philistine
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 1/4/14
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So Im just gonna have a little rant here - no participation required - but hopefully some other amature urban hop farmers such as myself out there will benefit from this little bit of info
Im starting to see some really good growth out in the garden - of the 12 varieties of hops I have, I've got strong growth appearing on 4 of them, small but healthy growth on 2, pissweak growth on 2 and NOTHING from the remaining 4. I've had a bit of a look at the 4 unproductive ones and discovered that the rhizomes have rotted and are basically f*****d
The varieties I have that are doing good things were all given to me by hoppy2B for free- CHEERS DUDE YOU"RE A LEGEND!
The other 6 were all purchased from established commercial hop growers - for between $15-$20 each, not including postage.
Of the 6 commercial rhizomes, only 2 of them are alive.
So i just wanted to point out a couple things that are fundamental plant biology principals of which almost 99% of all modern agricultural and horticultural standard practices are based on.
Firstly - some terminology, dumbed down to very basic terms that are relevant - (i just googled, then copy/pasted this to save time)
Node: the part of a plant stem from which one or more leaves emerge, often forming a slight swelling.
Internode: A segment of stem between two nodes
Meristem: A group of actively dividing plant cells - in other words: the bit where shit grows from
Now these three terms a relevant because when you take a cutting of a plant - be it soft wood, hard wood, root, or rhizome - it is vital that the cutting contain at least 1 node, otherwise basically you're just cutting a section of inactive plant matter that will be more or less clinically dead within minutes of it separation from the plant and soon rot and decompose. There are many exceptions to this rule, but Im not going into them.
The 2nd most vital thing to successfull propagation from cutting is hygiene. Just as it is important to clean and disinfect a wound on a human, it is equally important to observe the same care on plants.
PLants are obviously far more resilient than humans in many respects and even though dettol and bandaids are completely useless in horticulture, things like sharp blades and wounds that are kept free of contamination before forming a dry layer or callus (as a human would devolpe a scap) go a long way towards ensuring success and preventing disease and rot from killing off propagation material before it has a chance to grow.
The 3rd thing on the list - which sort of goes hand-in-hand with the 2nd thing - is to reduce the routes of infection on any propagation material in order to maintain its health long enough for it to begin developing on life sustaining processes. The big one here is basically to make cuts as close to a node as possible without damaging it and to avoiding leaving any internode material that has been severed from either one of its nodes. The reason for this is because basically, any part of the cutting thzt isn't 'capped off' at both ends by a node will rot away and ultimately become a very likely cause of disease entry to the remaining portion of the material.
Here's a couple pics to show what im on about
SHIT RHIZOME
http://www.northwesthops.com/v/vspfiles/photos/casc-2.jpg
GOOD RHIZOME
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/media/catalog/product/c/a/cascade-hop-rhizome.jpg
You can see the shit rhizome only has one point of growth - one small cluster of meristem tissue. The rest is effectively 'dead weight' that will rot once buried and moistened.
The good rhizome is obviously far more developed and likely to be more than a year old, but it's been cut at both ends very close to active nodes and as you can see it's busting to grow.
So basically, im out of steam now and just want to conclude that if anyone pays something like $20 for a rhizome from a commercial hops grower (or anyone really, but you'd think that a commercial grower should know better) and upon arrival you discover that its a shit rhizome, then I think you should feel you have the right to complain and/or ask for a replacement.
It may well grow on to be a healthy and productive specimen, but if you were to grow it side by side with a well harvested cutting, you would undoubtedly notice a significant difference between the two plants.
The end
:chug:
Im starting to see some really good growth out in the garden - of the 12 varieties of hops I have, I've got strong growth appearing on 4 of them, small but healthy growth on 2, pissweak growth on 2 and NOTHING from the remaining 4. I've had a bit of a look at the 4 unproductive ones and discovered that the rhizomes have rotted and are basically f*****d
The varieties I have that are doing good things were all given to me by hoppy2B for free- CHEERS DUDE YOU"RE A LEGEND!
The other 6 were all purchased from established commercial hop growers - for between $15-$20 each, not including postage.
Of the 6 commercial rhizomes, only 2 of them are alive.
So i just wanted to point out a couple things that are fundamental plant biology principals of which almost 99% of all modern agricultural and horticultural standard practices are based on.
Firstly - some terminology, dumbed down to very basic terms that are relevant - (i just googled, then copy/pasted this to save time)
Node: the part of a plant stem from which one or more leaves emerge, often forming a slight swelling.
Internode: A segment of stem between two nodes
Meristem: A group of actively dividing plant cells - in other words: the bit where shit grows from
Now these three terms a relevant because when you take a cutting of a plant - be it soft wood, hard wood, root, or rhizome - it is vital that the cutting contain at least 1 node, otherwise basically you're just cutting a section of inactive plant matter that will be more or less clinically dead within minutes of it separation from the plant and soon rot and decompose. There are many exceptions to this rule, but Im not going into them.
The 2nd most vital thing to successfull propagation from cutting is hygiene. Just as it is important to clean and disinfect a wound on a human, it is equally important to observe the same care on plants.
PLants are obviously far more resilient than humans in many respects and even though dettol and bandaids are completely useless in horticulture, things like sharp blades and wounds that are kept free of contamination before forming a dry layer or callus (as a human would devolpe a scap) go a long way towards ensuring success and preventing disease and rot from killing off propagation material before it has a chance to grow.
The 3rd thing on the list - which sort of goes hand-in-hand with the 2nd thing - is to reduce the routes of infection on any propagation material in order to maintain its health long enough for it to begin developing on life sustaining processes. The big one here is basically to make cuts as close to a node as possible without damaging it and to avoiding leaving any internode material that has been severed from either one of its nodes. The reason for this is because basically, any part of the cutting thzt isn't 'capped off' at both ends by a node will rot away and ultimately become a very likely cause of disease entry to the remaining portion of the material.
Here's a couple pics to show what im on about
SHIT RHIZOME
http://www.northwesthops.com/v/vspfiles/photos/casc-2.jpg
GOOD RHIZOME
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/media/catalog/product/c/a/cascade-hop-rhizome.jpg
You can see the shit rhizome only has one point of growth - one small cluster of meristem tissue. The rest is effectively 'dead weight' that will rot once buried and moistened.
The good rhizome is obviously far more developed and likely to be more than a year old, but it's been cut at both ends very close to active nodes and as you can see it's busting to grow.
So basically, im out of steam now and just want to conclude that if anyone pays something like $20 for a rhizome from a commercial hops grower (or anyone really, but you'd think that a commercial grower should know better) and upon arrival you discover that its a shit rhizome, then I think you should feel you have the right to complain and/or ask for a replacement.
It may well grow on to be a healthy and productive specimen, but if you were to grow it side by side with a well harvested cutting, you would undoubtedly notice a significant difference between the two plants.
The end
:chug:
