My Hops Garden Project

Well, here's the update, everyone.

My boy and I got out onto the ladder last week and harvested the hops that were ready. The Cascades (pictured below) WERE really ready, and I could have most likely harvested them a few days earlier but I wanted to error on the side of caution.

For other first-time harvesters, here's my experience with my hops. Some of the cones started to turn brown, and the top-most part of the cones started to curl up. The cones felt very papery and made a crunch like if you were squeezing a ball of tissue paper. They sprang back quickly and just felt "dry" and the lupulin was very gold. I did have some that weren't ready so I left them on the vine.

I had heard reports of them smelling citrius-like, but mine never really did. The aroma wasn't necessarily "strong" and didn't smell at all like the pellets, and for some reason I expected that it would. They smelled like weeds to me, but once I got into the pickin, it they smelled much more hop-like.

Both of the two, tall Cascade plants AND the Chinook on the fence by the trees have spurs from newly grown side-shoots, so I didn't touch those. About half of the Chinooks cones were ready so there are still probably 30-40 cones still on the plant. I didn't touch the Centennial on the fence, but those cones are teeny.

I took better pics, but here's one for now.

Most of these are Cascade, the ones in the bottom right are Chinooks. Very different looking cones.

Thanks for the update. My aroma observations in the hopyard are similar to yours. They don't really smell like pellets or like hop aroma you find in beer. I actually found it a bit overpowering once I started picking. (I cut the bines down and harvest on the ground in a huge pile o' bines) My Chinooks were ready 1-2 weeks before the Cascades. I do wonder if that was normal or if it was just an anomaly (for one of the 2 of us) that ours were ready in reverse order.

well, everyone, the harvest is over as of a few weeks ago. My 2 1/2 year old and I plucked the delicious cones and loved it. Max still talks about "pickin' da hops and puttin' em in the bucket so they can go in the beer..." Awesome. I had the start of a second harvest but the weather turned fairly cold here (Minnesota) fairly quickly and my October is booked just about every day for the first three weeks and I wouldn't have had time to harvest them so into the fire they went.



I ended up with a bout 8-9 ounces, mostly Cascade - maybe an ounce of Chinook. I consider it a success for first-year plants.





They never really smelled "hoppy" so I'm hoping for the best. Both the Chinooks and Cascades both smelled very similar and I will report what they taste like when I brew with them. I'm planning a SMASH (single malt and single hop) batch with them to get an accurate idea of what they taste like. I don't have a Vacuum sealer so the brew session will probably happen at the end of October or early November. They're in the freezer now and I'll probably throw them all in one batch for a Smash-a-licious (and hopefully not veggie tasting) IPA.

All the plants have been cut to about 6" or so of stub except for the Centennial on the corner of the fence because I blinked and hit it with the weed wacker. Whoops.

Not bad at all for first year, good work. Next year you'll have to have the whole family out harvesting.

Award for goofiest mash paddle goes to........ Gridlocked!

HA! I posted that pic so you could see it. It works, but you can see why I've already sketched out a new one... It just bugs me to look at it.

I followed this thread all the way to the end and then...
how did the beer turn out?

Man, what the hell was I thinking?!?!

chiteface said:

I followed this thread all the way to the end and then...
how did the beer turn out?

Click to expand...

I used all 12-13 ounces in one five gallon batch.
1st hop addition:


And the last:


It is the beer right here \/
It was AMAZINGLY cloudy - like when you dump creamer into coffee. I'm thinking that it may have to do with the amount of hops... that's sarcasm. I didn't take into account the massive amount of absorption for the leafs and had to dump the kettle into a bucket with a liner and let that drain. That must have pulled quite a bit of extra protein but it all settled out in the primary. There was a few inches of crud at the bottom of the carboy when it was done.


I tried the first one about mid March and it was pretty good. The flavor has blended a bit since then but it turned out to be a really good beer.


2011 Update:
Four of the five plants have broken ground or otherwise shown signs of life.

2010 Cascade

2011 Cascade This one is about as big as my thumb.


2010 Centennial

2011 Centennial

Nice looking garden.

