New Hop Garden 2014 (pic heavy)

Brewer's Friend 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
thaymond said:
Chinook and cascade are a great ipa combo! You can get that piney goodness with a boatload of fruity goodness from the Cascade. Chinook gives me some grapefruit as well. My red ipa has copious amounts of Chinook, Zeus, and Cascade in it. It's a great journey. WilliamSlayer, how do you plan on drying them? It's never too early to begin building a hop oast. View attachment 284003
:) hops are so much fun!
Click to expand...

Got to say... I haven't thought that far ahead! The process of creating the cages, then getting the hops up onto the strings, has kept me busy. You are right that Cascade and Chinook work well together. A dry hopped APA would be more up my alley than an IPA though. :)

I have a plan for a better watering system as my next project.

I haven't seen anything that looks like hops cones yet... but I have new bines emerging from the ground on the cascade plant this week! Am I right in thinking that I need to clip them to keep the plant focused on growing the current bines?
 
WilliamSlayer said:
Got to say... I haven't thought that far ahead! The process of creating the cages, then getting the hops up onto the strings, has kept me busy. You are right that Cascade and Chinook work well together. A dry hopped APA would be more up my alley than an IPA though. :)

I have a plan for a better watering system as my next project.

I haven't seen anything that looks like hops cones yet... but I have new bines emerging from the ground on the cascade plant this week! Am I right in thinking that I need to clip them to keep the plant focused on growing the current bines?
Click to expand...

If it is a first year plant or rhizome, I'd leave it alone. Root development is key. In year two, hack those babies down!
 
How do you plan once they flower and each cage is super thick of bines getting to the hops on the backside closest to the fence. Also do u have any probs with the bines crossing over to the next line where they butt up against each other.
 
olotti said:
How do you plan once they flower and each cage is super thick of bines getting to the hops on the backside closest to the fence. Also do u have any probs with the bines crossing over to the next line where they butt up against each other.
Click to expand...

When they're in the back of the cage and things get thick, they're allowed to do whatever they want. Throughout the season, I'm managing all of the sidearms as well so that it isn't a great big gigantic cluster of craziness. I only lost 20 to 30 cones to tangles last year.
 
thaymond said:
When they're in the back of the cage and things get thick, they're allowed to do whatever they want. Throughout the season, I'm managing all of the sidearms as well so that it isn't a great big gigantic cluster of craziness. I only lost 20 to 30 cones to tangles last year.
Click to expand...

Cool. Just curious as your setup maybe the way I go when I transplant my plants out of the pots. The more I think of making a trellis system the less I really want to do it and my backyard is setup pretty much like yours. Do u run the twine through eye bolts in the frame and is there a certain pattern u ran the twine.
 
olotti said:
Cool. Just curious as your setup maybe the way I go when I transplant my plants out of the pots. The more I think of making a trellis system the less I really want to do it and my backyard is setup pretty much like yours. Do u run the twine through eye bolts in the frame and is there a certain pattern u ran the twine.
Click to expand...

I run each line starting in the top right corner through eye bolts, run it in a helical pattern to the bottom of the trellis then up the opposite side in the same pattern. I then repeat this for the top left corner, making the x pattern. I would suggest leaving a good 2-3 feet between each box as WilliamSlayer did. This allows for easy access to all lines. In July and August, it fills out like crazy.
 
My cascade has grabbed the bull by the horns! Several feet of growth this week. I cut back several side bines and ones starting only just now to emerge from the ground.

When can I start to expect cones to develop? Should I already be seeing them? (I haven't seen anything so far)

The Chinook seems to still be adjusting to the transplant. Only a few inches of growth since planting.

View attachment 1434893763853.jpg

View attachment 1434893778221.jpg
 
The}re looking great! First year plants are interesting because some will give a yield and some wont. Chinook is likely establishing roots. I dont count on any cone development until July. Chinook was first last year and looks to be first this year. Lots of sidearms with burrs starting to form. Cascade and zeus were late bloomers last year and will likely do the same again this year. Nugget is always last to the flower party. I see lots of posts with fully developed cones, people harvesting already, and I have to tell myself that the plants will be ready when they're ready. Mid July seems to be when the mass flowering starts for me. End of july is when everyone is in full blooms. I shoot for labor day (ish) for harvesting.
 
Lol that feels like forever from now!

:)

I've HEARD that pulling up a lawn chair next to the plants and staring at them makes them grow faster....

;-)
 
View attachment 1434940670453.jpg

Things are progressing nicely. The picture is a few days old. Nugget oddly enough is slow growing this year. She clearly likes it much sunnier and hotter than it has been. All others are past the 12 foot mark. Chinook had two tragic bine accidents, cutting off at 15 and 17 feet. One was wind related, and the othe was my fault. Ill take pics after today, it was hot and sunny all day.
 
Huge growth from yesterday! It was the first day of full sun in a week, and tge first full day of no rain. The plants obviously soaked up all the water they could and put it into growth.

Compare this picture to the above picture in the previous post. This is only a few days difference.
View attachment 1434975726007.jpg

Nugget
View attachment 1434975762472.jpg
Zeus
View attachment 1434975778693.jpg
Cascade
View attachment 1434975797426.jpg
Chinook
View attachment 1434975811360.jpg

Cascade was yesterdays big winner. 2 full feet of growth in a day! It went from the node in the picture to the tip. I used my forearm for scale. The top of the tip is about 6 inches up my upper arm.
View attachment 1434975950807.jpg
View attachment 1434975980063.jpg

I also pulled a couple of runners and put them in pots. Cascade is really the only one that does not have any viable runners. Ill definitely have to cut rhizomes next spring. If anyone is interested in Nugget, Zeus, Chinook, and possibly Cascade, let me know in the spring. Ill definitely have some available.
View attachment 1434976266062.jpgView attachment 1434976275701.jpgView attachment 1434976286887.jpg
 
Growth record as of 9:00 AM CST. Measures are rounded to the nearest foot and by bine. I have 4 bines per plant on 4 lines. I have three casualties on 2 crowns. One due to wind, one due to me being too aggressive in winding, and one to a bug. Those are noted with {break}. Sidearms will be used to try and replenish the breaks

Nugget 10', 14', 15', 15 {break}'

Zeus 10', 10', 14', 14'

Cascade 15', 16', 16', 17'

Chinook 12{break}', 18', 18', 18{break}'
 
Chinook... just a few inches of growth this week. Not giving up hope, but this looks like there will be no 'take off' this first year.

Cascade... the opposite story. "We are cascade, prepare for assimilation! " This plant will reach the top of my 18 feet of string this week. Planning on what to do after that. :)

Question on side arms at this point in the growth.

When do I need to worry that they are sapping cone production? Is there a certain length, or a look to it that will tell me its a waste of resources?

View attachment 1435410523993.jpg

View attachment 1435410653210.jpg
 
Looks great! Once Cascade hits the top just continue winding around the top square. It will bush out once the plant senses that the vertical growth is complete. Cascade and Chinook make a tasty IPA. You'll be happy you did!

What's your plan for harvesting? Screens and a fan? I have plans in the DIY section (and above in BYO). It worked fantastically last year and will be using it again for this year's harvest.

My Chinook's leading the pack, but I had 2 breaks a few weeks ago. Sidearms and spurs are sprouting everywhere. My Cascade is surprisingly kicking rear. No runners from the crown, but lots of growth. Not bad for being nearly DOA last year. Zeus and Nugget are surprisingly the opposite. they're kinda just existing at this point. Once the weather actually turns to summer, I'm confident that they will explode.

Keep up the great growth! Your plants look very healthy. I love seeing pictures of these plants growing.
 
I remember your pictures for drying them out from last year. In fact I can have a few saved on my phone! I do not think I will attempt something quite that elaborate this year. Not being sure how much I will harvest, I think I will attempt one or two wet hops pale ales hoping that I will get enough for that number of brews.

