Goofy hop observation

Has anyone else noticed with your new hops (those of you growing yours for the first time) the anxiety is reminiscent of that first beer you made? I've been reading these threads, and it kind of made me chuckle when I realized that all the "there's a spot on a leaf! Oh NO!!!" and "I've planted them 3 days ago and still no sprouts; is everything ok??!" isn't too far from all the "I pitched my yeast two hours ago and nothing has happened!!!" threads.

At least, I chuckle, and then check my rhizomes for some shoots, because they've been planted for 3 days, and there's still nothing...

Ok, I need a homebrew...

heh, I totally know what you mean doxology. Just like any other of your little babies you want to see them grow and mature.... and get you drunk. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some apfelwein to check on, I pitched the yeast an hour ago and need to go post a thread as to why I don't smell anything yet.

ummmm, +1 for that idea

I too, know what you mean. Every day on my lunch hour I come home and check on my beer fermenting in the basment and how my first year babies are doing in the yard. My Magnums are about 3" and my Cascades are just poking out of the soil.

bf1001 said:

My Magnums are about 3" and are just poking out

Click to expand...

I couldn't resist the edit there

I have 8 in the ground and 7 have sprouted. I check them every evening when I get home from work. I also just had the silly (anal) idea of charting the height of each on a weekly basis and throwing the sheet in my brewlog book under the hops data tab. And update in future years!!

Am I going insane???

Jeeze you guys must not garden much, you don't have to check them that often, most plants are fine by them selves and adapt fairly well. The one big thing is that you have to realize and accept is that not all of them are going to make it.

I know rhizomes are not seeds, but out of a pack of pumpkin seeds with say 20 or so seeds in it, I usually wind up planting 4 or 5 of the strongest plants in my garden and throwing the others out. So don't be too disappointed if the plant doesn't make it or if the plant doesn't produce much the first year. Normal gardeners actually thin seedlings more than you expect, and babying your plants, watering every day, excessive trimming ect. can do more harm than good if you don't know what you are doing.

After a week in the soil and no sprouts I was google-ing everything about "first year growth" and "how long to sprout". I was thinking about posting and asking about it, but then I realized how stupid I was and read a different message on the forum that reminded me. "Patience Grasshopper". Now all of my plants are sprouting...and I was gonna dig em up to see if they were doing anything. More homebrew helps

I planted a pair of Magnums and a pair of Chinooks yesterday. I looked this morning, and still nothing......sigh.

Ohmygawd ... I planted my Hops Sunday and they haven't sprouted yet, Did I kill them ??????


Kidding


Actually I'm relaxing with a home brewed ESB (yummy ! ) After hauling about 2 tons of mulch for the garden & hop yard < gotta Love Free Mulch ! But man my back is sore !

Skal!

Jens

yeah, well, I have reason to be concerned. My first set of rhizomes were planted almost 3 weeks ago. Started to sprout after 1 week, then it got cold and rained for 3 days straight--well, the sprouts whithered. and a few of the rhizomes almost got washed out of the soil. I hastily replanted them all, most appeared relatively healthy with some buds/sprouts. Then the next day, I noticed that the soil had turned to almost concrete hardness. I again, gently dug them up, cleared out a big a$$ hole for each, filled each hole with some high quality potting soil, and replanted each rhizome. Whew.

so, I definitely know the level of angst. Although I think mine is a little justified. I have crappy soil, and manic-depressive weather conditions. My new 8 rhizomes are being started inside--and one of my fuggles sprouted after one day. Still, it has only grown about 2mm since yesterday.

98EXL said:

I couldn't resist the edit there

Click to expand...

Ya' liked that huh?

You should see the size of my Zues. But I aint gonna show it to ya' cause I have no interest in little green people with bad vocabularies.

I have 2 that faltered back as a result of a late frost. No worries tho'. Temps will soon be in the 80's and hop growin' time will be ripe. Still fighting my effing cat tho'. Either he' sensless or just plain dumb cause no matter what I try, he sh!ts in my hop garden. On the one hand I could really care less. My other cat goes on the same patch of grass and it's the greenest patch in my lawn.

But on the other hand,.......ewwww!

It's kinda like the thought of peeing on your hops. You know that the nitrogen in the urea is readily taken up by the plant but, do you really "want that in your beer"?

Hops are nowhere near as bad as fruit trees. I've planted 20 in the last four years and less than half of them are still alive. Can't truly say any of them have grown at all since planting. Part of the problem is the types that do well here (like hazelnuts) are ones I'm not interested in growing.

I checked on the hops today, and a friggin squirrel had dug up my Crystal rhizome!!

It was still there, unharmed, but I had to, again, plant it back in the ground. Unbelievable. And to think I ran off all the stray cats around our house so the squirrels would return. What in the world would possess a squirrel to dig up a rhizome??

Biermann said:

What in the world would possess a squirrel to dig up a rhizome??

Click to expand...

Availability? Survival? Hunger?

I say get some chicken wire and make some cages around those rhisomes. Or, even better, lay the c wire over the rhisome spot and cover it with your soil or mulch. I'd expect once the critter realize it's a futile effort to get to the plant, they'll move on.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Availability? Survival? Hunger?

I say get some chicken wire and make some cages around those rhisomes. Or, even better, lay the c wire over the rhisome spot and cover it with your soil or mulch. I'd expect once the critter realize it's a futile effort to get to the plant, they'll move on.

Click to expand...

Or I could sit outside with a pellet gun and a beer and wait. . . .
My rhizomes in the ground are already compromised. . .(see previous posts), now squirrels.

On second thought, Squirrels are pretty good fried. . .