Show us ya HOPS!!!

[Grok]

Haven't seen a growing hops post for a while, thought its about time for another one so....
Show us ya Hoppy bits!!!!!
A few pics to get it going, and I get first bragging rights!!!!!!

 

[Grok]

What........no peeps growing hops out there?
Am I the only one?

 

[philrob]

Nope, never grown any. Did use some about a decade ago, but they were donated by waggastew.

 

[YAPN]

Looks like you'd get a fair amount of hops from that lot. Have you rigged up a kiln?

 

[peterregan892]

I have a way to go…

Fuggle btw

 

[Grok]

Looks like you'd get a fair amount of hops from that lot. Have you rigged up a kiln?

I have made a drying cabinet from an old cupboard style clothes drier someone gave me. Made up draw runners and drying racks, then replaced the old heater coil at the base of the cabinet with a new cheap blower heater and modified the electrics inside to be controlled by the original timer/frequency switch of the cabinet itself. It's a simple adjustable time based on/off switch with main power routed through a 1min to 4 hour dial timer, like an older type small electric oven timer.
At the moment I monitor the temp manually and adjust the on/off frequency dial to get about 40~50 Celsius and it works well, but I plan to upgrade the temp control arrangement someday, but it's ok for now!

I then vacuum pack and label them with date, weight and variety, then freeze for later use.

 

[Timewellspent]

I am keen to have a hop crop of my own but struggling to find anyone with rhizomes or plants in stock

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

 

[feralbass]

 

[Grok]

Nice hop thickett, but that post looks a bit wonky!

 

[feralbass]

She'll be right, harvest in 2 or 3 weeks at this stage

 

[Grok]

I am keen to have a hop crop of my own but struggling to find anyone with rhizomes or plants in stock

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Wrong time of the year, you need to wait until winter when they are dormant. Not sure how they will go in Brisbane, maybe someone has or is growing hops up there, you might need a bit of research to see if the winter is cold enough to put em to sleep.

 

[S.E]

At the moment I monitor the temp manually and adjust the on/off frequency dial to get about 40~50 Celsius

I use the Inkbird from my fermenting fridge for that. Have neglected my hops this year though so won’t get much of a crop.

 

[Timewellspent]

Wrong time of the year, you need to wait until winter when they are dormant. Not sure how they will go in Brisbane, maybe someone has or is growing hops up there, you might need a bit of research to see if the winter is cold enough to put em to sleep.

Thanks Grok,
Another reason to love winter

 

[Bob Brewster]

What........no peeps growing hops out there?
Am I the only one?

Here is my maiden effort. 1st season.
Latitude -31.132771
Hottest day so far 43° Plenty around between 36°&40° Luck? The contributors to a Texan forum I read were getting worried about high 90°F
Anyway, The closest two plants are Columbus and Centennial in that order. The far plant is Cascade 14ft-ish y’all and festooned in cones. It has been an exciting grow so far. The Columbus has a few small cones, but as you can see, they haven’t done nearly as well as the Cascade. I’m wondering if I should persist with the runts, try other varieties, or just plant more Cascade later in the year. They still have a few weeks of summer left.
Don’t count your chickens as they say..... happy for feedback.

 

[Grok]

They look good!
If its just your first year, then they are doing ok, make sure your red soil has drainage so they don't drown in the winter. I find they can handle heat as long as they have plenty of water and keep some ground cover happening so the soil doesn't get to hot as well, feed them plenty of nitrogen in the spring when they start to wake up and begin to shoot up, then back off fertilizer as flowers form.

Interesting string arrangement, I like to see how others tackle that problem of going up 4m or so in the back yard, and then be able to lower the bines to harvest!

 

[sprazza]

I dug mine up and split them last season, as well as building a basic arbor (only 3 m high) so that my partner had something nicer to look at

I think they’re going ok for what is essentially their first season.

Colombus and chinook.

 

[Bob Brewster]

Here is my maiden effort. 1st season.
Latitude -31.132771
Hottest day so far 43° Plenty around between 36°&40° Luck? The contributors to a Texan forum I read were getting worried about high 90°F
Anyway, The closest two plants are Columbus and Centennial in that order. The far plant is Cascade 14ft-ish y’all and festooned in cones. It has been an exciting grow so far. The Columbus has a few small cones, but as you can see, they haven’t done nearly as well as the Cascade. I’m wondering if I should persist with the runts, try other varieties, or just plant more Cascade later in the year. They still have a few weeks of summer left.
Don’t count your chickens as they say..... happy for feedback.
View attachment 123174View attachment 123173View attachment 123172

They look good!
If its just your first year, then they are doing ok, make sure your red soil has drainage so they don't drown in the winter. I find they can handle heat as long as they have plenty of water and keep some ground cover happening so the soil doesn't get to hot as well, feed them plenty of nitrogen in the spring when they start to wake up and begin to shoot up, then back off fertilizer as flowers form.

Interesting string arrangement, I like to see how others tackle that problem of going up 4m or so in the back yard, and then be able to lower the bines to harvest!

My top bar is at 5m, held up with guy ropes. Found the 5m 4x3 hardwood uprights in the dump.
Would you persist with the Centennial and the Columbus? Compared to the Cascade, they are very disappointing. Would you suggest any other varieties? It could easily get to 45°+ up here.

 

[Grok]

Would you persist with the Centennial and the Columbus?