Forecast is for rain for the next few days. Hoping they like it! :)
 
Growth record as of 6:00 AM CST. Measures are rounded to the nearest foot and by bine. I have 4 bines per plant on 4 lines.

Nugget 12', 16', 18', 15 {break}'

Zeus 12', 12', 14', 16'

Cascade 17, 18', 20', 20'

Chinook 12{break}', 20', 21', 18{break}' multiple side arms taking main bine properties.

Both cascade and Chinook are loaded with spurs. No male parts (so far) to report. Chinook and Zeus hermed out on me last year so that's something to keep an eye on, though I'll chalk that up to transplant shock or temperature shock. Now that they have a full season in they should be fine.

Its been a very mild summer with lots of rain and low temps. Hopefully we can start getting higher temps during/after the 4th of July. Nugget and Zeus are not fans of the weather, but Chinook and Cascade are loving it.

View attachment 1435576865238.jpg
 
Thats a nice looking yard there! Here's my own yard from this week. When I started this project, I did not anticipate the other vegetables blocking out the cops! I figured they would climb above the tomato and cucumber plants. Perhaps next year that will be the case!

View attachment 1435761145795.jpg
 
As a first timer this is great to see. All the weeks of worrying paying off.

"It's a girl" ... lol good one!

The SMELL. ... its.... different? Than I thought it would be. Perhaps its the freshness.... or the ammount of cones? I had very vivid dreams last night after training the bines before bedtime.
 
WilliamSlayer said:
As a first timer this is great to see. All the weeks of worrying paying off.

"It's a girl" ... lol good one!

The SMELL. ... its.... different? Than I thought it would be. Perhaps its the freshness.... or the ammount of cones? I had very vivid dreams last night after training the bines before bedtime.
Click to expand...

The spurs are just the beginning, wait until you pull off a buckets full of ripe cones and brew with them! Your first homebrew with your own hops is awesome. Mine was an all nugget black IPA. Im still slowly making my way through my 4 lbs of harvest from last year.

Ha! If youre catching a smell off of one, my bet is chinook. What smell are you getting from your plant?

Its funny because mine has a very distinct dank/garlic/B.O. smell after I train the bines. Thankfully, the lupulin in the cones smells nothing like that. My zeus plant smells after i train bines too. Its more like what ill get on the cones. Cascade, and Nugget dont put off any aromas until the cones are ripe. That's when cascade shines!

Also, your garden is looking super robust. Your tomato plants are killer! So much so that they appear to be taking away the sunlight from your chinook plant. 😲 One thing to keep an eye on, especially if you have any gourds or melons growing, is the chance for powdery mildew. Those big broadleaf plants seem to always catch mildew fever. I didn't grow any this year for that reason.
 
And we have reached the top! Side arms are getting a bit out of hand. Wrapping around one another, and reaching out for the other cage. I really am not sure that there is much I can do to either help or contain it??

My brother in law suggests that I give them a blast of fertilizer this week to help with cone production. In your experience is such a thing a help? Does size really matter when it comes to quality in hops?

View attachment 1436221375836.jpg
 
Looks good. Remember theres still a good month of growing to go. It will get unwieldly soon.

Try to find a fertilizer that his high in potassium. Thats the nutrient that promotes flower growth. Too much nitrogen will promote green growth and can screw up your cones and give you lots of "angel wings" or cones with leaves in them. I used bone meal, but switched to a vegetable fertilizer thats 3-0-4. I read that hardwood ash is also good. Im hesitant to use in case of acidity decrease. Maybe someone with experience can chime in on that?
 
Very noticeable! I am a bit worried as I saw some white spots on my lower leaves today.... from the pics others have displayed, it looks like classic powdery mildew. :-(
 
Edit: tried to quote you, slayer...but it quoted a different person on a different thread. Not sure what that's all about. Anyway...

I read to cut off all infected leaves, then spray with a fungecide. There was a baking soda/ water mix also that i saw. I was worried last year that my pumpkin plant would infect everything. Thankfully, that is not the case. The pumpkin was COVERED in powdery mildew. No signs of it also this year thankfully.
 
