2017 Hop Plantations, Show Us Your Hop Garden!

[Danscraftbeer]

Matplat. I have Hallertau, Red Earth and Tettnang that look equal to yours. The pics I posted on the last page were the exceptional.
My third year Cascade and the Aquaponics cascade are in-between on growth so far. They were usually the star previous years.



I'll recomend just a little more than water at the moment. I make compost tea, worm tea if you have it. Sea weed extract. All well diluted.
I'm warry of using fertilizers other than in tiny amounts. Like 1/10 of recommended doses once a week with normal watering is about it.
Never add any strong doses and don't over water either. If the soil is moist when you stick your finger in then leave it.
As for pots I put a tray underneath. Fill that tray, watch them suck it up if they are dryish or the hops are thirsty.
$0.02

 

[Matplat]

Thanks Dan, so far they have been surviving on the load of chook manure pellets that I threw on them at the beginning of the season, but last weekend i gave them some of the slow release osmocote pellets... i think I have some seaweed solution in the shed though....

 

[Matplat]

Victoria burrs....

 

[wide eyed and legless]

This is something you can use on any fruit trees including citrus, hops or leafy vegetables, feeds and adds mineral s and trace micro elements.
1/2 cup Charlie carp.
1 cup seaweed concentrate.
3 teaspoons of zinc sulphate
3 teaspoons of epsom salts. (magnesium sulphate)
mix well into 10 litres of water. DO NOT USE AT THIS STRENGTH!

For a foliar feed, mix 1/2 litre with 5 litres of water. Spray over and under leaves, this will feed through the leaves and whatever drips down will be taken up by the root system.

A big thank you to Mr Cundall

 

[drsmurto]

Chinook just starting to form burrs. Struggling to keep it from taking over the garden at the moment. Beginning to think fertilising was a bad move...

There is supposed to be access past the plant to get to the apple trees behind and access to the Victoria plants. May need the chainsaw to get through.

 

[Benn]

Strewth!

 

[doctr-dan]

Wow!

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Chinook just starting to form burrs. Struggling to keep it from taking over the garden at the moment. Beginning to think fertilising was a bad move...

There is supposed to be access past the plant to get to the apple trees behind and access to the Victoria plants. May need the chainsaw to get through.

:lol: I have to say I was confused when you threw on added surface fertilizers this season. Are your chooks not shitting enough?

 

[Futur]

Cones ahoy!
When will they be ready to pick?

 

[Rocker1986]

Off the top of my head, usually ready when they start to feel dry and papery. Also look for the yellow lupulin powder. You can also crush one up in your fingers and smell it, it should smell like the pellets you buy although obviously fresher.

If any of that is wrong, please correct it.

 

[Mardoo]

From the interviews I've read, there's something the new generation hop growers do when talking about the previous generation who passed the farm on to them. When talking about how amazing their forebears were, they unconsciously rub their thumb and index finger together. Hops are dry and papery when they're ready. Not brown (too far), maybe a bit yellow, not fresh and juicy. Pick a cone and roll it between your thumb and index finger. Then pull it apart and smell it, as Rocker mentioned. Use your senses. You can also snap the centre stalk of the cone. If it breaks, that's either ripe or too far. If it bends, that's not far enough. It's all about oil development, lupulin development, and the bine withdrawing moisture from the cone. And that little roll will tell you almost everything you need to know, in my experience.

One note is that the greatest flush of oils comes near the end of ripening. You want those oils, so too soon is not good.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Plump oil filled glands.

 

[Matplat]

How long do we think the prime picking window of opportunity is?

 

[Mardoo]

It depends on the weather in a given year and how ripe you want them when you harvest. My experience says usually about 3 days, as much as a week. But then they don't all reach peak condition at once. Honestly picking them only at peak condition is a pain in the butt, IMHO. I wait until the majority are at peak and then cut the bines down. Different strokes.

Belgrave Brewer advised me to wait as long as possible for maximum oil development. The longer you wait, the shorter your window.

 

[Belgrave Brewer]

Mardoo is correct that each year will be very different weather wise, and that the window can also vary greatly based on weather.

The bittering oils develop early while the aroma/flavour oils continue to develop and increase as the cones ripen.

I'm mostly using my hops late in the brewing process so I'm looking to get the most flavour and aroma from them, which means I pick as late as I can. If you pick too early, you'll also get more grassy notes which some people find undesirable, and the drying process will take longer. Regardless, it is a short window.

Here's a great video I found last year that gives you a good indication on when to pick. If you can, try and pick when the cones are ready and not the pick the entire plant at once. That's the advantage you have as a home grower over the commercial guys who pick it all at once.

https://youtu.be/TlsT-x19III

 

[Matplat]

That also works well, because I plan to dry in a dehydrator, which hopefully won't fit the entire harvest at once!

 

[Belgrave Brewer]

That also works well, because I plan to dry in a dehydrator, which hopefully won't fit the entire harvest at once!

If you can, try and dry below 38C as that is where volatiles begin to blow off. I used my dehydrator last year for first pickings and could cram about 1kg into the 9 tray unit. Works great for small quantities.

I'm looking at over 800kg yield wet if we have a good year so have basically built a dehydrating room and will have to stagger my picking in order to get it all off the bine and dried in time.

 

[Rocker1986]

I need to build, or rather finish building, my drying rack over my holidays to be ready for the harvest early next year. Last year I just dried them on dinner plates as I didn't have many. The yield increased when I hit the plants with Maxibloom though.

Some of the bines on my Hallertau and Cascade plants have burrs on them already, but nothing in the way of laterals yet. What's the reason for this?

They are looking good now though, a number of bines climbing up the trellises. IN this photo is Hallertau on the left and Cascade on the right (bit hard to see its bines due to the bloody green background though)

 

[Matplat]

Here's a great video I found last year that gives you a good indication on when to pick. If you can, try and pick when the cones are ready and not the pick the entire plant at once. That's the advantage you have as a home grower over the commercial guys who pick it all at once.

https://youtu.be/TlsT-x19III

That's an awesome video, I actually feel like I know what to look for now!

 

[drsmurto]

My drying regime involves 2 fly wire screen doors sitting on milk crates. Although this year i am hoping to use more of them straight from the bine and pass some on to a local brewery.