If you don't plant a Cascade you're crazy

I planted Magnum and Cascade last year and both produced first year.. This year the Cascade has gone crazy.. Last year the neighbor mowed the cascade over and they still reached 15 foot and bore!!!! To tell you the truth I never watered it last year and only planted it in some aged manure and soil mix... As of yesterday the cascades are multi-shooted with 5 or more over 6'.....You can't kill this thing and it's a pretty pretty plant... Stunning to see trellised against a wall or on a fence... IF you have never smelled a fresh cone , get over to a place where they grow them... No way to describe the taste and smell of fresh cascade hops.. Not knocking my magnum but it's not near as good looking as the cascade..LOL If the wife or GF gives you grief about planting a few, just let her see a few pics of them...

Just planted Nugget, Centennial, and Cascade, two rhizomes each. Nugget is coming up with a fury, I have a few Cent. sprouts, but Cascade is doing nothing for me. I think something dug up one of my Cascade rhizomes and spit it out as something it didn't want to eat. So I re-planted it. I so hope I can get the Cascade this year as it's one of my favorite hop.

Dave

My cascades are insane too.

Try Chinook -- they grow even faster!

I did plant Cascade, but with less than desirable results.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f92/termites-175643/

My second year Chinook is out of control and my first year Nuggest is crazy. Every other hops i have (over 10 varieties) is a pale second.

Cascade is a staple for pretty much every home grower. They seem to do well everywhere. There will be plants that do better however. Last year I put in a CTZ rhizome and she seems to like it here! She only got about 7 ft. up the trellis but threw an oz. and a half of cones and some were two inches long!

I'm not suggesting this variety just saying that there are good fits for every grower's climate. Cascade is a no-brainer. I'm still looking for a variety that gives me 4 lbs. a year. I know it's out there

I have 2nd year Cascade, Chinook, Halertau, and Saaz. Sadly, my Nugget didn't survive the winter. They are doing very well, but the Chinook has them all beat, I can't keep up with it, I cut a couple bines off, and two grow back in their place. Plus, they're spreading. I have them contained in a 2'x3' area, and there are several new plants coming up.

I'm curious now, what's CTZ?

homebeerbrewer said:

I have 2nd year Cascade, Chinook, Halertau, and Saaz. Sadly, my Nugget didn't survive the winter. They are doing very well, but the Chinook has them all beat, I can't keep up with it, I cut a couple bines off, and two grow back in their place. Plus, they're spreading. I have them contained in a 2'x3' area, and there are several new plants coming up.

Click to expand...

"Feed me, Seymour!"

CTZ, Columbus, Tomahawk, Zeus. The premise is the three are so similar they are essentially the same. I am growing Zeus, which seems to be a late bloomer. In a seperate thread there is a guy worrying about his Columbus which is slow compared to his Cascasde. I keep posting, compare same hop to same hop, not hop to different hop. Anyway I keep telling him my Cascade is about the same height as his and my Zeus is about the same height as his Columbus so he's fine. Comparing different hops isn't appropriate as they have different growth spurts, different yields, and different times when these occur.

Yes different hops should mature at different times also.

My neighbor wanted some of my hops to grow at his house. I put some Cascades in a pot for him. He left it in the pot and didn't plant it. Finally he threw out the pot next to his house. Now he has Cascades growing up the side of the house a la Jack and the Beanstalk.

I have 6 Cascades planted in a row. They are all growing at different rates.

This thread bums me out. I planted a Fuggles and Cascade about two months ago. The Fuggles is 3 feet up the rope and my Cascade has only had 1 bine come up and seems to have been stuck at 3 inces for weeks now. I'm hoping the recent 80 degree weather will jump start it.

Rick500 said:

I'm curious now, what's CTZ?

Click to expand...

ColumbusTomohawkZues

It's said that these are one in the same plants under differeing trademarked names. Never seen anything to substantiate it but, meh.

Brewers Gold, Cascade, and Zues are my early risers and largest producers.

I planted a mystery variety last year. I bought the plant from a gardening store and they had no idea what it was. It only grew about 5 feet and didn't produce a single flower last year. This year it's out of control. I went ahead and cut a rhizome off of the original plant and replanted that. It's already popping shoots out, too. The cascade and chinook rhizomes that I planted aren't even sprouting yet. I only planted those a couple of weeks ago, though. I'll give them a couple more weeks before losing hope. They sat in the fridge for a month and a couple of the shoots were starting to turn brown before I put them in the ground so who knows what they'll do.

GilaMinumBeer said:

ColumbusTomohawkZues

It's said that these are one in the same plants under differeing trademarked names. Never seen anything to substantiate it but, meh.

Brewers Gold, Cascade, and Zues are my early risers and largest producers.

Click to expand...

I have read that they are genetically identical and verified as such by testing.


Magnum, Nugget, Chinook... all of those kick the crap out of my Cascade, at least in terms of vigor.

