MA Hops Garden

Just finished vac packing my first year crop of cascade, which did pretty well. from what I had read, I was not expecting much. I got 14, 1oz. packages of whole leaf, dried. So far I have harvested about 2/3 of what was on the vines. Vines are about 12' with 5-6 foot secondaries. I did not prune at all as it was the first year.

I also planted Centenial which did nothing?? Does anybody know if this is normal for centenial? Plants were in the same garden, using the same cultivation methods. They got about 3' tall and then just stopped growing. They still look healthy, but did not go. May be making root stock??

What about protecting the plants for winter?

hopefully someone has an answer i live in mass too. grew cascade and fuggle cascde were in the ground and they grew awesome. fuggles were in pots and basically did the same thing your centennials did except mine were much taller just didnt produce cones. did you use and bone meal or blood meal in your soil? as far as protecting them for the winter just trim them down and put a blanket over them and pile some mulch on top of that and when there are no more threats of a frost uncover those bad boys and watch em grow..well hopefully grow you could just do mulch if u want. thats what i did

I recall my first year with hops were short. The following year they got bigger. This is year three for my Hallertauer, Teetnang. Second for Cascade. My nugget is three years old and it was a huge crown when I got it so it grew like gang busters. I wouldn't worry too much, you are going to get more hops than you know what to do with. I knew what to do with them, MAKE BEER! I did give about 2 pounds of nugget away, I got that much.

My 2nd year fuggles did OK. They are a low yield hop so I am not too worried. My cascades and centennials took off. On 2 year old plants, the crowns are huge and the root system was immense. My first year yields on all of these was.. eh.

Winterizing: cut bines 1" above ground. Cover with shredded leaves from fall cleanup.


-Will