brewercrafter
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Awesome article. I would love to grow my own. So many things to get into. I better just start one step at a time though lol
AHB Articles: Hops - How to Grow Them
- Thread starter Yeldarb
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As far as I know the trimming back is more for manageability on a commercial scale when using mechanical harvesters.
On a home scale you are essentially free to go with 'the more, the merrier' so long as you can support the many bines.
It would be an idea to ensure you trim the lower metre or so of leaves to keep air circulating under the plants if they are especially bushy.
By the way... if anyone has energy to add to the article in the sections that are blatantly half-finished, feel free. I have not forgotten, but since I started, have a couple of things on my plate, so it is plodding along.
I would love that if you have time Matho.
I have never taken a hop cutting, so would be just speaking from experience with other plants.
gava
I do rather like beer.....
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hello all,
I've put a hop plant in this year (a little late) but its going.. although in the last week the leaves are being eaten by something.. not sure what it is because there's nothing there when I go out there..
anyone know what I can do to fix this?
I've put a hop plant in this year (a little late) but its going.. although in the last week the leaves are being eaten by something.. not sure what it is because there's nothing there when I go out there..
anyone know what I can do to fix this?
You could try making up a chilli and garlic spray. I think from memory you chop up around 6 red chillies (seeds and all), a couple of cloves of garlic and add them to around 1 litre of water in a plastic drink bottle and leave to soak for 24 hours. Then decant into a water sprayer and maybe add a little washing up liquid to the bottle. You can spray this directly onto your hops vines and leaves.
Just make sure you label the bottle "chilli and garlic water. do not drink" :icon_vomit:
I note you didn't get much of a response to your query about growing hops in Brisbane. I am moving to Gold Coast soon and wondered how you're going with this. I have had a couple of hops in this season (in Ballarat, Vic) which have grown like weeds and are now forming small cones - looking good so far! Just a bit concerned about length of daylight in Qld and that it doesn't get very cold in winter - will the hops die back naturally or do we ned to step in and do anything dramatic to help them into their usual cycle?
Any info greatfully received
Cheers
I asked a local nursery guy about this as I had similar problems, though on a a relatively small scale. He had no experience of brewing hops, but had personal experience of ornamental hops, which are obviously very similar. He suggested going out at night with a torch to see if you can catch the little bastards - this is likely to be the time that they are damaging the hop. Erawigs are likely culprits, apparently, and there's not much you can do except to try and keep them off the plants. The suggestions already made are obviously designed to do that and sounds worth a try. No longer a big problem for me, thankfulkly, and I just wonder if that's because the bines are now so big that thye can put up with a bit of abuse - more of a problem when they are little.
Using a mix of peat moss and sand (as suggested on the rooting powder packet) I 'planted' about 20-25 cuttings last weekend, one week on I think maybe 3-4 of them will survive. Maybe I'm just bad at it or maybe it's just a numbers thing, plant enough cuttings and at least a few will survive.
Yes ... well maybe.
I had a horrible failure rate with my attempt at taking cuttings this year (they all died, lol).
I did pretty much exactly as outlined in the article, except used cheap/normal rooting powder from KMart.
When I asked various people who know more about plants than I do, they suggested that my failure was due to the fact that I did not leave 1 set of 'buds' for the leaves to grow from and another set of 'buds' to form the roots and that the cuttings should have consisted of two sets of budding points.
If you have been successful with taking cuttings as shown in the picture, then that information is wrong, however if those suggestions are correct then the lower cut should be below the lower 'bud' and leaf stems.
There was nothing written under the "DIVIDING & STORING RHIZOMES" heading so I added my 2c in the hope it helps.
I also added a new sub-section "Hop varieties known to be available in Australia (as of July 2010)" with a list of all hop varieties that I've seen for sale or available here in Australia. The list was complied from what is available from the 3 main hop rhizome sellers (lochrockingbeers/lochrockingbeats, Cannabaceae/HopsWest and Sandy@Hopco) as well the AHB: Hop Plant Register.
matho
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Wolfy
I have never had much success with the powder that's why I use the gel and for semi hardwood it has a higher rate of hormone. For the last two years I have taken cuttings like the way I have described and has worked really well. I think the key to doing it well is to keep the cuttings fairly wet while they are developing roots treat them like a cut flower.
Cheers matho
I have never had much success with the powder that's why I use the gel and for semi hardwood it has a higher rate of hormone. For the last two years I have taken cuttings like the way I have described and has worked really well. I think the key to doing it well is to keep the cuttings fairly wet while they are developing roots treat them like a cut flower.
Cheers matho
