2011 Hop Garden Picture Thread

matt_mcdermit said:

Second year Newport hops have already reached the top of their 10ft. trellis. Any suggestions on what to do once they reach the top? I have about 4 bines with a fifth one breaking ground. Figure I will just let more grow since the others have already reached the top.

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I would run some heavy twine to the front of that porch. It looks like that is an entry way? Run them all the way across!

This is my first attempt at growing hops and it came together a little haphazard; last weekend someone in my club posted that they overbought when they went to a hop farm upstate. I traded a few ounces of pellets for 5 rhizomes that were really big and had 3 to 5 inch shoots and a few sets of leaves on them. I stop by the hardware store on the way home and picked up a bag of mulch, top soil, twine and eyelets. I dug two holes around these random I-beams that stick out of my yard, mixed the top soil with some compost and slapped them in the holes with some the mulch around the top . This weekend I’ll run the twine from the I-beams to just below the gutters on the garage which will give them about 20’ of room. Some time this summer I’ll build some boxes around them. It works out well; I’ve always been worried my kids would impale them selves running around the yard down there on the I-beam thing.
We’ll see.


Edit: sorry if i give whiplash or a kink in your neck I forgot to rotate the image

Here's mine in Northern DE. These are Brewers Gold... still waiting for the fuggles to stick their head up. All of the plants are first year and the Fuggle rhyzomes were kind of small.

Here's my submission;

1st year Crystal, planted March 21st.

I have 2 Crystal, 3 Cascade, a 1 Centennial, 1 Nugget, 2 Perle and 1 Williamette
here (all first year plants).

Nice use of the "i beams" runs4beer!

Here is one of mine! I planted three rhizomes in some pots. I plan on moving in the next few years, so I'll be able to transplant them eventually.

Finally got my trellis up last night and hope to run the ropes today. As you can see my 2nd year Columbus is looking for something to grab hold of. Trellis height is about 9-1/2'

Boxes from left to right...Cascade, Centennial, Columbus, and Chinook.

100 hills and counting . . .









Water tower for gravity fed irrigation. more barrels will be added soon.


Here is a picture of a second year cascade working its way up the rusty tractor.

Rockgineer, Wow that set up looks really good I need higher posts like that for my garden. I've been training them across but I should just go up.
Thanks for the inspiration. The cat joined in Nice hops everyone! Virginia Wolf
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So my hops weren't doin it where they were on account of not rough sun. So I moved them to a more Southerly facing location.

2 bags of stone (drainage) 4 yds of garden soil 2 yds manure and some mulched up relatively composted leaves.

There are 2x fuggles and 1 x Brewers Gold (the one with growth)

My hops bed is in place.. just need to build the trellis, mix in some "high test" soil, and wait for June 1st to put our hop babies in the ground. It measures 16'x4' (outside dimensions) and the trellis will be ~16' tall.

How it looked this morning:


After more landscape timbers and tilling (still have some sods to break up):


Some of our hop babies:



And right where I'm gonna be tonight:

Here are some pix of the multiple rhizomes that hopfarmer sent me. Chinook, Magnum, Cascade, Nugget, Willamette. Thanks again, hopfarmer!

I've only got the Cascade planted so far due to finals coming up next week but afterward I'm going to finish planting the rest in planter pots.

The last pic is of my 2nd year Willamette plants.

Ive seen those bags before.Wait till you see what your second year do,Im trying to re invent the wheel today.About to make my 3rd trip to napa to re build this old narrow of set disc plow AGGGGH Its about 75 degrees and I might stop by the beer store .Happy Planting Cheers Glen

9 first years, and 1 second year all growing strong. The trellis is only about 7feet tall, but I have some plans for dealing with that.

Really, no one had any questions about this pic I posted a few pages back?

This guy started to bud, just a little, and then my cat stripped all the leaves off. It's still alive, but not looking so good.

DrJerryrigger said:

Really, no one had any questions about this pic I posted a few pages back?

This guy started to bud, just a little, and then my cat stripped all the leaves off. It's still alive, but not looking so good.

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I am sorry to hear that. How is the ho plant doing?

3RD year centinel after first trimming cut about 30 stalks from it. wish i had more more room but the fence there is the property line and the bed is about 5 feet long. four ropes up about ten feet.

May not be pretty, but here's my first year plants. Magnum is growing great with one long bine and a few more small ones peeking through. The Willamette however has only the one and since I took this picture it's turned yellow

The plants are in rich compost with composted manure added. Not shown is the rhubarb a few feet away that is already huge.

The bine has the line!

