Hops Growing; Describe Your 'terrior'

[Anofre]

Out of interest to my own hops garden and for others considering starting out, I'd like to know others successes / failures compared to region.
When I collected my rhizomes from the net, the best info I got from a fellow AHB forum member also in QLD was "the american's". This turned out to be true for me and the 1 noble I purchased prior to the advice.
I met a bloke (non forum all grainer - i didnt think they existed) who bought 3 off eBay (all nobles) and they all died. He was certain you needed to be down south. Hooked him up with a POR & Cluster and now he's changed his tune.

I suspect no southern euro hop would work for me, but am glad I didn't spend more $ to find out the hard way.
I have tried the google & i can't find anything as specific as actual latitudes & success variances other than the ideal.

I know this is not very scientific, the flaw in perception of such qualitative info is obvious. But I would still be interested in the anecdotal evidence & people can make their own conclusions (especially from people around my lat.)
Some also seem to be more 'weedish' and hardy. I'm interested in those too.

Latitude: 27.2
Altitude: 690m
Soil (prior to treatment): loamy clay with poor drainage
Sun: Full
Growing time: 2nd season


Tettnanger:
Started: V Early. August. As soon as temp above frosting. Subsequent frosts kill early shoots.
Yield: Nil
Growth comments: By protecting from frost partial success with very early shoots. Seemed to be affected by heat (30+) in early stages. Death 2nd year

Cascade:
started: late. November
Yield: poor. Small cones
Growth comments: 1st year 1-1.5m. Looking to match that 2nd year, no better.

Columbus
Started: late. November
Yield: poor quantity. Quality good.
Growth comments: early to strike & bush. Starting bines appear very late and the season is probably too short. Seems pretty voracious.

Chinook
Started: late. Mid November
Yield: poor to medium quantity. Nice full cones.
Growth comments: late starter on the bines but a healthy early bush. Thick voracious bines. Fast grower

Pride of Ringwood
Started: early. September
yield: medium. Light papery cones
Growth comments: slow with multiple thin spindly bines. Over taken in height by later shooting species

Goldings
Started: early. September
Yield: medium to high. Light papery cones
Growth comments: very voracious. Heat stunted 2nd year though replacement bines from ground in good growing time.

Cluster
Started: early. September
Yield: high. Heavy resiny cones
Growth comments: very voracious. Tolerant to heat. Very easy to propagate


Listed in order of results for me.
I'd appreciate any info from fellow QLDers, but throw it out there for all.

 

[Quintrex]

My Terrior is a lovely dog, very loyal, beautiful red coat, he loves chasing cats!!

 

[Gar]

Latitude: 27.7
Altitude: 27m
Soil: Premium potting mix
Sun: Full
Growing time: 1st season

Chinook
Started: early. August
yield: None yet
Growth comments: Took a couple of weeks break the surface, grew well for a couple of weeks then stopped and developed some yellow spotting on the leaves.... It's just started growing again now and a second shoot has come up.

 

[kalbarluke]

My mate is having success and these are his details:
Latitude: 27.99
Altitude: 105m
Soil: quite sandy, good drainage (quite "fluffy"), MEGA FULL of chicken poo which makes it acidic (pH around 5.2)
Sun: Full (North facing garden)
Growing time: 1st season
All planted late August

Goldings: Started early. Plenty of shoots and runners. Some are quite thick. Started early September. Pumping but some bines starting to stall. About 3-3.5 m high.

Chinook: Late starter but shooting up now. A couple of runners. Growing quickly. About 2.5 m high.

Cascade: Slowest growing. About 1.5 m high. Couple of runners. Late to start.

No yield from any plants yet but expecting Goldings and Chinook to be best.

Edit: Added "trace elements" mixture about 2-3 weeks ago because plants leaves were getting yellow and black spots and dying. Seems to have done the trick.

 

[Gar]

It's just started growing again now

Had a look this morning and its grown about 120mm in one day :super: much better!

 

[QldKev]

Latitude: 24 52' S
Altitude: 17m
Soil: Searls potting mix - in large pots, excellent drainage
Sun: Full, growing along patio East to West.
Growing time: Since 2006

Mt Hood. Doesn't shoot until November, but then takes off fast, will grow up to 9m long. During peak growth likes up to 9L of water a day. Only small yeilds, of about 1 to 1.5 x 9L buckets per plant per season. Will also get 2 crops per plant per year.

Tettnenger. Grew well for 3 or 4 years, and rotten away over 1 winter.

