The509Inc's Hop Garden in pics

Here are a few pics of my hop garden. Hooray for wet hop ales this fall!

Do you plan to harvest and dry and vacuum pack and freeze or another method? I am on first year and eager to learn. Thanks if you respond.

My hops got some frost on tip ends of some plants so I am not sure how crop #1 is going to grow! Plants are green so that is a great sign!

pigroaster said:

Do you plan to harvest and dry and vacuum pack and freeze or another method?

Click to expand...

That is the plan for the hops that don't make it into a fresh hop IPA.

There are 8 plants. Two are second year rhizomes I got from Austin Homebrew, the only two of six I planted last year to show any signs of life so far. The others are first year hop crowns from Great Lakes.

Well it figures... Less than a day after posting pics of my hop farm a tornado comes and ruins all the fun. I haven't been out to get a damage report, but it is not good from what I hear.

ouch a tornado does not sound good. I hope all is well! I have mine in two places. So barring bad luck I hope this does not happen to me. Did you have these away from the house?

Yes they are away from the house in the garden near Pond Creek, OK. From what I heard last night there was a tree down and debris everywhere. Not a direct hit thankfully. That was around midnight last night. I'll know more about the damage tonight.

509inc said:

Yes they are away from the house in the garden near Pond Creek, OK. From what I heard last night there was a tree down and debris everywhere. Not a direct hit thankfully. That was around midnight last night. I'll know more about the damage tonight.

Click to expand...

Best of luck to you. The storms are crazy this last few years.

I gave hops in Oklahoma 4 years of my life. Oklahoma proved too temperate for them. Monsoons, battering hail storms, blistering heat. All in a few months time too.

Dandelions THRIVE here tho'.

Wonder how the wine tastes.

My father in law works for the local CO-OP and claims there is a local farming technical assistance engineer "I forgot his real title" who is providing the info needed to make these thrive. That was before the weather last night tho.

I blame the 4 rhizomes from last year that didnt come back as 2nd year plants this year on my lack of pre-purchase research. Turns out those hops dont care much for the heat.

509inc said:

My father in law works for the local CO-OP and claims there is a local farming technical assistance engineer "I forgot his real title" who is providing the info needed to make these thrive. That was before the weather last night tho.

I blame the 4 rhizomes from last year that didnt come back as 2nd year plants this year on my lack of pre-purchase research. Turns out those hops dont care much for the heat.

Click to expand...

I started with 13 rhizomes in a raised box with custom purpose blended soil and pulled resources from OSU Horticulture department Master Gardeners.

Like I said, I really do hope for the best for you. Just keep in mind that hops aren't naturalized to Oklahoma. And Oklahoma is a real b!tch on gardens sometimes.

Do you have any plans in place for pest control?

One of teh most devastating pest I encountered in my 4 years was a few species of caterpillar. Stealthy lil' feckers they were. Some would hide under the leaves. Others would go down to the soil by day, and then have salad buffet through the night.

I only mention this because I don't ever recall seeing so many butterflies and moths as I have this year.

509inc - what varieties have you figured grow best in the OKC area? We are in a bit of a transition period as we sold our house in Edmond, currently living in the Village, but are about to close on our new house next week. I have room for a pretty solid biergarden and was planning on planting hops. I may have missed the window this year, but I figured it's never too early to plan. Any insight would be much appreciated.

My 2nd year Cascades and Centennial are growing like crazy. Too early tell for the new ones.

Beautiful! I ordered 4 cascade rhizomes over the weekend. Here's to establishing some solid roots this year. Thanks for the input. Cheers.

Updated Pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Here are the two Willamettes.