its own roots in the top 6 inches under the soil. So this is where mulching really really comes in. You want to be able to feed your rhizomes by the bines...forget about the rhizomes and just concentrate on getting the individual bines what they need through the year as they have their own seperate fine roots for picking up water and nutrients. Where as the rhizome will throw down really fat deep roots to crack into the water table! IVe learnt a ton about these things in 1 year....3-5 years....well should be supplying hopefully a good few micros in SA. Its still farming though....high risk crops. Just lucky we have a great clean water supply here that has helped probably more than anything else.

Edited due to mixing things up.....fixed now.
 
Really interesting subject, hop rhizomes actually travel laterally, the reason they do this is they are looking for a host plant (tree) something for the bines to climb up. The root is split into sections the root cap is the tip of the root which senses the environment and protects the root, next is the Meristem this is region where the cells rapidly divide elongate and bend next is the transition zone which is electrically active and is thought to be the nerve centre of the plant and where the oxygen is used and what some believe is the brain of the plant.
Darwin was the first to suggest plant had a brain in the root, and they know the difference between movement from the wind or something touching it, the hops first cousin is notorious for this, touch one plant and they all start to give off a scent I suppose its something like a pheromone that's why they have extractor fans in a grow room. ;)
And I wish I could stop referring to cones as buds.
 
wide eyed and legless said:
Really interesting subject, hop rhizomes actually travel laterally, the reason they do this is they are looking for a host plant (tree) something for the bines to climb up. The root is split into sections the root cap is the tip of the root which senses the environment and protects the root, next is the Meristem this is region where the cells rapidly divide elongate and bend next is the transition zone which is electrically active and is thought to be the nerve centre of the plant and where the oxygen is used and what some believe is the brain of the plant.
Darwin was the first to suggest plant had a brain in the root, and they know the difference between movement from the wind or something touching it, the hops first cousin is notorious for this, touch one plant and they all start to give off a scent I suppose its something like a pheromone that's why they have extractor fans in a grow room. ;)
And I wish I could stop referring to cones as buds.
Yay I like plant nerds....have you looked into Silica? we'll be testing next year :D although it raises PH so not much good unless you have scope for liming and were at about 5.5Ph so should be fine to have a play with!!!
 
I read an article or saw some old footage of the hop farmers in Kent liming the fields each autumn and I didn't know why, I know it replaces calcium and magnesium back into the soil but it is really slow release and it is advisable to only lime every 3 years, all I can think of is it could have been old film footage and it was the year they limed the fields.
If you use Seasol there is no need to use any other silica product.
 
wide eyed and legless said:
I read an article or saw some old footage of the hop farmers in Kent liming the fields each autumn and I didn't know why, I know it replaces calcium and magnesium back into the soil but it is really slow release and it is advisable to only lime every 3 years, all I can think of is it could have been old film footage and it was the year they limed the fields.
If you use Seasol there is no need to use any other silica product.
Nah I dont touch seasol. Our water is at 40-100ppm coming out of our springs that the yabbies live in....that gets used to water the hops with. The only thing that is depleted in the soil is nitrogen. That keeps dropping as the yabbies grow but the phosphorus climbs due to them processing the waste matter in the springs. We feed them fruit. Liming has always been used as a way to increase and stabalise the soil Ph in agricultural ;) the more run off from cattle/sheep you have will raise nitrogen but drop Ph......thats why the old kent guys wouldve been liming their soil every few years. All that waste would've been coming down the rivers and streams in their water back then!!!
 
wide eyed and legless said:
Are you using aquaculture to farm yabbies and raise plants?
I didnt really know when we bought this place that the old owner had started to breed yabbies. They were endemic to the water course we live on. I built a solar solar air pump to help circulate the water and stop it settling to much in the ponds they live in. We're going for a land based aquaculture licence so we can sell the yabbies. We're not raising plants we're actually using that same water for the orchard and hops. Not sure if we're a first but probably close to it!!

Golding started to crank now.

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Golding is just moving now. They're coming on very strong!!

Better throw in a large Cherax destructor we pulled up the other day. Just so ppl know im not just one of the full of BS internet guys.....again....

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Well my Cascade are on their 4th year, and this year I have 2 lonesome hops between the 2 plants. 2 bloody hop flowers. Jesus!!!! (That's up 2 on previous years, never had a single hop flower before)



On other news, im a Blue Claw/Cray Bob/Cray Fish/Yabbie lover myself Stu Brew. Slayed them at New Years up at the farm. Fed the lads on our annual boys weekend a treat.
 
Hey guys just wondering if this browning of the hops is normal? ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1454970025.606857.jpg
 
I think it is, and I stand corrected but I am led to believe it means they're over ripe, i.e. been left too long before picking? :unsure:
 
shaunous said:
Well my Cascade are on their 4th year, and this year I have 2 lonesome hops between the 2 plants. 2 bloody hop flowers. Jesus!!!! (That's up 2 on previous years, never had a single hop flower before)
I would have given up well before now....
 
Matplat said:
I would have given up well before now....

Lucky they're not a labour intensive plant. And I have them in decent sized pots.
 
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