My first attempt at growing my own hops this year was with 2 planters of Cascade rhizomes. =] I hope to see the kind of growth you're reporting!

I planted about 6 cascade rhizomes that a friend sent to me about a week and a half ago, no growth yet. I really hope they take and get goin here pretty soon.

I tried ordering a cascade this year, but they sold out so quick. I didn't realize this, but the website I ordered from said they'd been taking orders since last summer. I only ordered mine this January and I thought I was ahead of time. I substituted a centennial instead which should do just as fine. It's got 6 bines growing now. I'll probably keep 2 or 3 for this year.

My second year cascade is doing very good, I have flowers already. My second year Chinook sprouted about a month ago but is just now taking off. I anticipate a decent harvest this year.

JMass said:

Yes different hops should mature at different times also.

My neighbor wanted some of my hops to grow at his house. I put some Cascades in a pot for him. He left it in the pot and didn't plant it. Finally he threw out the pot next to his house. Now he has Cascades growing up the side of the house a la Jack and the Beanstalk.

Click to expand...

To funny.

Rick500 said:

My cascades are insane too.

Try Chinook -- they grow even faster!

Click to expand...

This, I planted my chinook's a month later than the rest and they're tall than anything I have now. :rockin:

My cascade was the only one to produce first year.

3rd year, it was the only one to produce 80+ bines....

I now have 10 growing up 5 lines...

It is a monster.

out of the 5 rhizomes i ordered from northwesthops.com - 1 willamette, 1 fuggle, 1 nugget, 1 centennial and 1 cascade - the cascade is the only one that has not broke ground. All 5 were planted in planters with potting soil roughly 2 weeks ago.

the willamette grew nearly 10" over the weekend!!

Any advice for the cascade?...

Planted cascade and magnum 4 weeks ago. Magnums are about 18 1/2", cascades have broken ground. Getting worried.

After the first couple seasons of buying rhizomes I started to adopt the same RDWHAHB attitude with hop variety selection. Yah, I could buy magnum or nugget but the specs. on newport show a lot better vigor with better yields. Saaz would be nice, but sterling is similar AND produces a lot better. Same with mt. hood and hallertau. Here in America we have varieties that our best and brightest university students and professors work hard on developing and I'm going to take their word for it.

That being said I do have a couple nobles in my yard and as long as they come back I'll give them the same love I give the others. But if I add on it'll be varieties that give me immediate return and are fun to watch sprawl up the trellis.

Varieties that have done well in my yard in SW lower MI:

Cascade(duh)
Zues
Centennial
Sterling(first year got 20+ ft. vertical growth and 4oz. delicious dried)

On the fence:

Mt Hood: Lots of vertical growth but minimal cones. We'll see how year three goes
Newport: Damaged in year one but seems to be a very vigorous grower this year
Golding: First year plant took a beating from deer last year but seemed to like it here
Willamette: See Golding(both plants were about 5 min. drive from my house in deer land)


Can't recommend:

Hallertau: Maybe it's my placement but it's never seemed that interested in growing over two seasons.

We've recently moved and all of the plants except the Sterling(my "interested" boss grows it for me) will be coming with hopefully this fall or next spring so growing conditions will change dramatically despite only moving 10 minutes away.

If a new grower were to ask what I'd recommend for our area I'd pick CTZ(Zues in my case), Sterling, Cascade, and Centennial in that order. But a different yard with different soil conditions could change my order.

BuonAnno said:

This thread bums me out. I planted a Fuggles and Cascade about two months ago. The Fuggles is 3 feet up the rope and my Cascade has only had 1 bine come up and seems to have been stuck at 3 inces for weeks now. I'm hoping the recent 80 degree weather will jump start it.

Click to expand...

I have 2nd year and 1st year hops. I've read that Fuggle is hard to grow and Cascade is obviously the go to hop. My 1st year Fuggle is a close second to my Nugget and my 1st year Cascade is barely out of the ground. I've had two brewers over and showed them my Fuggle and they both have said, "Really?" Maybe I'm lucky, but my Fuggle's doing well.

I think I have read at least 100 times how good cascades grow. But so far out of 11 varieties I have, the Nuggets are the kings of growth. They out grow the cascades litteraly 2 to 1.


This pic was yesterday. The trellis is 16' and all those nuggets are about to top it.

I have 1 cascade out of 50 that is approaching the 16' mark the rest are all over the place from 2' to 12'.
Both the nuggets and the cascades are second year.
I am just not seeing the "stellar" growth out of the cascades that I read about here.

But at the same time some of the pics here on the forums of 2nd and 3rd year cascades look very similar to the larger cascades I have so I am forced to conclude...at least at this point, that cascades simply dont live up to the hype...so to speak. It would be nice if they prove me wrong this year as there is still plenty of growing time.

