When are my hops ready to pick?

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Buds? What do you think you are growing there? ;) I cant grow hops where I'm at but have studied a little on them and since no one with exp has answered here goes. I think they are not ready yet. I don't see any evidence of Lupine and the outer leafs of the cones are still very green without so much as a brown tip. They way I understand it is the aroma changes quite a bit as they are coming to harvest time. It is right before harvest that most of the lupine develops and the tips of the cone leaves start to brown a bit. Pay no attention to what was posted as I have never even seen a live hop plant.:D
 
I have four varieties that are just starting to form cones, and one variety that is almost ready to harvest. I think the type of hop makes as much of a difference as the growing conditions. The one that is almost ready to harvest, is growing on the same trellis as another variety, and the other one is hardly showing any hop development.
 
There are a couple of ways to tell. One is to squeeze a cone between your thumb and fore finger and if the cone stays compressed, it's not ready, it should "rebound" to it's basic shape. The other, that has been mentioned is the tips of the cones will start to brown. The "petals" on the cone should also start to feel kind of papery as opposed to how they feel when they are still immature.

Maybe this helps.
 
The flick test is probably the easiest. That tells you the stem has dried out & the cone is as mature as it will get.
 
I like the flick test. Never heard of it before, but since I have 5 varieties this year, I think I'm going to try that method, this year.

Thanks for the tip cuinrearview !!!!
 
So my chinook cones are papery, there is yellow lupulin inside of them when I tear them open, and they are turning brown but they absolutely do not fall off when I flick them. Is it time to harvest?
 
So my chinook cones are papery, there is yellow lupulin inside of them when I tear them open, and they are turning brown but they absolutely do not fall off when I flick them. Is it time to harvest?


I'm seeing thee same thing with my cascades and centennial, they are browning, and some even look a little yellow, but they won't flick off. I'm assuming that its not good to have to pull hard to get them off.

I guess what I'm asking is:
Is the flick test, the final test, so if it does flick off dont pick them?
 
Mine never did flick off. I just took a pair of scissors and clipped them off one by one. I've read it's better to pick early than late.

Oh man, I'm so confused, I've read the exact opposite, that it was better to pick late than early, beacuse of the grassy smell i think :(
 
Just want to query the brains of the knowledgeable people here and see what you think of these Cascades. I'm wondering if they are ready to pick. Squeeze the cones and they spring back ...not as papery feeling as the Mt Hoods and Willamettes I picked but some papery feel. Here's a picture of them cut open... (I picked on browning a bit and one that wasn't ...most are not browning)

hopcut.jpg
 
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