Willamettes in the Midwest

Looking for other Midwest hop growers' experience with Willamettes. My first year Cascades went nuts, but the Willamettes sprouted, grew up their lines a few feet, but never thrived.

Hopefully, they were just, as first year plantings, storing up energy and gathering their strength for the future. But, i could also replace them next spring with more Cascades or maybe another variety, like Chinook.

What do you think?

Mine struggled this first year also. But I got the rhizome from Conpewter, and he seems to have great luck with the willamette hops and he also lives close to you. Maybe send him a note?

i got the same out of my first year willamette this year. i'm hoping for more next year.

I planted Williamette, Cascade, and Hallertau in north central Minnesota this past spring. Got maybe 14-15' out of the Williamette and two handfuls of hops. About 12-13' out of the Cascade and similar amount of hops. Only 5' out of the Hallertau and no hops.

But if you looked at the relatvie size of the Rhizo's that I planted, you could have predicted the final growth; my Williamette rhizo was very thick. I think you'll be okay next year, and should have plenty the following season.

Hey guys,
If Willamette isn't getting the job done, I've got a couple of suggestions.
If you want to stay with a "Fuggle" variant like Willamette, Check out Glacier - great brew composition and high yielding (2400 lbs/acre plus) or Tettnanger. Both do well in our trials. If you want to completely change horses, Chinook and Nugget are two standouts. Willamette is an early maturing type (August),so couple that with a cold spring equals low yield. Chin and Nug are later (September).
You a looking at at American genes vs. Euros when you compare Cascade to Williamette - two completely different animals. (Of course our genetics kick a--!)

Thanks, Great Lakes. I chose Willamette because I read that it was an Anericanized Fuggle hybrid. What is your experience in growing Willamettes? Do they thrive?

I'll drop Compewter a note and see what he says.

Pappers,
The Willamette plant grows well but it has smaller cones, so its yield is poor compared to Glacier and others. Chinook and Nugget have cones double the size - so even though the cone count is about the same per plant ; the weight adds up a lot faster. A lot of Michigan growers are putting in Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, & Nugget. Magnum and Newport seem to be the bittering type of choice. I guess it depends on which hop your customer base wants to buy. (It doesn't make any sense to grow a variety they don't want to brew with).
Generally speaking, I notice that the european gene pool (Saaz, Hallertauer, Fuggle) are fussier about drainage and pH (more acid) than the American gene pool (Brewers Gold, Cascade, Northern brewer) and are not as vigorous. Some of the newer Euro-crosses, like Mt. Hood, Perle, and Santiam are a big improvement over the old landrace types.

I have a third year willamette that every year goes crazy for a while and then turns to crap. I have never gotten more than an ounce out of it. After threee years I am committed to it but if nothing happens this next year it is gone.

This thread got me curious, so I went out to the test plot where I have 22 varieties in growing trials and took a close look and compared. Out of the Fuggle types (Tettnanger, Santiam, Fuggle H, Glacier, Willamette) Willamette had the smallest cones and crown structure. Fuggle H surprised me, having the largest cones and crowns.
Some other things that stood out were - Newport kicks Magnums butt , as well as Galena's. Chinook, Perle, Nugget, Hallertauer are very vigorous as well. Plain old Golding US beats out Kent Golding. Zeus (which I maintain separately) does outperform Columbus. Northern Brewer and Brewers Gold ranked higher than I thought on yields. None are hard to grow, but Sterling, Liberty, Ultra, Crystal, and Willamette had the smallest crowns and bine diameter. (suspect they like higher pH soil)
Oh. just to let you know, all of these started out equal in April as meristem germplasm cuttings, all are grown in a 3 cuft. test box with identical media, watering, and fertilization. Gonna leave 'em out in the snow bank with no mulch and see what survives.

I heard from Compewter, who said that Willamettes grew very well for him in our area. FYI.

what time of year do you plant hops in say southeast missouri?? fall and compost over top or spring?

Your a pretty lucky guy, cause you can plant hop plants anytime between now and spring im Missouri. If you want rhizomes, you will have to wait til they are available- which is next spring.
We are currently shipping a lot of southern states, who like to plant them during their "cool" season.

Yes Willamette grew great for me, but it did start with a big rhizome. Has come up nice every year as well.

My second year Willamettes did fairly well. The Chinooks were the top performers, followed by Glaciers. Willamettes about tied with Goldings. Perles, Nuggets, and Northern Brewer gave trivial yields for me. However, the Perles and Nuggets get less sun.

In Omaha, we are at about the same latitude as Chicago. The years I lived there the weather seemed pretty similar. My plants are in our usual clay soil, though we conditioned 10 gallons or so of soil with peat and compost at the site of each planted rhizome. How is your soil?

I've been monitoring comments on Willamette for a couple of years now. Either it grows fine or is total fail - doesn't seem to be related to soil or environment; cause the comments come in from all over the US. IMHO I think there is an virus infected source that is being distributed. (Especially when the comment is "starts out fine and then goes to crap".) There are thousands of acres of old Willamette out west that are being replaced and replanted - mostly because their yields have dropped off due to disease buildup.
3D- Michigan soils are all over the place because of our glacial past - sand to clay, and everything in between.
Hop roots like to go deep, so in heavy soil with clay sites I usually recommend that growers subsoil till deep prior to planting; to break up hardpan and compaction. Some of the corn tillage equipment can get down nearly 2 feet. It makes a big difference.