Hop Report

Just back from China again only to say, "Wow!" Some explosive growth occurred while I was away!

My Nugget & Cascade are growing like mad!!! Nugget on the left, Cascade on the right.

About two weeks:

• The cascade has gone from about 5' to 13' - Filled out well.
• The Nugget has gone from about 6' to 10' - Filled out, at least two healthy runners sprouted out 3' from the base.

I've got hops starting to show on both plants too.


Nugget Above - Cascade Below


I think the yield is gonna be good this year!!!

How are yours doing?

Post some pics of your set-up & the progress so far!!!

State your favorite style you brew with home grown.

Geez - I'm not the only one growin' them this year am I?

no, but after seeing how great yours are growing i am ashamed to show pics of mine. Not nearly that good!

How did you rig yours up? Also what are you growing? Cascade and Nugget are really fast growers. If you planted something else you might be at the right pace for the time of the year.

Wow, that's beautiful! Impressive!

Sorry, I'm not a home-grower, just like to acknowledge beauty when I see it.

Thanks! - If you have the space you should try to grow some. Rhisomes are cheap as well.

Very, Very impressive. Like the other poster, I dont grow them myself, but those are some beautiful plants. How much sun do they need? I dont have much room for growing, and the room I do have is mostly shade. Would I be able to grow without much sun?

Next year I will be joining the club of those who grow their own hops.... Now just to figure out which ones I want... Thinking of 3 verities.

I have 2 varietis growing, my first time with hops. So far the Chinook is growing much faster than the fuggle, but nowhere near the pics posted above. Again, this is first year growth, and since I may be moving next year, they are potted, so I am assuming they will not reach the full potential. My rig is two pots with a large plant stake inbetween, with several twine lines. I need to take pics tonight.

I am just hoping for a few ounces for the first year, considering the pots.

It was also a way to get SWMBO involved since she does not like many ales, and has been pregnate the last 8 months and loves gardening.

Here's mine as of a couple of weeks ago. Second year plants. The Liberty (front left) has reached the top and is sprawling across it. Everybody else is at least to the top now (~15'). Only the Fuggle (center rear) is struggling a long. When I planted this rhizome I was sure it wouldn't make it. It looked pretty poorly.

I took some of the extra shoots and stripped off some of the leaves and dug a shallow trench and buried the stripped section. I think they may have rooted by now so if anyone nearby would like some plants, drop me a line. I'll check this weekend to confirm they have rooted.

They look awesome. Next year I start, dammit.

cubbies said:

Very, Very impressive. Like the other poster, I dont grow them myself, but those are some beautiful plants. How much sun do they need? I dont have much room for growing, and the room I do have is mostly shade. Would I be able to grow without much sun?

Click to expand...

You need find a spot with about 6 hours of sunlight w/ good drainage or build up a dirt mound. These are 2nd year plants and are vigorous growers. A 2nd and 3rd year plant grows rapidly due to an already established root base. You will be suprised how fast they grow when its hot and they have water!!

I transplanted these in April. For each plant I dug a 1ft deep hole about 18" wide. Dumped in 40lbs of manure/compost and dropped the root base on the mound of manure. Then I surrounded it it black dirt and covered it with bark mulch.

I also used tomato cages until I could rig up a pole. I used electrical fence posts and 3/4" conduit. I used conduit clamps to attach the conduit to the post. It took 20 minutes. I tied 3 strings of jute twine from the cages to overhead jute twine. It didn't require any training of the bines. Its a super simple set-up.

Here is a small sampling of mine and these pic's are at least 3 weeks old:




BrewShed in the background......

Very Nice!!! I jealous about the brew shed!!! Your gonna be picking hops sooner than me. August is my 1st picking date, maybe if the weather is good I'll get some in July.

I need to spray mine with baking soda and water to keep the mildew an bugs away. Have you done anything like this with yours?

This is a first!! My Cascade has grown over the top of my hop pole by about 3'

In fact its two bines. Take a look.



They are very robust and thick so the will grow quite a bit more.

Has any of you had this problem before?

I don't want it growing down my Nugget rope. I can't get them mixed up. They are too similar in my opinion to have them growing side by side on one rope.

I guess clipping them is in order or wrapping them back on themselves. Maybe down the pole??

Will they grow upside down?

Any Suggestions....

Here are mine.