Couple of questions and a little random blabbering.

First my hops seem to have stopped drying. I started with 6 oz wet and I can not get them to dry out any more than 1.9 oz. They have been at that weight now for 3 days. Thoughts?

Second- suddenly one of my Chinook bines that wasn't doing so well has suddenly taken off. It was planted at the same time as the others but suddenly it's grown 4- 5 feet in 10 days. I didn't fertilize or anything else that would contribute to this sudden burst. Do they normally grow late? Could this bine still produce cones this late?

It seems my hop garden has attracted some lovely helpers in the form of praying mantises. Nice to see them around.

If you picked your hops on the later side, they may have been "light" to begin with, as they do seem to start drying on the bine if you wait long enough.

As for the Chinook, I have no idea why it suddenly decided to lay down a growth spurt this late. In any case, if it hasn't set any burrs by now it's unlikely it'll produce anything this year, as the plants respond to the sun cycle, and they're getting less light now...

Cheers!

day_trippr said:

If you picked your hops on the later side, they may have been "light" to begin with, as they do seem to start drying on the bine if you wait long enough.

As for the Chinook, I have no idea why it suddenly decided to lay down a growth spurt this late. In any case, if it hasn't set any burrs by now it's unlikely it'll produce anything this year, as the plants respond to the sun cycle, and they're getting less light now...

Cheers!

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I wondered about late picking and if it could have that effect. Thanks for the confirmation. I was afraid I would pick to early so I did try to wait for that good papery feeling.

Hops are so weird... and yet I love them so much.

I have been wondering about this myself, is there harm in waiting and having the cones starting to dry on the bine? Mine had a very papery feeling and dried out very quickly, Still green and smelling great but would they be better if i pick them earlier?

ChefRex said:

I have been wondering about this myself, is there harm in waiting and having the cones starting to dry on the bine? Mine had a very papery feeling and dried out very quickly, Still green and smelling great but would they be better if i pick them earlier?

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Everything I have read on here is that it's better to pick late then too early. On the other hand there have been a few threads that mention garlicky, cheesy, onion smelling hops and in that case it's bad.

I posted another thread tonight because on the same bine i picked another batch and some of these have a funk to them that doesn't smell anywhere near as nice as the first batch I picked. I think there is a sweet spot for picking. I might have gone over by waiting a full week to pick the second batch. One big learning adventure isn't it?