2017 Hop Plantations, Show Us Your Hop Garden!

[Hop Star]

Man, there's some VERY nice hop gardens in this thread. Good on all of you guys.

I've finished my first hop harvest where I got 600 g (wet) flowers from a single first year Chinook rhizome. Put straight into a single-hop session IPA which should be ready in another couple of weeks. The smell on bottling day was absolutely superb! Should be a cracker.

I do have a question which hopefully some of you guys can answer...

I purchased two Chinook rhizomes and two Victoria rhizomes during last winter. The two Chinook zomes got planted in one raised bed (approx. 1000 mm x 600 mm), the two Victoria zomes in another identical sized bed. All four zomes sprouted around September/October last year however at the time I wasn't ready to set up stringing yet. I got some (probably poor) advice from somebody that I might as well cut the plants back to the ground to make the root systems toughen up and then the plants would come back in another month or twos time when I could string them up. I cut both Victoria's and one of the Chinooks back as suggested. They never came back so I ended up having just the single Chinook plant which luckily was very healthy with a good yield. I decided to dig up the Victoria zomes yesterday to see how dead they might be but they have disappeared. Haven't checked on the Chinook zome that didn't come back up yet.

I'm assuming at this point that the three zomes are dead and gone so I'll be looking out for some new ones in the next few months. Would I be correct in thinking this?

Cheers in advance

 

[Mardoo]

Yep. They would have rotted. Keep an eye out on the forum. Around June you'll start to see lots of rhizomes for sale.

 

[MitchD]

I have some Tettnang and Chinook already dug up and ready to go.

 

[Rocker1986]

Mine are slowly dying back now, and I'll cut them down probably next weekend. Last year I cut them down too early and it was still warm so the bloody things sprouted new shoots in April, although these did stop growing once the weather cooled further. This year I'm waiting longer until the weather cools a bit more before chopping the bines off. Once they've gone I will move the trellis frames closer to the edge of the planter boxes for easier access next harvest, get rid of all the ******* weeds that are in there, top up the soil and also try to better anchor the lines themselves that the bines grow up. And then hope that the Cascade plant doesn't follow the path of the Hallertau and produce a **** second year harvest. :lol:

 

[good4whatAlesU]

Hi Rocker I note your in Brisbane, will you chill the rhizomes at all over winter? I've heard some people say to put them in the fridge for 6 weeks?

 

[Rocker1986]

I have thought about doing that, but haven't decided whether or not I will yet. I'm not that worried about harvesting kgs of them though, enough for one or two batches a year is fine with me. Unfortunately the Hallertau didn't even give me that much this year, but I'm hoping the Cascade will provide a better second year effort than the Hallertau did. I picked about 140g dry from the Cascade this year which will give me two batches with home grown hops. Even if I only get half of that next year that'll still give me one batch of pale ale with them.

 

[Hop Star]

Yep. They would have rotted. Keep an eye out on the forum. Around June you'll start to see lots of rhizomes for sale.

Cheers Mardoo, will do!

 

[kaiserben]

I'm seeking some advice:

I successfully grew some hop plants from plant cuttings.

Initially placed in a seedling tray, 5 cuttings (out of about 15 attempts) were successful.

I put those 5 plants into little pots to continue their development.

They grew along nicely. Each plant/pot grew several shoots (bines, I guess) that reached about 15cm long. They're now shedding most of their green leaves and apparently dying back into the off-season (likewise the main plant I'd taken cuttings from is also dying back).

How should I treat these little hop plants? I'm looking at planting them in proper ground in time for next growing season, but what should I do with them until then? Can I leave them alone in little pots and water sparingly? Or re-plant them now? Or treat them like rhizomes, dig them up and get them in a fridge?

And a related question, for my bigger 1 season-old plants (from rhizomes planted at start of current growing season), do/can I leave them in ground? (located Mt Kuringai north of Sydney). Or do I need to rip them up, store in fridge, put in fresh soil and fertiliser and then go again?

 

[Danscraftbeer]

For your cuttings in pots just keep them moist. You could even keep them under the house or out of the way in some dark corner. Just don't let them dry out. If the pots are small enough you could fridge them for a while like the last month of winter then plant in the ground 1st day of Spring.

The Rhizomes in the ground just leave them there. Although I'm in south East Victoria and that works here. Each season gets better.

 

[Benn]

As a follow on from Kaiserben's question above,
I cut my bines back after harvest in March leaving a few feet of foliage above ground (as recommended by some sources) which is still a healthy looking afro of leaves. I also have 2 first year bines about 3M tall which I just left as they were not worth harvesting, these plants are also looking relatively healthy.
My question is, do I cut them all off at ground level now to prompt their winter dormancy or do I leave them alone to die back naturally?
I have plans to bring in fresh soil,compost & mulch and dress the numerous hop beds, I will also need to relocate a couple of plants before next season.
Without detriment to the plants, I'd like to get on with this as I also have support structures to build.
Cheers,

 

[Belgrave Brewer]

As a follow on from Kaiserben's question above,
I cut my bines back after harvest in March leaving a few feet of foliage above ground (as recommended by some sources) which is still a healthy looking afro of leaves. I also have 2 first year bines about 3M tall which I just left as they were not worth harvesting, these plants are also looking relatively healthy.
My question is, do I cut them all off at ground level now to prompt their winter dormancy or do I leave them alone to die back naturally?
I have plans to bring in fresh soil,compost & mulch and dress the numerous hop beds, I will also need to relocate a couple of plants before next season.
Without detriment to the plants, I'd like to get on with this as I also have support structures to build.
Cheers,

Let them die back naturally. They are still stocking up nutrients for their dormant period.

Once they brown off completely, you can cut them off at ground level. Relocate plants in July when they are dormant.

 

[Benn]

Thanks very much BB, for all the content out there on the internet/YouTube etc, it's hard to find reliable information that is relative to a backyard in the Southern Hemisphere. Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places

 

[Rocker1986]

At the rate my Cascade plant is "browning off" it won't get chopped off at all... :lol:

 

[good4whatAlesU]

Jeepers these EKGs are tough. I've had one in a cool room at 2 celcius for two weeks trying to make it go dormant and it's like "yeah, whatever.." Still green and powering.

 

[Rocker1986]

:lol: That's gotta be annoying. My Cascade has finally begun dying back, I expect I'll be able to cut the bines down in the next 2-4 weeks, and finally start prepping the beds for next season.

 

[stuartf]

About to have a crack at growing hops but wanted to check do people have issues with possums eating their hops? Little buggers around my place ate half my habaneros last year!

 

[Belgrave Brewer]

About to have a crack at growing hops but wanted to check do people have issues with possums eating their hops? Little buggers around my place ate half my habaneros last year!

Some people do have issues with possums.

 

[Mardoo]

About to have a crack at growing hops but wanted to check do people have issues with possums eating their hops? Little buggers around my place ate half my habaneros last year!

Yes. Possums can develop a taste for hop foliage. They don't like the hops themselves, but will eat all of the leaves, especially the new shoots, and some bine. Good luck Chuck.

 

[Benn]

Haha Danscraftbeer loves Possums.

 

[Mardoo]

There's a good Tassie website with possum recipes. Just sayin'…