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