2017 Hop Plantations, Show Us Your Hop Garden!

[Mardoo]

Finally got around to making my irrigation heads for this year. I haven't been satisfied with my more bodged together ones. This is the unit I use per barrel/crown. I just use the various Pope connectors with weeper hose and cheap garden hose.

I've always used the clamps on the weeper hose, as you can see I did on the garden hose. However, it's just that much thicker and rougher surfaced than garden hose that it can be a real bitch to get the teeth on the Pope clamps to grab. Yesterday? CBF'd.

I ran a 24-hour trial with the weeper on and no blowouts yet. Since I use the weeper at a very low pressure I think it'll keep holding. If not I'll just grab some hose clamps.

 

[Stu Brew]

Jeez... you got a good memory - I think that was from a couple years ago. I'd really like to go wireless, but just can't see it happening.

Wind is blowing around quite strong out now, and the frame is rock solid. Next year I will find some decent agri quality sisal baling twine.

Edit - I hope you've put some brick / concrete barriers around the hops, otherwise the vegie garden will just be the hop garden next year!! Two years growth and I saw runners coming out 2 - 3m away from the plant.

I distribute and sell 40kg WLL coir twine $5 for 20m....we use it on our field here. Works very well, and can be composted after use.

 

[Stu Brew]

Yep! A cable between the trees (wide straps around them to protect the trees themselves) & as high as I can get them. Cable will be tensioned with a ratchet-strap, so I can lower the cable for harvest.

Each variety will have a length of bamboo suspended horizontally under the cable to spread the individual bines & allow them some breathing-space.

That's the plan....

Try pulling the trees closer together with the ratchet lower down, tie ya cable then let the tension go and bingo bango bongo....tight line!

 

[ein stein]

Digital Giraffe - Thats Classic Nitrogen deficiency - your soil pH is probably way too low and you're locking out the N

Rocker - Not sure looks like a mosaic virus or possibly Calcium deficiency??

heres a link for a visual guide, not best pics but its ok.

Feel free to get a second opinion from a real horticulturalist.

 

[Stu Brew]

Got this crappy looking **** on some of the leaves towards the bottom of my Hallertau bines. Doesn't seem to be really affecting anything above about 40cm from the ground though. What is it and how do you treat it?

Look under teh leaves, im 99% sure that is spider mite. White oil will fix them, you want to get onto it before they have a chance to spread. Id say probably just a nice hiding spot for them early....they may have gotten blown or rained off or the plant has picked up enough vigor now that they wont be a problem. Keep and eye on it though! White oil spray will work well for this top and bottom of the leaf.

 

[Rocker1986]

Thanks for that mate, I'll give that a go, pretty sure we've got some of that stuff here. If not I'll pick some up. That leaf in the photo now has a few holes in it as well. I haven't looked underneath it yet really, what should I see if it is spider mites?

 

[Belgrave Brewer]

Big day mulching and cleaning up a bit. Lots of growth happening but mostly at ground level. Hoping to get the cabling up this coming weekend so I string the hops in a V formation.

 

[LiquidGold]

Thanks for that mate, I'll give that a go, pretty sure we've got some of that stuff here. If not I'll pick some up. That leaf in the photo now has a few holes in it as well. I haven't looked underneath it yet really, what should I see if it is spider mites?

Spider mites usually leave webbing and you should see lots of small black or red dots that are the mites themselves. You could always do a quick image search for spider mite damage on beans to get a better idea of what to look for.

Checking under the leaves is always the first thing to do when something doesn't look right. One year I had some leaves looking a bit strange and when I looked underneath I found a bunch of little caterpillars having a munch.




My hops are finally getting some growth after having poked their head up a while back, trying to make sure to give them plenty of water this time around. Done some weeding and mulching but still need to get fresh bamboo and put up some strings.

 

[DigitalGiraffe]

Digital Giraffe - Thats Classic Nitrogen deficiency - your soil pH is probably way too low and you're locking out the N

Rocker - Not sure looks like a mosaic virus or possibly Calcium deficiency??

heres a link for a visual guide, not best pics but its ok.

Feel free to get a second opinion from a real horticulturalist.

Cheers, thats what I was leaning towards. Bit odd considering I gave the mound a healthy dose of composted cow manure and organic compost prior to planting. Testing the soil ph is always on my list of things to do that I never get to. Thanks again!