How in the hell do you have hops coming up already in MN. You must be far south because I am here in Northern Michigan and it is going to be frosting for a couple weeks yet with no real sign of weather above 40. I always thought MN was much colder than we have here even if we do get a lot more snow that you folks.

2010 Cascade 2

2011 Cascade 2


And finally, the 2010 Fence Centennial

2011 Fence Centennial (tough to see but they are there. One left, two or three right rear of the pic


Thanks! Actually I'm not that far south. I'm about 30 minutes west of Minneapolis. The plants are on the south-facing side of my house and I'm thinking with the afternoon sun, the heat from the foundation of the house and the sun reflecting off of the house, they have started. I had them under 8" or so of ground up leaves. We've only been above 40 for a week or so. I was really surprised to see any action, that's for sure.

You are just about exactly straight west of me.

I happen to almost always have warmer weather than you though because of Lake Michigan a mile away from where I actually live. It is essentially like an ocean keeping the temps higher here. I also have mine south facing.

Maybe we just get so much more snow that they get uncovered later. Mine uncovered last Wednesday for the first time.

Ah, right on! We got a record amount of snow this year (eighty-some-inches) and the garden where these are was one of the first parts of my yard where I could see the ground. But I didn't cover the plants by the fence with any leaves or anything and one of those two is already showing signs of life.

rollinred, how many years have you grown hops? I need to build boxes around my plants this year so I don't end up with more than I want and I plan to chop out some rhizomes for a few buddies while I'm at it. I've searched quite a bit and can't seem to find when is the best time to do that. Also, about how it's done - does the rhizome need to be chopped off at the crown or can you just lop it off wherever?

Gridlocked said:

Ah, right on! We got a record amount of snow this year (eighty-some-inches) and the garden where these are was one of the first parts of my yard where I could see the ground. But I didn't cover the plants by the fence with any leaves or anything and one of those two is already showing signs of life.

rollinred, how many years have you grown hops? I need to build boxes around my plants this year so I don't end up with more than I want and I plan to chop out some rhizomes for a few buddies while I'm at it. I've searched quite a bit and can't seem to find when is the best time to do that. Also, about how it's done - does the rhizome need to be chopped off at the crown or can you just lop it off wherever?

Click to expand...

Ha, that is the key, the amount of snowfall. Our annual snowfall average here is 96", so average is more than your record snowfall. Makes sense now!

I can actually help you out on this one because I took rhizomes last year to start a crop at my cousins. There are a couple of ways I have done this. First though, if you going to take rhizomes you need to start digging NOW. If you wait any longer you might stress the plant. Doing it now they will still have time to recover if you hurt them at all (which I doubt you will.

Just dig around your plat until you find a shoot going outward, find a spot with a couple buds and follow that one outward until you get right to the end of it. dig that baby out and you can cut it in to section where each section has buds. Those can all become new plants this year! Just make sure it has buds on it or it may be a root that will not become a new plant.

The other thing I have done is started plants for my cousin during the season. The best way is to get a small plastic planter and cut a small hole in the side near the middle height wise. Stick the shoot through there and then fill it with soil leaving the whole thing attached to your main rhizome. What will happen is that the part going through the soil in the pot will start to root (to help it along the rooting process scrape the size of the bine a little bit where it will be covered by the soil). Then give it a month or two and you can cut it off the main plant and plant it somewhere. But this option is best used with a larger plastic pot that you leave growing all year long. Next year it would be a stronger plant than doing rhizomes.


Now after this year what you want to do it NOT cut down to the crown on a couple off the thickest bines. Instead keep those about 3-4 feet long and bury them just under the surface. Next year when your bines start shooting up you can dig those out and where each leaf section was you should get one rhizome from each one as there will be buds coming out there.


Sorry it was so darn long. I could not find info on this at all either so last years I did a lot of research and found these techniques but find them hard to explain.

Search for "layering plants" and you will get the info on live propagation. Also search for plant propagation. I have tried most of them so PM me with ideas that you might find and I will let you know if I have done it to give you tips.

Again, sorry it is such a long post.

Man, that was GREAT! If you have more info, feel free- post away! I sure appreciate it!

How old were your plants last year when you chopped some out for your cousin?

