2017 Hop Plantations, Show Us Your Hop Garden!

[Rocker1986]

Mine are all climbing well, the 2nd year Fuggle plant is very bushy, heaps of shoots coming up from it. The 2nd year Hallertau is growing rather interestingly though, there is one bine that has almost made it to the top of that ~3m trellis, another one beside it that would have been not far behind it if not for some arsehole critter chopping the end off it. The other 3 or 4 shoots that came up though have kind of stalled at about 20-30cm out of the ground. What's the reason for this?

 

[Brett05]

1st year hops have sprouted (3 of 4), (x3) from Hopco in Tassie & (x1) from Diggers Club in Victoria...Starting in pots as have limited space,they have just sprouted but this cool SA weather hasn't helped either...Fuggles,Cascade(US) & Pride of Ringwood.
Still got Golding's to go,will upload pics later...All planted in aged chook poo,cow poo and potting mix and a watering of Seasol for good measure....and now we wait..

 

[A.B.]

so much rain here in CBR, my (DrSmurto) chinooks are almost under water, yet I swear the growth doubled today, cant wait for some warmer weather...

 

[bevan]

Has anyone's chinooks in Victoria poked its head out yet?

 

[ScottyDoesntKnow]

Spent a bit of time building a ghetto trellis along the back fence today, mostly out of stuff I had lying around in the garage. Cut up a few bits of treated pine, ropes pulled back to star pickets in the ground next to the plants.

One of my 3 chinooks, they have all sprouted similar and noticed there are a few more poking their heads through.

 

[Benn]

Has anyone's chinooks in Victoria poked its head out yet?

My second year Chinnok is slowwwwly poking it's head out but I think it would prefer a sleep in. All the rain we've had has left it with wet feet I'm afraid.

 

[razzmeister]

Has anyone's chinooks in Victoria poked its head out yet?

My Chinooks are pretty similar - just starting to shoot up from the soil. Couple of them maybe one or two inches so far.
Guess they are maybe just one of the slower varieties to get going?

 

[Belgrave Brewer]

Has anyone's chinooks in Victoria poked its head out yet?

Just starting to come out this week. Chinook are late starters.

 

[Stu Brew]

Rain aint bad for hops boys.....they just dont like being left in stagnant water. Mine literally grow in a creek all winter. Creek = flowing water, flowing water = dissolved oxygen. Just like all plants roots do not like to be drowned in warm oxygen depleted water. Cold rain, and flowing water in winter shouldnt be any problem for anyones hops! If anything they should actually enjoy it...the higher above the 35th the more you will need to worry about things like 'wet feet' because its the warm rain that will cause you problems not the cold winter rains! Hope that helps a few people.

 

[Stu Brew]

Just starting to come out this week. Chinook are late starters.

Still got them in my fridge. Ive got shoots on everything you sent me. Halletau, Red Earth and Perle so cheers. Im starting to think the ssp of the hops is what will mean they start early or late. I would assume that the varieties will all perform a bit differently.

So a var. cordifolius from Eastern Asian origins will be a pretty different type of rhizome than for example a var. neomexicanus from western North America. Im hoping to get my hands onto the Washington State open source microsattelie data of hops rhizome genetics. We will be sending them off to get checked on as soon as we have a database for comparison. See where all the Aussie hops have actually come from in the first place. Im pretty interested in finding out!

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Has anyone's chinooks in Victoria poked its head out yet?

My Chinooks are the only ones that haven't popped up yet. 2nd season. They were the first to pop up last year.

 

[Stu Brew]

My Chinooks are the only ones that haven't popped up yet. 2nd season. They were the first to pop up last year.

Our soil temps going up and down like a yoyo atm. Lots that came up two weeks ago has stopped moving now. There is a specific soil temp there once hit they will start to move really fast. Ive been experimenting again this year. Everything in the hothouse is very happy...everything outside is ok but the big swings in temp from warm to cold are playing with them a bit. We had good sun for a bit then it dropped off....this late frost stuff will stop them growing. They will perk up as soon as the soil warms up again though.

 

[bevan]

Thanks for the info, nothing happening with my chinook. It looked pretty sad when I re potted it (pot was broken) in june. Got it for free off AHB. Was hoping it would spring back to life with a good water, see how it goes over the next month I guess.

 

[Stu Brew]

Thanks for the info, nothing happening with my chinook. It looked pretty sad when I re potted it (pot was broken) in june. Got it for free off AHB. Was hoping it would spring back to life with a good water, see how it goes over the next month I guess.

No worries. Smurto should back me up on this. Dissolved oxygen starts to drop off in water at 16° somewhere between 12-16 is perfect for most plants.....Its all a balancing act though. Soil pH, Sunlight hours, Water ppm, These are the usual things we look at for plants. I have run and experiment for close to a year now with hollow water, as in soft as *****. 10-40ppm no nutrients and lots of dissolved oxygen. This system has kept a chillie plant alive over winter, when the chillies in the soil have all rotted out in the middle due to the soil temp getting too low!

Dissolved oxygen is the friend of the hops farmer....probably more so than daylight, pH, soil etc.....im am convinced on this...and yes i will have to experiment more, and do it all properly. However in this first year i am very happy with the results from my original hypothesis to do with growing hops in literally just water and no nutrients. :super:

 

[AJ80]

Has anyone's chinooks in Victoria poked its head out yet?

To join the chorus, my chinook was last up last year and same again this year. It's interesting to note the different growth rates in my hops. Victoria, goldings and Canterbury goldings are are growing like the clappers while Mt Hood (my best producer last year) and cascade are only just breaking the surface with two bines each. Fascinating plant.