Growth record as of 5:00 AM CST. Measures are rounded to the nearest foot and by bine. I have 4+ bines per plant on 4 lines. I have no idea if bines are growing and contributing underneath all of the vegetation. I can't see the bottom of the box 😆.

Nugget 18', 20', 24', 15 {break}'

Zeus 18', 20', 20', 20' (18 and one 20 have topped out)

Cascade 20', 20', 22', 22' (all bines have topped out)

Chinook 12{break}', 20', 21', 18{break}' both breaks have sidearms that took over main nine duty. Those are several feet long. (All bines have topped out)

Many bines have now reached the top of the cage, and are beginning the wind around the square.

I was looking at last years post, and saw that I made an x and had some horizontal growth from bines in the middle. I did not donthat this year, so the top square will likely not fill out as it did in last year's pictures.

Now all plants have begun to flower. No reported herming this year. I haven't watered much all season, save for the times I have fertilized. The rain has taken care of that. With all of the rain, I am surprised that it hasn't stressed the plants out more than it has. I have a few lower leaves that are yellowing or wilting, but I'll chalk that up to reallocation or nutrients from the lower leaves to the flowers.

So far, the 4 ply sisal twine has held up and is feeling strong. IIRC the jute last year was beginning to snap at this time. I hope that remains the case. Not having to worry about late summer wind storms will be helpful.

And now, the pictures.

Nugget
View attachment 1436869189337.jpg
Zeus
View attachment 1436869228138.jpg
Cascade
View attachment 1436869288519.jpg
Chinook
View attachment 1436869305448.jpg
Profile
View attachment 1436869329969.jpg

Tons of tiny spurs everywhere. I hope that harvest this year is as robust as last year!
 
With about a month left of growth to go, I would think your harvest would be awesome! Did some watering myself today, and the vines have begun to twist back on themselves. Just trying to keep them draped over the top of the cage without any breakage!
 
Just got back from vacation. All plants bines are topped off with a cone at the tip. All plants have spurs and most have full grown cones.
NuggetView attachment 1437866666565.jpg
ZeusView attachment 1437866683238.jpg
CascadeView attachment 1437866707202.jpg
ChinookView attachment 1437866719442.jpg

Cascade and Zeus are both sporting some boy parts. Both must have experienced some stress at some point? Maybe the ton of rain this year got to them.
View attachment 1437866850218.jpgView attachment 1437866868941.jpg

Some nice looking Chinook cones forming already. View attachment 1437866922107.jpgView attachment 1437866936328.jpg

A friend helping eat the fiends... View attachment 1437866975743.jpg

And a cage profileView attachment 1437867019313.jpg

Here's to another great season. My time winding bines is done. Now to wait for the harvest!
 
Watered the girls down this morning. They seemed happy. For some reason, there is a small bine on my Zeus that abruptly dried up and died. I suspect a pinch in the bine, but I can't see it with all of the growth. It's cost me about 40 cones though😢.

Chinook and Cascade will be ready for harvest on time around labor day. Cones are still green and lupulin is color-wheel yellow. Zeus and Nugget are about 2-3 weeks behind in cone production, but are very cone/spur dense. Harvest may go into the 2nd or even 3rd week of September...hopefully not. It looks like it is shaping up to be a bountiful harvest this year, so I'll see how it goes in the next few/three weeks.
 

Similar threads

BugAC
Homegrown Hops prognosis - Southern Louisiana
Replies
5
Views
1K
BugAC
BugAC
S
Beer Garden Hops
Replies
8
Views
1K
sbbn
S
H
Late-season new hops bines
Replies
2
Views
900
mashpaddled
M
HM-2
New England IPA "Drenched In [Hop]": Single-Hop Hazy IPA "Framework"
Replies
2
Views
493
HM-2
HM-2
M
Pruning question
Replies
2
Views
932
messersc
M
wps-hbt2

Latest posts

Back
Top