So first Year Hop Growers - how'd it turn out ? - Page 8

TommyBoy · 10-03-2008, 05:02 PM

This was the second year for my Cascades. 7 vines. The tallest one hit 14' before July then the top cooked on the roof and bushed up at the top. The others were about 12-14' by September. They dried out to about 4oz. I did no preparation to the soil. I will probably pay attention to that next spring to beef them up a little.

antonyw · 10-05-2008, 06:28 AM

I planted four cascade, two chinook, two fuggles and two centennials this spring. Two of the cascades went into an old wine barrel with miracle gro potting mix, I got about 1.5 - 2ozs dried from those two plants and they ended up being about 12-15 feet in length. I got another 1 oz or so from the two other cascades planting in the ground in full sun. The centennials croaked and never did anything. The fuggles were very sluggish at only a foot or two long but are still growing so hopefully they are working on their roots and will do better next year. The chinooks grew to about 8 feet long and gave me maybe three or four cones. They were planted right next to the cascades that yielded nicely in their first year. I'll have to go back and read the thread now and see how everyone else did.

Dig · 10-06-2008, 12:27 AM

Plants are still growing. I have been getting small harvests all year long. I can definetly tell what the photoperiod does to the plant; the internodes get really short and the leaves get small. The plants are still healthy and growing however, so I will just let them go until the look ready to be cut down. They are very bushy and quite large for being grown in pots. I probably have a few ounces from six plants.... only 2 of the have really produced, although all six have shown signs of flower production.

Will continue to update. I still have several plants to harvest and some are kicking out new flowers.

fins2rit · 10-07-2008, 04:50 PM

planted 8 plants
2 cascade
2 centi
2 chinook
1 will
1 mt. hood

All grew real well hitting about 12 to 14 feet each with allot of side shoots toward the base but ZERO hops. I am hoping that the roots decided to grow crazy and next year i will have a nice harvest..

Got my fingers crossed..

Stout Man · 10-08-2008, 05:00 AM

Plant

Yield

1 Chinook

21 oz

1 Zeus

19 oz

4 Nugget

40 oz

1 Cascade

2 oz

1 Hallertauer

1/2 oz

1 Northern Brewer

0

1 Fuggle

0

1 Kent Golding

0

1 Mt. Hood

8 oz

My Fuggle did produce about 10 cones but the Golding and N.Brewer produced nothing. They do however have absolutely massive root systems. I am amazed how much the root system grew. All plants are first year. I'd definitely be willing to give away some of my nugget plants for any low alpha acid hops. It is a pain to store all those nugget hops, I end up with 13 vacuum bags about the size of a 8 1/2" x 11" that are 1" thick. I know how ungrateful I sound but seriously, how am I going to use up all those nugget hops?

Blackline · 10-09-2008, 08:10 PM

I also planted for the first time this year. I chose the chinook since I live in Phoenix and the weather gets a little warm

I planted 6 and 5 came up. They looked and smelled great! Before harvest I went on a vacation for a week and when I came back my cones were toasted slightly from the sun. I harvested them anyway and dried then froze them. You guys think they are still good? I will get a photo of them to show how toasted they got.

Here are a couple of pics of the plant a couple of months in. The wife only let me put up a 8' stake... Picasa Web Albums - Mike Moffett - HOPS!

Beeropolis · 10-10-2008, 11:49 PM

Planted 2 first year plants at my apartment, so no in-ground but into a large pot I planted these. The Cascade plant grew large and with multiple harvests got approx 2oz of hops. On the other hand my Kent Goldings plant grew as large as the Cascade plant but no harvest. Some very small cones started to form in September but a cold spell happened in VA and that stopped it quick.

avidhomebrewer · 10-11-2008, 03:38 AM

My first attempt at growing 2 plants (Cascade and Chinook) went horrible this year. Earlier in the year, the chinook was going great, about 5 feet tall. Time to transplant and one of the neighbor kids pulled it out of the ground and it decided it had had enough and died for the year (hopefully only the year). For the cascade, it didn't do much at all, especially when the dog got a hold of the rhizome and decided to chew on it. That was the last time she ever decided to do that again. I then transplanted it and now it is about 2 feet tall, ready to die for the year. Hopefully next year both will come up and grow like I heard hops can.

**Stratotankard** · 10-11-2008, 04:07 AM

Let's see...

6 plants- 2 each Centennial, Golding, and Willamette. One of my Goldings turned male on me, the other never got taller than about 3'. My Willamettes did ok height wise, but then got destroyed by catapillars. They both have about 4 leaves a piece left. My Centennials both did very well height wise (draped over the top of my 9' trellis) but only one has any cones at all. I've harvested 3 cones so far and there is at least one more still one the vine (still tiny but growing). Both plants are being attacked by the damn catapillars, but I'm working hard to keep them alive. I'm trying not to use any sprays, just to keep my garden as organic as possible, but next year I think I may have to break out the chemicals to deal with the little buggers.

I know I need to water more than I did this year. Maybe a drip irrigation system is in my future. My trellis almost got blown over during some severe weather, so that needs to be redone (its really wobbly anyways). Meh, I wasn't expecting much this year, so I guess 4 whole cones is better than nothing. :P