 

[fdsaasdf]

First time grower with a Victoria plant in Brisbane that I'm led to believe is 2 years old. Currently potted in a 0.75m^3 vessel; transferred into that vessel and harvested 6 rhizomes off it about a month ago.

My plant has about 25 shoots, most are about an inch or so long and about 5 are around 4 inches long. Plenty of sunlight, excellent drainage and daily watering. Growth has occurred over the last 2-3 weeks - not really moving yet.

None of the harvested rhizomes have shot yet but I'm not expecting much of them - any growth will be a bonus so I can give plants away to friends in future.

I have read conflicting advice on how to manage the growth. At what stage should I trim the shoots back? How many bines should I be aiming for?

 

[Rocker1986]

I don't know if it's best practice or not, but I just leave mine to do whatever the **** they want...

 

[Pogierob]

Has anyone's chinooks in Victoria poked its head out yet?

 

[Rocker1986]

This Hallertau bine is almost at the top already, while the other ones near the ground are growing very slowly. Weird.

 

[Stu Brew]

I don't know if it's best practice or not, but I just leave mine to do whatever the **** they want...

Yep id say let them go. The main reason they chop back in commercial situations is for picking. Certain machines can take certain sizes, lots of growers dont like fiddling with their machines between crops so they'll try and grow to a size the machine can easily handle. When you have a ton of space you can do things like that. In a backyard....just let them go nuts! More leaves mean more photosynthsis which means more flower bracts which means more flowers!!

 

[Stu Brew]

So these are the Styrian Golding that i unknowingly planted on a spring that opens up in winter...as well as being in the off flow for the bloody creek......doesnt seem to have effected things much....as I said dissoveld oxygen is you friend....you can see how we the soil is...its think but not clay. I imagine its similar to the hunter in nutrients like all our best australian soil is...low in nitrogen but decent in everything else!!

So this is the best example i have found of how a hops 'rhizome' works....shoots one side go up to the sky, shoots the other go down until they find a good source of non stagnant water(which is what wicking beds do rely on stagnant water with dissolved oxygen) so they can start to plump up the crown! If your crowns are getting thicker each year you're doing the right things!! Ground runners are great for propagating but unless they get to 22 nodes they wont ever produce good flowers! 30+ is optimal and that requires height!

 

[AJ80]

So these are the Styrian Golding that i unknowingly planted on a spring that opens up in winter...as well as being in the off flow for the bloody creek......doesnt seem to have effected things much....as I said dissoveld oxygen is you friend....you can see how we the soil is...its think but not clay. I imagine its similar to the hunter in nutrients like all our best australian soil is...low in nitrogen but decent in everything else!!

So this is the best example i have found of how a hops 'rhizome' works....shoots one side go up to the sky, shoots the other go down until they find a good source of non stagnant water(which is what wicking beds do rely on stagnant water with dissolved oxygen) so they can start to plump up the crown! If your crowns are getting thicker each year you're doing the right things!! Ground runners are great for propagating but unless they get to 22 nodes they wont ever produce good flowers! 30+ is optimal and that requires height!

As an aside, have you had a chance to brew with your own styrian goldings? Many similarities to those shipped over from Europe? One of my all time favourite hops!

 

[fdsaasdf]

Yep id say let them go. The main reason they chop back in commercial situations is for picking. Certain machines can take certain sizes, lots of growers dont like fiddling with their machines between crops so they'll try and grow to a size the machine can easily handle. When you have a ton of space you can do things like that. In a backyard....just let them go nuts! More leaves mean more photosynthsis which means more flower bracts which means more flowers!!

Ok thanks for the advice. NFI what I would do with a few dozen bines other than cover my house and the place next door! Looks like I'm up for a substantial trellis instead of a string line or two...

 

[doctr-dan]

Mt Hood and Chinook coming along now, it's about time I figure out how I'm going to run some wires!

Should I move the pots a bit further apart so they don't grow into each other?

 

[wide eyed and legless]

For those who are finding that their hops are not appearing to quickly, a little tip, cover with black plastic to heat the soil up.

 

[N3MIS15]

First year Columbus rhizome finally doing its thing.

 

[twinathon]

First of the Hallertau just starting to shoot. Waiting on a few more Hallertau to come up along with a couple of Goldings.

 

[Stu Brew]

Ok thanks for the advice. NFI what I would do with a few dozen bines other than cover my house and the place next door! Looks like I'm up for a substantial trellis instead of a string line or two...

So get a few other pots with like little stakes in them....trail out the other wanna be leaders....into said pots cover bine in soil with a foot sticking out chop it off at the top...next year you'll have rhizomes to sell....or you could let them take over the neighbours place too...that would be kinda amusing from an urban standpoint maybe they know some awesome brewer?? Everyone loves hops dont they?

 

[Rocker1986]

Mt Hood and Chinook coming along now, it's about time I figure out how I'm going to run some wires!

Should I move the pots a bit further apart so they don't grow into each other?

image.jpg

I would move them further apart yeah. Last year when I only had my two potted ones I had them about 4 or 5 metres apart from one another so they didn't get tangled up with each other. Once they really get going they start throwing out lateral shoots and ****.

 

[barls]

Mt Hood and Chinook coming along now, it's about time I figure out how I'm going to run some wires!

Should I move the pots a bit further apart so they don't grow into each other?

image.jpg

just drill holes in the pot to run the strings through.
thats what i did for the first year.

2 of mine have just poked their heads up still waiting on chinook.