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Not much to see yet. Some have climbed 2 feet. Little backyard is going to be a mass of hops this season.
I'm trying this method with the utility cord https://www.bunnings.com.au/grunt-3mm-x-60m-assorted-colour-utility-cord_p4310579
I'm sure I got it for $9 a roll. I've been using it for a few years it seems to last for years too. It does stretch under weight and shrinks back with no weight as well but its rated for 100+kg.
I made it so you just tension it whenever you may need. Coupla nails for a cleat in a plank of wood. The cord runs through eye screws in the eves to the back fence. When a bine gets high enough I give it a vertical runner from the rim of the pot to the top strings. Hops are in the black pots. I hope this takes the shape I'm imagining it can.
Different colour string for different hops. Harvesting you just undo the strings and let them all drop to the ground. B)

 

[Rocker1986]

Thanks LiquidGold. I did have a quick look under the affected leaves before I went back to work earlier and found some green catepillars, similar to the ones in that photo but bigger, and only one or two on each affected leaf. The appearance of the leaf there and mine are quite similar too. I sprayed them with some Yates Success until I can either find or buy some more white oil. I'm guessing they didn't like it much because they all started falling off the leaves almost immediately. Just glad it's not bloody mildew...

 

[Stu Brew]

Thanks for that mate, I'll give that a go, pretty sure we've got some of that stuff here. If not I'll pick some up. That leaf in the photo now has a few holes in it as well. I haven't looked underneath it yet really, what should I see if it is spider mites?

Very small spiderweb like webbing under the leaf and some tiny tiny (less than 1mm) bugs under on and around the webbing....

 

[tugger]

After 2 weeks it's nearly over the fence.

 

[Stu Brew]

BTW guys. I sell this twine to anyone interested. Belgrave Brewer and I both used it last year. Tons better than sisal, sustainable, strong and you can throw it in the mulch after you use it. The company i distribute from makes sure their workers get paid well too. So its not slave labor like Bunnings would be using for their strings and twines.

I have about 4kms left in 20m rolls. Anything over 10 rolls I can do $4 ea anything under 10 $5ea

Each roll is 20m in length, its 3.5mm thick with a working load limit of 45kg.

Send me a PM if you would like to grab some.

 

[Stu Brew]

Well I planted some Perle out the front. I will do some container growing this year. Might put some into the veggie patch to help with shade it has a huge trellis around the edge of it anyways.

Here are some photos from the master class I held in hops growing the other week. Dont share a lot here photo wise.

Cheers Stu

 

[Rocker1986]

Very small spiderweb like webbing under the leaf and some tiny tiny (less than 1mm) bugs under on and around the webbing....

Cool, thanks mate. I didn't see any web like stuff but one leaf did have what looked like an egg sac on it. Some other leaves had green caterpillars on their underneath sides.

Had another look just before and there were a number of small green caterpillars on one leaf, that looked exactly like the ones in the photo LiquidGold posted above.

At least these ******* things are easily treated. I was a bit worried that it might have been mildew or something.

 

[Stu Brew]

Cool, thanks mate. I didn't see any web like stuff but one leaf did have what looked like an egg sac on it. Some other leaves had green caterpillars on their underneath sides.

Had another look just before and there were a number of small green caterpillars on one leaf, that looked exactly like the ones in the photo LiquidGold posted above.

At least these ******* things are easily treated. I was a bit worried that it might have been mildew or something.

Egg sack? Crap what did it look like? You may have some beneficials moving in....they really seem to like hanging out on my hops and killing anything trying to eat them! Lady bugs instars do a great job on anything small like mites and aphids. Caterpillars are probably as easily controlled with cultural methods like pulling them off by hand. Especially at this stage...Lady bug instars look like mini orange and black crocodiles....they look scary but one of the best things you can have. Im thinking if you cant see any activity maybe just pull off any effected leaves if they are only the bottom few. No point in using anything like white oils on a very small portion of the plant imo.

 

[Rocker1986]

Kinda brown slightly raised patch on the underside of the leaf. That leaf was pretty buggered, and it was the same one that the numerous small green caterpillars were on.

I might just leave the leaves there for now and either spray the fuckers or pull them off as I see them, if they're busy attacking those low leaves at least they aren't attacking the ones further up the bine.

 

[mofox1]

BTW guys. I sell this twine to anyone interested. Belgrave Brewer and I both used it last year. Tons better than sisal, sustainable, strong and you can throw it in the mulch after you use it. The company i distribute from makes sure their workers get paid well too. So its not slave labor like Bunnings would be using for their strings and twines.

I have about 4kms left in 20m rolls. Anything over 10 rolls I can do $4 ea anything under 10 $5ea

Each roll is 20m in length, its 3.5mm thick with a working load limit of 45kg.

Send me a PM if you would like to grab some.

Looks like great stuff! Will consider the offer, thanks. If a few folks from nearish to me want some we could likely save a bit on postage...

 

[Stu Brew]

Looks like great stuff! Will consider the offer, thanks. If a few folks from nearish to me want some we could likely save a bit on postage...

Fine by me. Its actually the pro twine just not precut coir 5mm. The precut stuffs strength isnt actually that much higher but its way bulkier(10kgs more on the WLL) and we string from the ground here like 20th century Hallertau so the 3.5mm lengths suit us really well here. I just went nuts and bought WAY to much of it this year!! Still got a few kms worth to get rid of too last count I had 5.2kms and we only need 2kms worth.