2017 Hop Plantations, Show Us Your Hop Garden!

[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?

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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 shit.

 

[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.

 

[Benn]

This little Cascade makes 9 out of 9 to pop this season. Good times

 

[kaiserben]

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...

Could you dumb this down for me so I'm 100% certain I understand what you're suggesting?

When you have a spare leader you don't cut it off, you lay it down on the ground and basically bury it at some point, but keep a foot at the end above the dirt. Is that right?

And then a new rhizome will form where you buried it?

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Correct, if you aren't sure just google layering for plants.

 

[kaiserben]

I'm assuming this is just some sort of spider and not a pest I need to get rid of??

(spider is light green and small, about the size of a 5 cent piece)

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Yes spiders are good, the reason I don't sulphur bomb my greenhouse's is as well as getting rid of the black hats the white hats suffer collateral damage.

 

[HopAssault]

This little fella just popped his head out of the dirt today. My first time growing so I'm stoked it's off to a flying start.
It was planted last Monday, these little suckers take odd quickly. You could almost sit and watch it grow..

I was fertilising the lawns today with some dynamic lifter and threw a handful of it into the pot where the hops are living, I read (afterwards) it may throw the pH of the soil out of whack? Can anyone confirm that? Cheers!

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Its a slow release fertiliser so you won't get any change in pH unless you go and tip a load into the pot.

 

[Stu Brew]

Target.....no not the shop with the slave labor crap.......

Wife makes worm tea so i gave them some of that.....then some of the nutriboost as well...still in the hot house, which is not dropping below 10° at night....damn....wifes worm tea is damn good!!

 

[ScottyDoesntKnow]

So what's the best time to take some cuttings and layer to try and produce additional plants? Cheers

 

[LiquidGold]

I would think anytime in the growing season with Spring being optimal. So pretty much now if you already have the growth to do it. With layering you don't cut until there are roots established.