 

[gravey]

My Terrior is a lovely dog, very loyal, beautiful red coat, he loves chasing cats!!

LOL - indeed!

I think it's spelt 'Terroir'

 

[Anofre]

LOL - indeed!

I think it's spelt 'Terroir'

Fark.
Oh well.
Doubt I would have pronounced it correctly in person either!
If I ever figure out how to edit titles, I'll fix it.


Shoulda really just said "Wot works in Qld?" or "wotz your most/least hardy hops"
Clearly was too sober that arvo.

Cheers for the info so far. I think Mt Hood will be on the list for next season

 

[Malted]

Fark.
Oh well.
Doubt I would have pronounced it correctly in person either!
If I ever figure out how to edit titles, I'll fix it.


Shoulda really just said "Wot works in Qld?" or "wotz your most/least hardy hops"
Clearly was too sober that arvo.

Cheers for the info so far. I think Mt Hood will be on the list for next season

Context was totally correct though. It is about trying to capture some of the environmental variables that would make for example a Saaz in my yard grow differently to a Saaz in your yard. That's the influence of terroir - soil, climate (temp, rainfall, humidity, wind), aspect, day length etc etc. Generally a localised environmental influence.
Pronunciation is Tear or Tare (Tear a new arse, or Tare the scales) Wah (wah wah wah = 'crying'), 2 syllables: Tare-Wah

 

[kymba]

Latitude: -26.6333
Altitude: 120m
Soil: fully composted mushroom compost with bi-monthly seaweed extract treatment
Sun: full sun
Growing time: since september

cascades = veracious, 2 of the tallest are at 4m
por, chinook, goldings = initial shoots are spindly, about 1-2mm diameter, but all are throwing up new shoots about 6mm thick. none are over 2m high

anofre, how are judging your yields?

 

[hoppy2B]

All very interesting. New to hops growing, I'm evaluating numerous varieties to determine which provides good early growth and yields well in South Australia.
Bare in mind you have no way of determining the accuracy of correct labeling of named varieties. Then there's the issue of mutation within a particular variety or cultivar. But overall taking the information provided on an average basis and correlating it with my experiences down south, it makes for a useful topic.

 

[Malted]

All very interesting. New to hops growing, I'm evaluating numerous varieties to determine which provides good early growth¹ and yields well in South Australia at my place.
Bare in mind you have no way of determining the accuracy of correct labeling of named varieties². Then there's the issue of mutation within a particular variety or cultivar³. But overall taking the information provided on an average basis and correlating it with my experiences down in my area of South Austalia, it makes for a useful topic.

A bit of food for thought for you hoppy2B.


I did a bit of editing in your post. See red bits.

1: In the backyard setting it might be desirable to have some early, some mid and some late maturing varieites rather than have everything ready all at once. I don't see that good early growth would be advantageous. In a commercial setting you may even want varieties ready at different times to allow you to process one lot before the next is ready. Too much all ready at once and you may not have the labour, machinery or suitably sized processing facilities to harvest and process it before it spoils? Smaller processing facilities and less equipment (less capital outlay and maintanence costs) needed for a longer harvest period might be a better return on investment? Perhaps Chinook is a late starter (thus low early growth) but subsequently flowers earlier than some? It is claimed by many to still be a good variety though.

2: I suppose one might have a larger degree of confidence if one bought from a commercial hop grower such as Sandy Ross from HopCo in Tassie? (Cascade, Cluster, Chinook, Fuggles, Goldings, Hallertau, Hersbrucker, Perle, Pride of Ringwood, Saaz, Tardiff De Bourgogne, Wuerttemberger). He'd have a fair idea wouldn't he? Or even experienced home brewers and hop growers would have a fair idea from using their hops and sharing with others - collectively they'd possibly have an idea if the hop was not what they thought it was supposed to be?

3: I would have thought mutation would be much more pronounced in sexual reproduction as oppossed to asexual reproduction common to most propogation of hops by non-commercial folks? I would have thought that local or regional influences would be a much greater variable that would determine the attributes of the hops? Even commercial growers have differing attributes from year to year (eg AA%) of the same hop plants in the same location. I am assuming you are infering that mutation would be a bad thing. Maybe mutation could lead to interesting things? Isn't that what selective breeding and crossing is all about? - I am glad the Kiwis have had a crack at the mutations.

I think you may well discover what works well in your yard, this year. Next year may be different.