It's only the first year you said, so you can't expect to much from the 1st year, they need 2 or 3 years to establish a decent root system. The rhizome is the mother and reserve energy storage for the next years growth spurt as it comes up for spring growth and starts climbing, so the bigger the rhizome you plant, usually the better the first years growth is.

How big were the rhizomes you planted?

After you harvest by hand picking, let the bines die off naturally as that helps the plant to draw down any nutriments back into the rhizome for storage, once they are dry and brittle, then you can cut em off.

 

[Bob Brewster]

It's only the first year you said, so you can't expect to much from the 1st year, they need 2 or 3 years to establish a decent root system. The rhizome is the mother and reserve energy storage for the next years growth spurt as it comes up for spring growth and starts climbing, so the bigger the rhizome you plant, usually the better the first years growth is.

How big were the rhizomes you planted?

After you harvest by hand picking, let the bines die off naturally as that helps the plant to draw down any nutriments back into the rhizome for storage, once they are dry and brittle, then you can cut em off.

Thanks. The rhizomes were all roughly the same size. I can’t imagine why the Cascade would be so much more productive than the other two. Another thing, we very rarely get a frost here. Cold mornings here are 1°to 5°
How cold does it need to get for the rhizomes in the winter?

 

[Grok]

Here is a comprehensive guide from the NSW Department of Primary Industry.

https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/712717/hops-guide-for-new-growers.pdf

 

[Bob Brewster]

I dug mine up and split them last season, as well as building a basic arbor (only 3 m high) so that my partner had something nicer to look at

I think they’re going ok for what is essentially their first season.

Colombus and chinook.

View attachment 123177

Here is a comprehensive guide from the NSW Department of Primary Industry.

https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/712717/hops-guide-for-new-growers.pdf

Thanks

 

[feboy]

@Grok - Great thread, nice to see a few other hop yards! Especially notes on productivity vs variety vs latitude. I‘ve got two beds S34.851. Chinook by the compost bays and Cascade in front of the front bedroom window.
Chinook has gone great from the first season (thanks go to Dr Smurto for the rhizomes - I swear I bought them on this forum). Recon the position is perfect - lots of nutrients and water from both my irrigation and the neighbours. Been getting well over half a kg dried without trying but they really don’t have a high level of lupulin and definitely don’t go close to pellet Chinook.They also get a bit of wind/salt burn with dry tips on the cones and a bit of shredded leaves in the nor’easter.
The Cascade on the other hand are bang on for “hoppiness“ but don’t produce as well and this season is pretty poor. Recon it comes down to water and food.
Been using them in kombucha for years and dry hopping FWK. Started all grain last year and used the Cascade for bittering - turned out pretty good. I’ll be trying the Chinook in a brew at harvest next month and deciding if I pull them and replace with something else.

 

[Grok]

You might be giving them to much nitrogen for too long, its really only needed in quantity during the climbing phase, once the the flowers start to form on the laterals, back off the food, other wise the plant produces more leaf growth rather than prioritising making flowers before the end of its natural cycle. You want it to think "go to seed before the season ends" so it switches to "make flowers before the end of season" mode.

 

[feboy]

You might be giving them to much nitrogen for too long, its really only needed in quantity during the climbing phase, once the the flowers start to form on the laterals, back off the food, other wise the plant produces more leaf growth rather than prioritising making flowers before the end of its natural cycle. You want it to think "go to seed before the season ends" so it switches to "make flowers before the end of season" mode.

I’ll have a look at feeding next season. I have tended to just heap chook poo on the bed during winter and do nothing else. I think the bore pump was playing up for a while in December when I wasn’t round. Doesn’t get rain under the eaves so I was thinking that was the cause of small Cascade yield this year. And I’ll read that DPI booklet you posted!

 

[AHB_Admin]

Those are really nice looking hops. They look so healthy and seem to grow up anything.

 

[matt77]

One pot of chinook going strong 3rd year. I'll have another pot going next year and probably need to repot this one before it gets overcrowded.

 

[Grok]

Be careful that little pot doesn't get to hot and cook your hop plant and make sure they don't run out of water..as mine did over the weekend and damn near ruined my crop.
The mongrel water tap timer battery went flat and I didn't notice it, and of course its in the middle of a hot dry spell in Perth, nearly a disaster!

Luckily they were close to harvest anyway and they didn't all dry out completely, so I harvested a heap immediately and will do the rest in the following week as the plants have regained their moisture again...phew.... a close call.

Hops need lotsa water when there full of flowers!

 

[matt77]

Be careful that little pot doesn't get to hot and cook your hop plant and make .......

Yes , thank god for timers and damm them when they go.
Gets enough, twice a day, to run out the bottom and i hand water (4-5 litres) with fruit & flower fert every other day.
The pot gets shade from gum tree in afternoon and those pavers take the bit of direct light that creeps, under the tree before sunset.
I knew they liked lots of water when growing, didn't realise it was even more when flowering

 

[Grok]

All plants transpire water vapour to the air, so when the hop plant gets laden with flowers and they start to puff up, then the surface area and air flow of the Bract (Sheaves) is greatly increased thereby transpiring more water to the air, and hop plants are definitely not drought resistant.

 

[sprazza]

Harvest has begun! First up is the colombus and let me tell you, it smells amazing! About to go into the dehydrator.