Half Barrel Organic Hops........COMPLETE!

A final update until the plants are mature and flowering.



No less than 10 Yards of soil dedicated to the hop yard build. It had been on-site for 1 hour by time I took the photo.



The same pile by nightfall. Man was I sore. About 3-4 hours of work via 6cf wheelbarrow.



All tucked in and ready for bed. You can just barley make out th hills. This was before the soil was watered in and settled.



A different perspective.

Fast forward! Mulch in, Irrigation in, and the Tradition and Golding have sprouted. There is also some Cilantro in there.



Golding and Cilantro/Coriander.



Hallertau Tradition.



Gotta know who's who and what's what.

Top wire attachment hardware. A cable clip, a modified S hook, and a welded ring. Bits of sisal rope and it's a done deal.



Image center. A 1"x10'-0" piece of EMT. I drilled a hole through the top and bolted in a carriage bolt. I used/will use this to hook the bolt head into the ring so that I can lift it off the hook for harvest. A little akward to maneuver but it works well.



Ooops. Almost forgot to show the drop lines.



Side project #1. The compost bin. Some old commercial real estate signs saved from the trash bin (by permission). I plan to keep the hop yard organic if possible. To date (this year), no chemical fertilizers have been used. Only compost, manure, and wood ash.

My next side project will be the drying oast. I cam upon a large pile of particle board sheets this weekend. Look to be from a garage shelving system. I'll have to clean them up from all the nails and see just how much useable wood is left. As it is now I have about 40 - 5' x 2' x 3/4" pieces.

BTW, This 4 image per post thing is annoying. Does it go away with a paid membership? I gotta do that.

That is pretty cool dude...looks like you really put in a great deal of thought and work into this. I don't have any experience growing hops, but I would bet its going to pay off. well done

Man, that looks like some serious effort - nice work! Hope the harvest goes well for you

All I know is that it had beetr pay off!

If these plants don't grow in this and thrive, well, then they just won't thrive in my area. But, I already know it to be true that hops will grow and thrive here. The real question is, will all the varietiues I have be happy.

very nice, I have to erect ma trelis this or next weekend

GilaMinumBeer said:

BTW, This 4 image per post thing is annoying. Does it go away with a paid membership? I gotta do that.

Click to expand...

No, it doesn't.
Set up looks great. Keep us all posted.

That is very impressive!!!

Some of my Rhizomes showed up today (Magnum, Steerling & Nugget) still waiting on Hallertau and Cascade from DIY. My photos will be up soon too!!

What kind of direct sunlight hours do you think they will recieve?

Kug

In the spring they get approximately 8-10 hours direct sun down to the base. After that the sun is too far back and the fence cast a shadow over the bottom 4 foot of the plant. Anything above 4 foot get full sun throughout the day.

By time arrives, the suns path will have shifted enough that the plants won't see shade until 6:00pm due to a large tree directly east of the yard.

I don't remember the full details but I did do a sun study for this location last year. I took photo's at random times, 3 time a day on the weekends and compiled them.

Endured a night of severe storm last night. Man was I edgy. But it was also good. A chance to storm test the drop line system and tweak it if there are wind related issues.

60 mph winds, and pea to walnut sized hail.

Everything survived intact. No repairs necessary. WhaHoo.

Of course the story may have been very sadly different had the "Hop Sails" been established.

Yeah I was gonna ask how it turned out. Mine are planted out in claremore where my mom lives. I hope they're not flooded or torn up.

One month update.

All but one (Cascade) has sprouted. The Garlic companions have sprouted too, all 78 bulbs. Anyone know how to reach Giada DeLeurentis?

I have a lot more stretch in the top wire than I expected and will be re-tensioning that this weekend. The unexpected stretch caused a fair amount of slack in the drop lines which in turn, allowed the drop lines to tear away a fair amount of leafy growth from the established bines.

This may have happened regardless of overhead line tension as we have had a few days of gusty winds, up to 60mph at the most extreme. But, had I been able to draw up the slack as I intended I think the damage would have been reduced.

Yesterday, I chose to very carefully dig the Cascade up to inspect. The oor system was healthy but, still bound up as a result of it's previous life in a container. I very carefully loosened the root ball up and replaced the crown into the soil making sure to get good soil contact with the root and keep the new rhisome growth at the surface to collect warmth.

The most noticeable thing about the soil was that it was still relatively cold although I did not take a temp reading. I would wager to guess that the soil was in the 50 to 60*F range and may have still been too cold for the Cascade to be comfy. Of course, we have also had a good bit of rain lately.

The Tradition and Goldings are approaching the 2.5 to 3 foot mark with a total of 6 bines on the Golding and 4 on the Tradition. All of the developing bines are approx. 1/4 to 3/8 in diameter in girth.

All other varieties (excluding the Cascade) have anywhere from 2 to 12 shoots that have poked through the mulch surface.

THE RACE IS ON!:rockin:

very nice update...any pics by chance? (I'm a visual learner )

GilaMinumBeer said:

One month update.

All but one (Cascade) has sprouted. The Garlic companions have sprouted too, all 78 bulbs. Anyone know how to reach Giada DeLeurentis?

Click to expand...

Yeah, I wish!