Hop Harvesting

[Shanta]

This is my first go at growing hops and I believe it might be almost time to harvest my first batch.
However I have noticed an odd change from one hop plant to the other. In the picture I have 2 hop cones the top one is from my P.O.R bine and the other is from my Goldings bine.
The difference is quite obvious the Goldings hop isn't as dense or cone like and nor did they develop this way, yet the P.O.R seems fine and has actually produced a lot more hops.
I'm wondering if anyone might know why this is and if they are still good to use given the different shapes and colour tones.

 

[unclebarrel]

Hey man, they look great !
i have cascade, chinook and columbus.
My cascades are a nice big cone, the chinook and columbus are smaller, if I lined them up it would look like your photo.
I guess it is just down to the variety ad the cone size !?!

Man, its pretty cool having them grow in the yard though hey ?

 

[Shanta]

Yeah totally! I'm pretty excited as I'm a complete novice at growing anything hahaha I have been watching plenty of videos on hop harvesting as I have found it quite a learning curve. Is this your first time growing too? Mine still smell very grassy when picked and sniffed once pulled apart. I suppose this is a good indication that they are not ready for harvest?

 

[booargy]

do they have the yellow resin? thats the good shit

 

[unclebarrel]

Mine have the resin, the chinook and columbus seem to be way more potent than cascade.
The cascade seems grassy still, slight hop aroma, so I guess it is a couple of weeks off, even though they are the bigger cones.

I am not a green thumb, I do grow a lot of stuff but its not a massive part of my life.
I am just waiting to see some slight browning on the flowers and the papery touch.
One thing I suppose we will all be doing is multiple harvests. What a shame !!! Out there spending time with our babies, drinking beers, enjoying man time.

 

[hoppy2B]

Hi Shanta,

Golding has a large loose cone and POR is more dense and longer and narrower shaped as in the photo you have provided above. Other varieties will vary also.

The photo you have provide above seems to show cones that are not ripe and ready for picking yet. As others have mentioned, they should start to change colour etc.

 

[Shanta]

Great thanks for all the response so far. I guess I will leave them for a while to see how they progress. Hoppy2B thanks for the advice on the difference in shapes and sizes of cones depending on variety. This is what really had me a bit stumped. Is there a good indication of a harvest date as such? Some people have mentioned early to mid March is around the time to harvest or is this really dependant on the individual hop bines?

 

[Yob]

When they feel papery and dry, the edges will start to change colour

 

[hoppy2B]

Harvest date varies, and first year hop bines will normally be ready for picking later because they take a while longer to get going early in the season compared to established plants.

 

[mmmyummybeer]

There is some really good info in the 2013 show us your hops thread check out page 28 and 29, wagastews chart and carniebrews hop picking clip are awesome