Retrofit said:

I have 2nd year and 1st year hops. I've read that Fuggle is hard to grow and Cascade is obviously the go to hop. My 1st year Fuggle is a close second to my Nugget and my 1st year Cascade is barely out of the ground. I've had two brewers over and showed them my Fuggle and they both have said, "Really?" Maybe I'm lucky, but my Fuggle's doing well.

Click to expand...

Yeah I heard the same about Fuggle's. I was even told by my LHBS that it wasn't a wise choice for a novice but I threw caution to the wind and they are growing extremely well!

Did you do anything special because all I did was dig a hole, put the root in, cover with garden soil and water.

DaveO said:

Just planted Nugget, Centennial, and Cascade, two rhizomes each. Nugget is coming up with a fury, I have a few Cent. sprouts, but Cascade is doing nothing for me. I think something dug up one of my Cascade rhizomes and spit it out as something it didn't want to eat. So I re-planted it. I so hope I can get the Cascade this year as it's one of my favorite hop.

Dave

Click to expand...

I planted Cascade, Centenial, and Columbus.......Centenial sprouted first at 2 weeks, Columbus up in 3 weeks, Cascade juast sprouted through at 5 weeks.

i found some info. for the CTZ folks out there:
http://www.hopsteiner.com/history11.htm
at the bottom of the page you'll find an explanation that zeus is genetically different than columbus/tomahawk.

cuinrearview said:

Can't recommend:

Hallertau: Maybe it's my placement but it's never seemed that interested in growing over two seasons.

We've recently moved and all of the plants except the Sterling(my "interested" boss grows it for me) will be coming with hopefully this fall or next spring so growing conditions will change dramatically despite only moving 10 minutes away.

If a new grower were to ask what I'd recommend for our area I'd pick CTZ(Zues in my case), Sterling, Cascade, and Centennial in that order. But a different yard with different soil conditions could change my order.

Click to expand...

I grow Hallertau - I don't think I get a whole lot but I don't need a whole lot. Most recipes that use Hallertau only use small amounts.

So how much hops do these plants actually produce? Do they produce cones in the first year or is it something you have to wait a few years for?

B-Hoppy said:

i found some info. for the CTZ folks out there:
http://www.hopsteiner.com/history11.htm
at the bottom of the page you'll find an explanation that zeus is genetically different than columbus/tomahawk.

Click to expand...

Not that this person isn't reliable, but it is just one website. So be careful what you chose to believe.

Here is a thread:
http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=75988

Columbus and Tomahawk are certainly identical, nobody disputes that. However, I have seen many mentions that the lawsuit over the strain revealed identical genetics and any difference in characteristics were simply based on the different growing conditions of the growers.

HokieBrewer said:

So how much hops do these plants actually produce? Do they produce cones in the first year or is it something you have to wait a few years for?

Click to expand...

I got several ounces from each of my plants first year (one bine each) wet.. This year there's no telling, I have 6 bines all over 8 foot and side growth already Most folks don't get first year cones, the hop puts most of it's energy into root development..

svengoat said:

I got several ounces from each of my plants first year (one bine each) wet.. This year there's no telling, I have 6 bines all over 8 foot and side growth already Most folks don't get first year cones, the hop puts most of it's energy into root development..

Click to expand...

I also got a couple ounces from each plant. I got a late start last year and the plants are looking good early this year. I hoping for about a pound each.

JMass said:

I grow Hallertau - I don't think I get a whole lot but I don't need a whole lot. Most recipes that use Hallertau only use small amounts.

Click to expand...

I think it's pretty funny. The first year I planted hops, I planted a cascade, a willamette and two hallertau rhizomes. The hallertau were the only ones to survive. I was surprised that the delicate noble hop strain trumped the other two varieties. I planted them late so last year I only got maybe 5 or 10 cones per plant. I'm hopping for a bit more this year.

svengoat said:

I got several ounces from each of my plants first year (one bine each) wet.. This year there's no telling, I have 6 bines all over 8 foot and side growth already Most folks don't get first year cones, the hop puts most of it's energy into root development..

Click to expand...

I'll be taking some wet and dry weights this year for the first time. I think I am going to have drowning quantities this year with 14 crowns. Bines are pushing 10 ft and have grown 4 ft in the last week.

As a proud papa I used to take weekly measurements , but with the 2nd year spurts I'm seeing there's no way I can hold off for that long .. And I was toying with counting the flowers.... No way my GF would let me hang out on a ladder all day doing that..

JMass said:

I grow Hallertau - I don't think I get a whole lot but I don't need a whole lot. Most recipes that use Hallertau only use small amounts.

Click to expand...

Agreed. I just feel that for the purpose of this forum(mostly new growers with questions) I can't recommend this variety. I'd love to have it produce like my other plants. And maybe at the new house it will. And maybe in MI it won't. I've had the plant for two seasons now and for how healthy the leaves and bines look it just doesn't grow very tall or produce many cones. Here's to year three