I've read about the rhizome with buds vs the root, so I've got that under control. As far as the starter goes, do you think a peat-pot would work so the whole thing could be buried as-is, without disturbing it to replant it? I really like the idea of leaving a few feet and burying those.

Again, thanks for taking the time to help out! Need any Cascade, Chinook or Centennial? I'll send em to you for the advice!

The rhizomes will usually grow outward from the crown like the spokes on a bicycle wheel. So, just start somewhere about a foot or so out from the center of the crown. Stick a spade into the ground and lift the soil kinda gently and you'll see if there are any rhizomes running out from the crown. Just knock the soil off of the rhizome and follow it back to the crown and snip with a knife or hand pruner. Then keep up the same method until you have worked the entire circumference of the plant. Once they're established, and if you have decent soil, they may run outward for a few feet over the corse of the growing season. If this is the case you can have anywhere from 10 -20 rings of buds/eyes along that rhizome. The industry standard for cuttings is usually two rings of buds per rhizome but as long as you have a bud, you have the potential to grow another plant. Like was mentioned in the previous post, you can also take a shoot that pops up a couple inches away from the main crown and start gently pulling on it. If the soil is loose, you can sometimes follow it all the way back to the crown and just pull it off. There will usually be a bunch of little roots starting all along the underground portion that will continue to grow once you stick it into a pot with some soil or wherever you decide to plant it. Hops are one of the easiest plants to clone so have fun and remember to B-Hoppy!

Thanks for the offer but that is what I have planted.

Last year I didn't do anything but try to figure out the best ways to propagate hops because me and my cousin intend to sell rhizomes. So the idea is we are trying to figure out which way we can multiply plants the quickest. That way when there is the "newest/latest greatest" hope variety for the time we can propagate for sale within two years instead of waiting for an entire crop to mature. In other words focusing on root growth and plant multiplication above all.

By "starter" do you mean the layering technique using the pot? That is the most interesting one because there is sooo many things you can do with it. If you had a bine that was 6 feet long you could take that one bine and make it in to three new plants on its own. Except for the fact that you have them still feeding off the main plant so they grow much quicker than rhizomes do if they take root quickly. Last year in our experiments we did some very interesting things. Using the layering technique with only two months left in growing season we were able to cut a plant loose from the main, transplant it and get 6 feet of growth. The plant that we ran in to a pot with soil/compost manure mix right at the start of the year acted exactly like a first year plant after cutting it from the main 1 month after.

I do have some fears with the layering in pot method. Cutting it off to early would stunt growth and not form an appropriate root structure to support coming back next season. This seems to be best combated by cutting the tip of the bine after transplant so that growth is focused on root versus bine. I can not tell you if that will hold true every time but it did for us as the root structure was much larger in those plants that we cut the tip. I also fear leaving plants in the pot during the winter months around areas like ours where the temps are way bellow freezing. Since the pots are above ground they will be much colder than a normal rhizome gets. I also fear bringing them inside because the already stunted growth after cutting them may force the plant to throw more shoots. So this only leads me to say that the pots should be buried and covered with some thing insulating during winter months for best chance at having a return on a normal cycle.

Again, this is all complete experimentation and I have never read anything about this stuff even though I have searched and search again MANY times. You may have heard of how notorious Michigan States Universities agricultural programs are? Well their newest thing is helping farmers in my county, Leelanau County grow hops. It turns out that our soil and temperatures are absolutely ideal for hops and grapes and many agricultural centers are trying to get farmers here to switch from food to hops or grapes because they don't find many places like this... long story short they have Hops growing seminars for the farmers every month or so. I happen to know plenty of farmers and have read one of the manuals and NOT ONCE did it talk about layering for propagation. Imagine if in the first year a farmer could get 4 plants from one rhizome and make rhizomes from each of those four plants the next year. They could easily save hundreds or thousands on rhizomes and get quicker yield.

I am just kind of freelancing this experiment because I am almost more interested in this than I am getting a good crop. I don't brew too much right now so hops are not something I need a lot of. I do want to do something that most people wouldn't do, and that is subject their precious hop plants to torture and see what they can do!