 

[hoppy2B]

Thankyou for that Malted. It's always helpful to receive the opinions of experienced hop growers.
I did come across an internet reference regarding the levels of variation within the same cultivar.
My concern with selecting an early variety is the fact that I currently have a seasonal water supply which makes an early maturing variety more attractive.
At this stage I am only considering planting several hundred plants so would not have much need to spread my harvest. I have considered the possibility of planting a second variety down the track.
Another possibility I am looking at is tissue culturing to produce mutations and selecting my own cultivar. That would give me a marketing edge should I wish to become a commercial micro brewer.
Yearly variation is inevitable however its the general growth characteristics which are important. :blink:

 

[bunyips]

Hi there
Latitude: -17.836
Altitude: 100m
Soil: red clay
Sun: full ... east west aspect for garden bed

Yes way up north... am seriously looking at getting led flood lights for extended light hours. Solar powered house so power is not an issue.
5m x 4m trellis. Can raise garden beds with any type of nutrient I want. Mate has a farm with alluvial soil, river loam, horse shit, piles of different composts, straw bedding plus access to worm castings and organic fert. But I reckon they need something very simple with good drainage. Large supply of water here so that is not a problem either.
What I am wondering and why this thread is so interesting is does anybody know of types that do better with heat and without frost. Maybe gets down to 2 degrees on the coldest mornings here in winter. Would really like to have gardens established at the beginning of winter next year. During winter we often have perfect sunny weather up here for months on end but it can also be wet. If it is a wet winter it will probably not be cold. This makes me think that if they dont need a frost to motivate them to then theoretically I could get two or three crops a year. Keeping the roots from rotting could be a problem but will learn to deal with it with correct drainage.
So it would be great if people on here could send me rhizomes in the future when they are ready. Different species to find out which would grow best up here. Of course I will pay for such specimens and freight. Would really like to try out 6 different types in the first year. Am sure some are surely unsuited for this terroir. But it would be great to have two bittering and two aroma hops actually growing here in the tropics. May be a far fetched dream but I certainly have the will and the space to try it. Have a five meter light pole available and hope to acquire it (legally) in the next week or so. Also acting as a cloaking device for the neighbours on the other side of the valley (500m... nah there cool)... Yasi sort of made my hidden house visible
Will look forward to finding out more about the art of growing hops. Will make a nice garden feature in the permaculture garden being developed now. Will have a keen interest in the developments of this thread as far as choosing appropriate types for the tropics. Strangely enough I would really like to present friends with an AG XXXX clone and see there reaction with good organic Cluster hops (recipe Bribie G) as they seem to love the southern mega swill Long way off but its a goal. I think Cluster will grow well up here.
Peace

 

[Anofre]

Kymba: yields based on what I got off first year. Poor by comparison to the more voracious varieties. My poor performers both yielded less than 1L bucket full. They barely topped 2m by end of season. (cascade & Columbus)
Neither have jumped yet this year. Both were wintered in the ground. Perhaps these ones need some subzero time. Will try a few remedies before they are culled, but they are clearly struggling.

I am already pulling early cones off the Cluster by comparison. He produced maybe 3L in volume of cones last year & will go great this year.
All were 1st year rhizomes.

I do the soil/hay/cow manure mound & drip irrigate on a timer for 60min 2x per day. Mounds mean you can basically flood them & they'll be sweet.
That's about the extent of nursing plants that I'm willing.

We also have a wind factor up here. I notice it in the form of snapped tips.
I have chosen full light over wind breaks though.

 

[QldKev]

Not a trrrior, but more a terror this morning

We are currently moving houses and I dropped into the old house to pick up some bits on the way to work this morning, what do I find. My hops plants have been emptied onto the rubbish trailer and the neighbour now growing flowers in the pots!

My wife had told him to grab them for the pots!


QldKev

 

[Newbee(r)]

Not a trrrior, but more a terror this morning

We are currently moving houses and I dropped into the old house to pick up some bits on the way to work this morning, what do I find. My hops plants have been emptied onto the rubbish trailer and the neighbour now growing flowers in the pots!

My wife had told him to grab them for the pots!


QldKev

Ouch!! Bad luck mate. Unless they are truly dried and dead, they will come back, the challenge may be working out which is which!

 

[Anofre]

Not a trrrior, but more a terror this morning

We are currently moving houses and I dropped into the old house to pick up some bits on the way to work this morning, what do I find. My hops plants have been emptied onto the rubbish trailer and the neighbour now growing flowers in the pots!

My wife had told him to grab them for the pots!


QldKev

That's a bit rough.
Must have been some flash pots or a really keen neighbor!

Trim em & fridge em. U mite get lucky & they survive for next year