Finally got the ropes strung up on my trellis. Time to do some training and trimming.

DrJerryrigger said:

This guy started to bud, just a little, and then my cat stripped all the leaves off. It's still alive, but not looking so good.

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I'm confused, is the last part pertaining to the plant or the cat?!
Tom

16' 4x4 and a 48" sleeve. Chinook, Cascade and Centennial.

Latest on my Cascade-Williamette and Nugget

DanPoch said:

May not be pretty, but here's my first year plants. Magnum is growing great with one long bine and a few more small ones peeking through. The Willamette however has only the one and since I took this picture it's turned yellow

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I'm confused. Should I be expecting more than one bine from each of my rhizomes? As of right now I've got one each, and my Nugget seems to have stalled in the last couple weeks.

bernerbrau said:

I'm confused. Should I be expecting more than one bine from each of my rhizomes? As of right now I've got one each, and my Nugget seems to have stalled in the last couple weeks.

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Yes, a healthy plant should be growing multiple shoots. However, I think you're supposed to cut back all but a couple of the biggest ones so that all of the plant's energy goes to those.

Do not cut back on first year.On first year you let all grow,that is what establishes your crown .Wait more should appear.Cheers Glen

I planted my Mt Hood hops at a relative's house last year. They barely grew until the end of the season, and then they only produced a handful of cones. This year, they are going nuts already. The bines are thick as a finger, and the leaves are freakin enormous. Here's hoping the cones will be the size of a fist. heheh.

platypotamus said:

I planted my Mt Hood hops at a relative's house last year. They barely grew until the end of the season, and then they only produced a handful of cones. This year, they are going nuts already. The bines are thick as a finger, and the leaves are freakin enormous. Here's hoping the cones will be the size of a fist. heheh.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/75742922@N00/5697771611/

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Dude your face looks unreal!!! Idk your mouth just looks like someone photo shopped a black hole there. Lol but nice hops nonetheless.

Hopfarmer said:

Do not cut back on first year.On first year you let all grow,that is what establishes your crown .Wait more should appear.Cheers Glen

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Ha! Oops! Oh well so do you let them grow all willy-nilly or do you support each one of them?

BenjaminBier said:

Dude this looks awesome.

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thanks man!

Kokopuff829 said:

Dude your face looks unreal!!! Idk your mouth just looks like someone photo shopped a black hole there. Lol but nice hops nonetheless.

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hah. yeah, that does look a bit freaky. my disbelief was just that deep, I guess.

My hops trellis with my rhizomes finally in. I'm kind of tight for areas to get full sun because of tree shade in the back yard. That's why the location is kind of funky. However, I think it will work out well.

PS: the twine is 13' long

I'm curious how much training you'll have to do. My hops like straight up, any sort of angle is more work for me, but that's a comment not a complaint. Looks good, wish I had some of those stones.

I find myself having to train my Perle bine every day. Damn thing keeps curling backwards away from the wire.

Here are some quick pictures from this morning. Third year Chinook.

bernerbrau said:

I find myself having to train my Perle bine every day. Damn thing keeps curling backwards away from the wire.

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Make sure you are training them in a clockwise direction as it goes up the trllis/wire/twine

I was, clearly, not prepared for this type of growth this year:



P.S. 4th year Mt. Hood (but only second year at my house)

FrewBrew said:

Make sure you are training them in a clockwise direction as it goes up the trllis/wire/twine

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I am. I think the problem is the wires are at 45 degrees and pointing east. They like to follow the sun so they always end up twisting away from the wire.

Jaysus said:

I was, clearly, not prepared for this type of growth this year:


<image deleted>

P.S. 4th year Mt. Hood (but only second year at my house)

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Just a word of advice. I use that same lattice for my grape vines. They're heavier, but even with 4x4 posts and 2x4 framing, the vines tended to weigh down the midsection of the lattice and the weather warped it. I would recommend reinforcing at least the top so that it doesn't warp in the late season as much.

Teromous said:

Just a word of advice. I use that same lattice for my grape vines. They're heavier, but even with 4x4 posts and 2x4 framing, the vines tended to weigh down the midsection of the lattice and the weather warped it. I would recommend reinforcing at least the top so that it doesn't warp in the late season as much.

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Do you think I need to be concerned about the lattice actually breaking this season? I have no problem taking them down in the fall and replacing them next year if warping is the main concern. I sure would hate to see the whole thing come down though.

TomRep said:

I'm confused, is the last part pertaining to the plant or the cat?!
Tom

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Ha Ha Ha, the cat is fine, she's just fat and lazy like always. The plant is now coming back. It looks weak, but alive.