The good thing is that layering can not and will not ever hurt a plant because you are still letting it do exactly as it intended. Except for it just shoots out a new root system from the area it is touching going through the soil. Even cutting rhizomes hurts the plant more because you disrupt some of the existing root system. But if you have a two year or more old plant do not worry, the amount you do hurt it cutting rhizomes will be repaired in a week or so. I do know that from experience.

The proper way to Make rhizomes intentionally is to leave the 3-4 feet and bury it after you harvest like I mentioned. That is how most of the companies make the rhizomes you buy.


To sum this up. The method I recommend for propagating is by layering through the pots. But I do not yet know the best time or method for transplanting so that would be at your own risk.

The safest but slower method is to bury a couple of 3-4 foot bine sections and make rhizomes the "proper" way.


I want you to keep my informed when you do cut rhizomes or try anything. I actually am going to try to write some kind of manual for this. Not as a money source but just for us private growers. Since most people don't want to mess with their hops like this I don't mind experimenting with it. If it eventually helps someone then I might take a couple ounces but for now it is just in fun and for helping this community. So I do need a few others to try a couple of these things so I have sources outside of my crop. So if you want to experiment I do have things you could try for me!

Great info! I'd be down for trying some experiments. I have a cascade that has yet to show that is a 3rd year plant, a 2nd year Centennial that is showing, and a 2nd year Columbus that is showing.

Hops are looking great Ted, they're gonna be monsters this year. Kinda scared of what my 3rd year Cascade is going to do, if its anything like last year its bound to uproot itself and take over the city.

weeds

OH, I also put the Magnum in the ground today. I had one vacant spot in the bed near the house.

where they on the house side of the crown? If so would not supprise after what i found 2day digging for 4 hours. I bet root stock went down hit the wall then went up. when they got near surface started sending shoots. would be how it happens in the wild hits a tree or other surface travels up and tries to grow.

tchuklobrau said:

where they on the house side of the crown? If so would not supprise after what i found 2day digging for 4 hours. I bet root stock went down hit the wall then went up. when they got near surface started sending shoots. would be how it happens in the wild hits a tree or other surface travels up and tries to grow.

Click to expand...

This is what I was thinking also. Hops throw new shoots horizontal just under the surface.

Those are too weird looking to be a bine. Bines would have one tip and several other shoots going out the sides. The ones you found have a whole bunch of little shoots on just one end. Strange but cool find because I bet those suckers are gonna grow like crazy.

I would also say to plant them vertically because you could have a mess if some of those shoots don't pop upward and grow horizontal for a while. But either way would work. Just make sure those shoots are bellow the surface when planted as always.

For ease of 'containing' the growth, you're better off to plant them vertically. If planted vertically, the spokes of the bicycle wheel(rhizomes/shoots) will radiate outwards and will usually orient themselves vertically within a foot or two from the crown. If planted horizontally, the buds on the south side of the rhizome, due to their orientation in the soil, will begin growth towards china. Eventually they will realize that something is wrong and begin to turn upward toward the sun. In this case (opposed to vertical) they may come up much farther away from the crown. It's kinda hard to diagnose without actually seeing the site but I think the horizontal planting may have played into the situation. Plants can do strange things if you let them. In order to have more time to drink, stick those new ones into the ground with the buds pointing straight up. Less time tending and more time drinking!

Man Hoppy gotta contradict on thing Its not all about them doing strange things to get a drink. Again only going by what i did 2day. I moved 11 original plants today with moving the crowns and plantinfg rhizomes and storing some for my buddy I have 50 awesome rhizomes. Soil composition has the most to do with it(and yes they want a drink as they move through the soil). where my beer garden was there where many variables. 1. silty soil. 2. solid cement wall(similar to house foundation. 3.black plastic to block weed growth from under the pea gravel i placed down. 4. silty/gravely soil.
where roots hit the wall they started doing what gridlock showed(no actual shoots from the roots yet but they were facing up.
in silt they went much further from the crown than in the gravely soil.
and where the plastic lay on the ground with peagrave on it i have roots and rhizomes 5-10 foot from the crown. so ease of growth has alot to do with it as well. sorry for being a windbag.

t,
I'm with you on the soil types but there are so many variables when it comes to growing plants that it's hard to cover all in this type of forum. My main point was the difference of planting them 'up and down' as opposed to 'sideways'. Sure, the looser the soil type, the easier it is for them to spread. But, just trying to get the point across that it's easier to control that lateral spread by planting them vertically. Hop on! I've been doing this for a while and just wanted to share some of my mistakes so maybe some of the newer growers won't have to live through the problems I went through. Just to let you know, I got my first roots from a wild plant I found growing up around Spencerport back in '85. It's all good - Grow,Grow,Grow!

