2017 Hop Plantations, Show Us Your Hop Garden!

[Rocker1986]

Yeah, that seems to reflect my growing conditions also, I think that given the QLD disadvantage, they have to go in the ground to have any chance of doing well.

My enthusiasm for hop growing is seriously wearing thin... the upkeep required compared to the return doesn't seem quite worth it at the moment.

My Hallertau and Cascade are in big planter boxes about 1.5x2m and around 800mm deep or so, which should be a reasonable sized home. I think the difference with mine might be that the Cascade is a first year plant from a rhizome which was likely kept cold during the winter. The Hallertau just stayed in its pot until it was moved to the large planter box. Perhaps they just need a few years to acclimatise properly to the conditions, I don't know. At least it's still producing something usable though. I'm happy to persist, I've got the watering set up so it's pretty much automatic other than turning the timer on twice a week for an hour or so and at this point of the season I'm fertilising with Maxibloom twice a week (the day before the deep waterings), which just involves dissolving it in some water in a watering can and tipping it over the soil. Not too much work... the biggest pain in the arse is picking them; over the off season I'm gonna move the trellises to the edge of the boxes rather than the middle to make them easier to reach come harvesting time.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Yeah, that seems to reflect my growing conditions also, I think that given the QLD disadvantage, they have to go in the ground to have any chance of doing well.

My enthusiasm for hop growing is seriously wearing thin... the upkeep required compared to the return doesn't seem quite worth it at the moment.

What causes yellowing around the edge of the leaves? It's persisted for a couple of weeks, extra seasol/powerfeed/chook poo hasn't seemed to do anything. Can't see any sign of pests.

Is it just a case of not enough nutrients during the growth phase?

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Edit: Wait - it looks like Mg deficiency. I've plenty of epsom salts... any guidelines, hints etc?

mofox don't worry about it. Pick off shitty leaves if they look ugly or bother you but I just leave them until they nearly fall off, or fall off themselves its then the natural surface mulch then it composts etc.

Reading these kind of posts I sometimes think, that people over think everything especially with people fairly new to something.
Just like new brewers can try to throw everything and the kitchen sink into some kind of new world record incredible brew which is what stuffs it up.
Hops are like a weed. Planted in the ground in some conditions they could be a pest with total neglect. In pots need extra attention. I've seen some youtube in US that planted one across the road and left it with total neglect but reaped a shitload of hops off it.
The real trick is developing a green thumb all round. Understanding plants and reading them its just plants its not rocket science. I'm a self teaching apprentice. Will be Willingly for the rest of my life. No qualifications necessary. Some great satisfactions in anything I wish to grow. For me its organic food, and hops because they are so cool and shady and look great and useful for craft brewing.
Failings are learnings.

 

[rude]

EKG Hop Harvest Ale going into the fermenter today.

Bloody good looking beer there Earl what style

Its making me thirsty just looking at it

Love youre pole pulley system might have to give it a crack as cramped for room against the fence

 

[rude]

Whoops meant the one in the glass my bad comp skills

 

[rude]

Pretty happy with the harvest off my 1st year EKG bine. Will weigh in a little while. Some cones are thumb size.

 

[Rocker1986]

I just let the leaves drop off too, it mostly seems to be the growth near the bottom that does this on my plants so I'm not too worried about it. As long as it's producing flowers I'm happy. My potted Fuggles has a nice mulch covering of gum leaves that have fallen into it over the recent months, pity it's hardly producing any flowers. Maybe it will improve when I can move it out of the pot though.

 

[LiquidGold]

I've found gum leaves as mulch seem to stunt plant growth somewhat and remember reading something about a chemical or oil in the leaves which causes this.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

You can use gum leaves as mulch but they have to be broken down, like most leaves, but the chemicals and oil in gum leaves (which inhibit bacterial growth) does eventually go as the leaves break down,only trouble with leaves is they take an awful long time to break down.

 

[earle]

Bloody good looking beer there Earl what style

Its making me thirsty just looking at it

Love youre pole pulley system might have to give it a crack as cramped for room against the fence

Thanks mate. I replied to your comment on the photo but you may not have seen it.

The beer next to the hops is my Berliner Weiss. I've been keen to do a kettle sour for ages and glad i did. Midstrength alcohol and lactic sourness makes for a great summer beer.

The poles for the hops work pretty well. They're actually removable which makes life easier for adding the ropes. Its just an eyebolt at the top. Works fine except for when the bines grow through the eyebolt like the EKG this year.

 

[Rocker1986]

Yeah, I didn't put the leaves in there deliberately, just left the pot sitting there and they've fallen in over time. I have to cover all my hops with mesh to stop turkeys and other critters from digging them up, so I tend to be a bit lazy when it comes to weeding and removing shit because it's just too much of a pain in the arse lifting up the mesh and reaching under it. The pot is fine but I still can't be arsed. The bigger planter boxes I'm just gonna leave until the season is over and then weed them, and also top up the soil which has compacted a fair bit. This is another reason I can't be arsed with the weeding, it's too far down to reach while trying to hold up mesh.

 

[twinathon]

About 1.2 kg of Cascade off of 3 first year Cascade plants. Haven't even picked half of the Cascade crop yet, absolutely chuffed with the amount of cones that have grown.

 

[AJ80]

Mt Hood, Cascade and Chinook are all loaded with flowers. The goldings must have heard my mutterings about digging it out this winter for not producing anything as it has finally started throwing a few burrs. Excitingly, my first year wild otways goldings has reached the top of its line and has started throwing small laterals. First year Victoria is putting on a late spurt of growth, but I'm doubtful of a crop from it this year.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

About 1.2 kg of Cascade off of 3 first year Cascade plants. Haven't even picked half of the Cascade crop yet, absolutely chuffed with the amount of cones that have grown.

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Wow. mine are only in burs now in frankinstyne.
Another month to go for harvesting.

 

[twinathon]

All up picked about 4kg of cascade today and still have a couple of lines to cascade. Hallertau looks to be a few days away. Don't think I'll get much from my Goldings, it has really struggled and not sure why.

 

[Mat B]

My cascade has plenty of cones ready to pick, which will happen today. Those cones are all pretty big. It also has a lot of smaller cones that appear to be close to ready, but they're about half the size of the others. Does anyone know if this is normal? Will the plant produce a range of flower sizes, and can smaller ones mature at that size?

 

[Mat B]

I picked about 5% of the cones. So many! My wife reckons they're not ready. It's my first harvest so I keep doubting myself. Any thoughts on the below pics? Did I froth too soon, or do they look ready?

 

[Mat B]

 

[Mardoo]

I picked about 5% of the cones. So many! My wife reckons they're not ready. It's my first harvest so I keep doubting myself. Any thoughts on the below pics? Did I froth too soon, or do they look ready?

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I myself wouldn't pick those. They're not ready in my book. The aroma and flavour oils develop later in the growth cycle. That's why we want to leave them longer.

 

[Belgrave Brewer]

I picked about 5% of the cones. So many! My wife reckons they're not ready. It's my first harvest so I keep doubting myself. Any thoughts on the below pics? Did I froth too soon, or do they look ready?

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They don't look ready to me.

 

[Mat B]

Dang