I've Got Hops Already

Weird huh? My second year Cascades are 15 feet tall with almost fully developed cones. todays date is May 20th. I live in South Carolina and we have had some record high temps. I even cut back the first growth beginning of april. Irrigated daily with about 8 hrs of direct sun exposure. I've been supplementing with worm castings and compost tea. Any ideas? is this good or bad? I just planted 650 new plants, can I expect the same out of them? this makes for one crazy harvest season...

Definitely weird. Then again, I'm in Cleveland where we get frosts through June 1st. I suspect that the worm castings and compost tea have something to do with this. Those are both nature's ultimate fertilizers and in combination with the sunlight and heat down in South Carolina, I don't see why this would really be an issue. Who knows, you may even be able to take one harvest from those plants, allow new bines to grow, and get a second harvest late in the Fall.

650 new plants? What are you selling the hops?

holy crap 650 plants, you must make a lot of beer

3rd year Columbus and Cascade Hops in Alabama getting way ahead of themselves.....

yeh 650 plants may seem like alot, but it only takes up an acre:rockin: I hope I can sell these things, otherwise i'm gonna have to be stirrin hops with a boat paddle in all of my home brews, anyone have a torpedo recipie?
Several local breweries are into the idea of locally grown organic ingredients so we'll see...

Wow, 650 plants is impressive.. That almost makes me want to buy an acre or two and get serious about this hops stuff. I would love to see pictures of your farm, I have a buddy here with about 1/4 of an acre who is one of the ones who has been pushing me to start growing hops and he could probably be convinced to plant 50 or so plants if mine are successful.