I like this discussion! Oddly enough, these shoots came up on the patio-paver side of the main plant (away from the house) rather than being pushed up by the house. They were all between 8"-12" from the bricks. It seems to me that they just popped upward on their own accord, they were not forced up by some kind of structure. But, now that I look at the picture, I suppose the plant could have hit the block a foot below the surface and sent the shoot up and backward, away from the bricks. When I found the first one, I thought it was from a different plant. I exposed more and more of the root and it was the same color ad the rest of the root structure. The strange thing is that in all three cases, the shoots had grown more than the main crown. This was new, un-packed soil last year and all three plants in this area sent up these things. They're all about the same size. The two plants that I have out in the "normal" yard to grow up the fence didn't have anything like this.

What amazes me is that I put a stick in the ground last year about the size of a pencil or Sharpie and now the root structure is amazingly huge. There are roots the size of my thumb or bigger. With that in mind, here's a question for you guys. I couldn't find any good size rhizomes on my Chinook that was planted by the fence. I found some tiny ones that had some shoots heading toward the sky. I cut out two sections that were about 10" long and planted those in pots last night. I was as careful as I could be not to disturb the hair-like root structure. They were MAYBE 1/8" thick, and from what I've read, the thicker the rhizome, the more energy it's stored up to start growing. Do you guys think that these little guys have a chance?

Below: Green "x" marks where the main crown is, red "x" marks about where I pulled the shoots that I pictured earlier.


In your opinions, do you think that the finger-size roots that I found growing horizontally, 4-5" below the surface were rhizomes? I realize you can't see them, I should have taken a picture. I didn't see any nubs or anything that looked like it would send anything up skyward. Will the roots grow down and the rhizomes grow horizontally?

Ted,

Like I said before, if there is a bud on it, it is possible to regenerate a new plant. I've tossed small bits of rhizomes out in the yard while performing my yearly pruning and came back a week or so later to see them beginning to grow. Some varieties like Mt. Hood, Hallertau, Tett., Fuggle tend to have big fat rhizomes every spring. Chinook, Centennial and my most vigorous variety, Canadian Redvine tend to have smaller rhizomes (like a #2 pencil). Sure, there are some big goonies you'll find, but the majority are usually of a certain size. What you saw when you went to dig up your year old 'sticks' should give you an indication of how efficient these things are at converting light energy into food energy stored in the crown.

Once you have a few years of digging them, you'll be more familiar with the difference between the rhizomes and roots. If you aren't sure, clean it off with some water and look very closely at the structure and lightly run your fingers along the side. About every 4-6 inches you'll feel (if you can't see them) some little 'bumps'. Look with a magnifying glass if you want. Some times the buds are much less developed that others and are very hard to see. The size of the rhizome does give you indication of the amount of stored energy, but these things have a way of surprising you. If you are uncertain, you can stick them in a pot and within a couple weeks you can see if anything has developed. If so, stick them in the ground. Keep playing around and have fun. It takes time.

Cool. I really wanted to get Paul a Chinook for his garden this year and I just wasn't sure due to their puny size. I really enjoyed getting outside last night to get my hands dirty and I brew quite a bit and am really looking forward to the harvests so I didn't want to poke around too much even though I know that these things are nearly indestructible. I just about got two harvests out of them last year and that was their first season. I hope that these plants force me to get a dedicated hop freezer this year.

To answer you question about those two Chinook's you took out. I can almost promise one of them will take root but I would not be surprised if both do.

If you want to greater your chances you could always go buy a rooting agent when doing this. I used a rooting agent on a couple shoots last year that took off almost immediately. I didn't save them because I have like 20 experiments going from a bunch of different cuttings.

I plan on taking pictures of my rhizome harvest when my first shoots start coming up this year. The only think I am unsure of is how long I should wait to dig them up.

