PA growers...anything yet?

I planted mine about a week and a half ago and I still don't have anything. This is my first year so I'm probably just impatient but I'm curious what others have.

All the warm climate folks have me jealous. It was 31 degrees here this morning.

I have a couple small shoots...nothing to write home about yet.

I'm in Victory's hometown (Downingtown), planted 3 cascade/3 willamette from freshops last saturday (so 10 days ago)...they had been in the fridge for 4 days prior to planting. No root hormone or anything fancy, just letting them warm to room temp. overnight before planting, then doing the 12" holes with wood ash at the base, and a mix of horse manure & tilled dirt + mulch in a mound with each rhizome just over 1" under the surface.

As of yesterday, 2 of the willamette sprouted through (just in time for this morning's frost!) and one of the cascade. I'd say be patient and if you're really curious, dig down CAREFULLY near the rhizome to see if growth is occuring.

I wouldn't dig at all. I got 2 rhizomes from freshops 2 days ago. One of them basically looked like a stick, with nothing really to show. I kept in a damp baggie on counter and next day there was a 1' sprout on it. They will come up, just give them time.

I need to find the time to build a raised bed to put mine in.

I had mine in my fridge for about 2.5 weeks before I could plant.
I waited until spring flowers started to bloom and gave it another week.

My paper towels stayed moist and the sprouts I had didn't seem like they had gotten any bigger while in the fridge.

My soil has a lot of clay in it so I mixed in manure and peat moss to try and keep the soil soft and full of nutrients. The top layer gets firm but the soil beneath is about as good as it gets.

This is almost like waiting for your first 5 gallons of beer to be ready to taste.
The anticipation is killing me.

My Brewer's Gold from last year all sprouted over a week ago. New establishments can take some time, so hang in there. Don't mess with them.

I've got some friends in the area who've had theirs in the fridge for 3 weeks and will be planting this week...the fact you've already got them in should provide some comfort in knowing they should be well along by year's end; I'm sure by June we'll all be laughing at how eager we're looking for 1" of growth when these things become uncontrollably large!

When I planted mine a couple years ago they came up fairly quick, except for the sickly fuggles I got. I was sure it wouldn't grow. It was half rotten and split down the middle. Well, it took a while, but it eventually did sprout much to my surprise. As long as they are not super wet, they will eventually sprout.

My 4 Three year old plants are all 6-8 inches high now. I planted 8 more yesterday, so they'll need a little time yet.

I split and transplanted some Cascasde rhizomes in the fall.
The transplants' shoots are as tall as the mature crown-4 or 5 inches.

I also planted 4 new varieties about two weeks ago, the Williamette already had shoots on it, and it popped right out- 3-4 inches now. As for the other 3 varieties, I'm patiently waiting.

My fuggles from last year are growing great, over 2 ft. long. The 3 i planted this year, Willamette, EKG, Fuggles, were in pots instead of the fridge which worked out real nice. 2 (Willamette and EKG) of the 3 are growing great and i planted them today. I haven't seen Fuggles yet, but i'm not worried. The plants seemto be doing well.

My 2 of my 3 cascades popped up over the weekend.
Still waiting on the nugget and Mt. Hood but I'm happy to see a little growth.

sorry to crosspost, but i'm excited...here's the first photo I could find of one of my 3 willamettes growing here in Chester County...5" and flying! (2 cascades are showing zero growth even after digging down to the rhizome, but Freshops are being awesome and replacing them!)

Planted 2 Nugget rhizomes from freshops about the exact time you did. One has nothing above the surface yet, while the other has 3 bines that just broke the surface yesterday. My biggest concern has been the over/underwatering. With the really dry weather (how the heck have we not gotten any rain with all the clouds recently@!!@), and the temp swings, its difficult to judge. I've been lightly watering 2-3 times a day until yesterday when the weather got cooler and higher humidity. I watered once today on one rhizome, but on the ones that have sprouted I did not water.

I think I'm going to try the chopstick trick recommended in the other thread (to tell moisture levels). Right now I'm just guessing and could be killing the rhizomes with too much water.

Spent most of my life in Downingtown, small world....

I used to live in Upper Darby over behind Picas'. How's the old neighborhood?
Anyway, I'd water them only once a day as long as the weather stays warm and dry. Too much water can be as bad as not enough.

Evets said:

I used to live in Upper Darby over behind Picas'. How's the old neighborhood?
Anyway, I'd water them only once a day as long as the weather stays warm and dry. Too much water can be as bad as not enough.

Click to expand...

I'm right across from the Manoa Shopping Center. It's a wierd time to be in Havertown (been here for 5 years now). The town still has an "old" feel to it because residents rarely leave until they kick the bucket, and are then traditionally replaced by young couples/familes. Who knows, maybe this has always been the case (and in 40 years I'll be that old guy who just won't die!). So you have retired/elderly people living next to new parents and newlyweds. For instance my neighbor on the right is nearing retirement (>60), and lives by herself. My neighbor on the left is early 30's with 2 children. On the other side of the street its about the same thing, an elderly couple next to a young family, etc. You get the point.

Ok, sorry to the OP for being off topic.

This morning before I left for work I see another shoot broke the soil on the Nugget hop at the front of our house. That makes 4 so far, with the first one start to take on the look of a bine (they come out almost white and undifferentiated). My other hops don't seem to look any worse so I think I'll stick to less frequent watering to be sure I'm not soaking them (maybe once a day if we don't get any rain). I'm slowly finishing up the twine for the bines to grown along, but have been dragging my feet because they aren't yet tall enough to actually need it (these were the one's I got with bines already developed). One of the rhizomes looks REALLY healthy with about 6 or so bines 2-6" in height. I'm pretty sure that one will easily make it but the other 2 I'm less sure about.

glad to hear you're seeing more shoots pop through! I'll continue the off-topic, 'small world' topic just by saying I dated a girl for years who lived across from the Manoa Shopping Center (on Lincoln, in that little development just off Eagle). So we both know each area rather well...kind of odd there!