Hops are up. What now?

[Bribie G]

Florian's the man here. Another good source of hop info is NickB who grew heaps of them out at Nanango.

Theoretically you shouldn't be able to grow hops North of Port Macquarie due to the day lengths in the summer, but many seem to get fair results.

Wind is the killer, I didn't do any good on Bribie Island. That's why most hops are grown in sheltered flat bottomed valleys with windbreak rows of trees. Note that just about every hop growing area like Willamette, Yakima, Ovens etc is followed by the word "valley"

 

[QldKev]

I grew them for a few years up here. Remember our winter is as warm as summer in Tassy. As Florian has show they love to take of early, and I found I often got 2 sets of harvest from them in a season. Good point by Bribie, as I've also found they hate wind.

 

[nathan_madness]

Thanks for all the help guys. I will tray and get some pics of the garden and my little babies up as soon as this wet weather is gone. Having 2 harvests evens sounds better .

They are about 4" tall now and there are more poping up every day. I have been keeping it to the strongest 3 looking bines is this the best way to grow them?

 

[timmyf]

Cut them off and send 'em to this dude.

 

[nathan_madness]

Now I know I still have a bit of work to do on the garden, but here are some pics.

Hop Garden 12m long and 6m tall

Goldings

Cascade

Cluster

Goldings No.2

Saaz

Tettnang

Still do do:
Measure and space out all of the vertical rods
Install steel barriers between each rhizome to stop the root spreading into each other
Pick hops and drink beer! :icon_cheers:

 

[hoppy2B]

Wow I'm impressed, looks like the hops are doing alright for this time of year too. :blink:

 

[nathan_madness]

Yeah, well loads of manure and some root enzyme seems to work wonders!

 

[markjd]

Now I know I still have a bit of work to do on the garden, but here are some pics.

Hop Garden 12m long and 6m tall

You call that a garden? That looks more like a national park to an apartment dweller like me LOL

 

[nathan_madness]

You call that a garden? That looks more like a national park to an apartment dweller like me LOL

Yeah, and the worst thing it that is less than an 1/8 of the property and I have to mow it all!!! 6 hours on a mower doing 30kph arrrh at least the beer tastes better at the end of that day.

 

[flano]

That is awesome.

 

[philmud]

OT slightly, but not worth a new thread. I had surplus chinook rhizomes and planted them somewhere they won't be able to stay (nothing for them to grow on. As luck has it, they have shot beautifully and I'd hate to waste them. If I dig them up and move them, how much of the rhizome do they need to take with them? Eg: if I cut a few inches either side of a shoot will I be ok, or do I need more ideally?

 

[nathan_madness]

Ok, so growing hops in Brisbane works. The only thing is that it takes about 1 1/2 - 2 hours to pick all the hops off the bines. So my 2014 harvest in wet weight is:

Goldings = 664g harvested from two rhizomes
Cascade = 409g
Cluster =630g
Saaz = 760g harvested from three rhizomes
Hersbrucker = 512g
Tettnang = 135g

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/gallery/album/1138-2014-hop-harvest/

 

[hoppy2B]

Its interesting that you managed to get something off the Tett there Nathan. The most I have taken from that variety is about 20 cones from a second year plant.