Maybe I will hijack your thread and put some posts of growing cuttings and rhizome harvesting.

Hopefully my pictures from the rhizome harvest will give you an idea for what method I am talking about. I also plan to use the pot layering method to show.

Since I already planted them, can I sill add the rooting agent to help? If so, how does that work?

I think that a rhizome harvest thread with pictures - or a YouTube video would be awesome! It's amazing to me that if a video does exist about rhizomes, it's nearly impossible to find. I'm much more a visual person and I think that the whole deal is fairly visual as well. I look forward to the pics!

Gridlocked said:

Since I already planted them, can I sill add the rooting agent to help? If so, how does that work?

I think that a rhizome harvest thread with pictures - or a YouTube video would be awesome! It's amazing to me that if a video does exist about rhizomes, it's nearly impossible to find. I'm much more a visual person and I think that the whole deal is fairly visual as well. I look forward to the pics!

Click to expand...

I will make one in a week or so when I dig them up. I will let you know when it is there.

The rooting agent I used is a cream like substance. You take any cutting and just dip it in there and put it in a planter. Then transplant when it grows.

I would just ask your local market if they sell any rooting agent that you mix with the plants water so that you don't have to dig it up. They will know more about chemicals than I do. But I do highly recommend rooting agent to get these roots boosted quickly.

nice, I'll see if the local gardening store is open on the way home.
Yes, let me know when it's made!

I planted crab grass so I removed the pic.

Not to be a scab, but if anyone has an extra rhizome that they'd be willing to send to me, I'd love to try my hand at growing some hops. Any variety that is somewhat heat tolerant (I live in N. Florida) would be great.

I'll paypal $$ for shipping or whatever, and next year I promise to pay it forward when I can dig up some rhizomes of my own for someone else who needs it.

If no one can help, that's fine. I'll just add a rhizome next time I place an order online, I just don't need anything else right now so don't plan on any orders anytime soon.

jangelj said:

Not to be a scab, but if anyone has an extra rhizome that they'd be willing to send to me, I'd love to try my hand at growing some hops. Any variety that is somewhat heat tolerant (I live in N. Florida) would be great.

I'll paypal $$ for shipping or whatever, and next year I promise to pay it forward when I can dig up some rhizomes of my own for someone else who needs it.

If no one can help, that's fine. I'll just add a rhizome next time I place an order online, I just don't need anything else right now so don't plan on any orders anytime soon.

Click to expand...

I should be getting a bunch of centennial rhizomes but that is not a promise. Most of them were going to be thrown out so if I do have an extra I will let you know.

Problem is that I won't be digging them up for a little bit yet. At least another week, maybe more.

I am also in N. Florida, what strains of hops would be the best to plant down here?

nole, i don't know, but I came across a site awhile ago that listed heat-resistant varieties. I'll try to find it again this weekend and post back. I don't have much vertical space to grow, but I do have a long wooden fence to grow horizontal. Not sure if that will work.

Roolinred, thanks for the offer. I have no idea if centenial will grow down here, but I'll give it a shot. Let me know if/when you dig them up and we'll make a deal.

Thanks!

2011 work:
2' x 2' x 12" tall boxes built and dug in around my 4 plants (One Magnum Rhizome added to the garden




And a 2' x 6' x 17" tall planter constructed and set in place. I still need to level it, fill it with dirt and figure out how I'm going to trellis or run rope toward the sky.

are you doing this to contain them? Is 2x2 enough space?

Looks really good Ted. Those boxes should contain them for at least a couple years

Not so sure about your choice of tools though.

kbuzz said:

are you doing this to contain them? Is 2x2 enough space?

Click to expand...

Yep, I don't want them taking over my garden. Yeah, I think 2x2 boxes should be enough. If not, I can make them a bit bigger next year or whatever.

Paulasaurus said:

Looks really good Ted.
Those boxes should contain them for at least a couple years
Not so sure about your choice of tools though.

Click to expand...

I got that at my LHBS as a rhizome harvesting tool. It was expensive!

Props to Gridlocked for sending me a cascade rhizome. It's in the ground and I am excited to see how it does this summer.

this thread is great! I love the new avatar photo too!!