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I have deer eating my cascade hops..... sob......:(

On the bright side, only of the leaves were eated off the plant, the bines are still intact.

Roughly 50% of them were picked off. I hung some irish spring soap from from the hop ropes in SWMBO's stockings. I hope this will keep them at bay until I can fence the area in.

The hops are next to the garden along with the new berry bushes. The SWMBO probably won't mind the fence considering the expectation of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, not to mention blackberries & red raspberries. When they bear fruit I imagine every wild animal will want at them.

This totally ruins my morning. Planned on making continental pilsner....

Off to Menards & Wally World... for fencing, brewing water, shot gun shells....

Damn Deer!!!! :mad:
 
Mine are going crazy, my Cascade is growing about a 1/2 inch a day. My son and I just constructed a overhead rope to haang the hop string on. Pictures to follow..
 
Still not much action. I planted three early maturing hops this week, but the ones from last year are only 2-3 feet tall.
 
Mine have reached the top of the twine, about 14' up, and are now running horizontally along the cable support. My eyesight is failing, but I see rudimentary hop cones developing up there.
Jeff
 
Here's my Cascade. About 2.5 months old and 10' high and 2' moving horizontal.
574-cascade-full.JPG


Close-up of a flower in the sunlight.

574-Cascade-close.JPG


Nugget isn't doing as well. Maybe 5' tall.
 
Awesome, DesertBrew
Who says you can't grow hops in the southeast/southwest?
 
Ok this topic is new to me...what do you use to grow the hops? I have some pellets that I didnt use from my last recipe...can I bury them and hope for some magic beanstalks?
 
chask31 said:
Ok this topic is new to me...what do you use to grow the hops? I have some pellets that I didnt use from my last recipe...can I bury them and hope for some magic beanstalks?
Click to expand...
you can hope all you want, but unless they really are magic, you're not going to grow any hops like that...
you need rhizomes, which are essentially roots. you can get them from hops distributors like freshops.com -- i think they are usually sold in the late winter/early spring...
 
Yeah it really all depends on where you are, here in Oregon there are tons of people growing them and you can find people here who will just waste the day away talking about everything they know and often will offer to give you a rhizome or two for free, but you can buy them online just as easily, www.freshops.com is good, so is http://www.thymegarden.com.
 
My hops survived the deer feeding session. I was fortunate that they only ate the leaves. My neighbor suggested hanging irish spring soap from SWMBO pantyhose, it seemed to work and was a lot cheaper than fencing

I have a 12' tent pole set up....

Nugget#1 - Doing well 12' or longer 3-4 bines over the full span. Pretty thick bines

Nugget#2 - Really Slow starter, 5', 3-4 bines still pretty young , many leaves but still small

Cascade#1 - Fully recouperated - Going gangbusters 16' 3-4 bines all thickening

Cascade#2 - Slow Starter - 8' - Growing better as it gets hotter​
I need to start watering with Miracle Grow....
 
Four days of bright sun and high temperatures. Mine are finally starting to grow: Fuggles in the lead. I checked the soil, one more time. The compost & manure seem to have taken care of the the nutrient problems. Haven't had much water pressure the last few days and the plants are upslope from the house, it's a real snoozer trying to deep water at one QUART a minute!
 
My tallest is all of eight feet now. Some that haven't even gotten up to the twine yet. By the book, they've got perfect growing conditions. All day sun, good drainage, compost, etc. No feeding by the deer, either.

I think I have a Black Patent thumb!
 
my cascade hops died back from 8' to about 4' when we had 100+ temps for three days and I didn't water them enough. The poor thing is bouncing back, but I'm afraid my chances of getting cones this year is pretty slim.
 
I'm curious how long it would take and how many vines you need to have enough to brew? Is this mostly for fun or will you guys actually be able to harvest enough to brew?

Also why don't you train them to run horizontal like grape vines? Seems to me that harvesting from 14' high would be tough.

This might be something I'd like to do if it is usable, I already grow a garden each year.

Todd
 
This is a great thread. As I have an excess of unused land, I am planning out a garden, and it will include hops. However, I know very little about "vining" type plants. Do you guys have any recommended resources to get in the know about starting, growing, harvesting, and splitting Hops? Seems like you all have a pretty decent handle on it.
 
My hops are doing well.

Cascade #1 - 18 ft. - blooming with lots of large hop flowers.

Cascade #2 - 9 ft. - blooming with many small and medium sized hop flowers.

Nugget #1 - 18 ft. - blooming with lots of small hop flowers

Nugget #2 - 14ft - blooming with many snall hop flowers​
One question, how do I know when to pick them???? :confused:

The large ones seem to be soft and light green. 1-1.25" in length, 3/4" diameter.

Do I wait until they start do dry?
 
Mine are not happy (Cascade/Nugget). Lots of brown leaves and they've stopped climbing. Nugget snapped off in a storm as well. Guess they can't handle 110 degree temps. Wimps. :rolleyes:
 
21aed78.jpg


June 28, 2006 As you can see they aren't doing very well. The tallest (& closest to the camera) is the Fuggles and it's only about 9 ft, which is really poor for the second year. They have started putting out side branches, so I don't expect to see much more growth.

Three of the four I planted this year are early maturing. The Perle looks like a real winner for next year.
 
usc_cop said:
What is the best time to start looking for Rhizomes to buy? March?
Click to expand...

I think that's about it. I bought mine March 18th. There's a relatively short window before they're gone.
 
This is the second year for my plants. The Nugget and Willamette plants are finally coming up, now that I transplanted them from last year's location, but they aren't bearing any cones. Maybe next year?

However, my Cascade plants are going crazy! I got a small yield last year of about a half ounce, when dried. This year will be much higher. We had a good mix of rain and sun this year. I have picutes here in my gallery.:rockin:
 
Looks like I'll be making a Fresh Hop ale this year. Four two-year old vines and there isn't enough to bother drying any! I should be able to harvest everything without a ladder. I'll be lucky to make a pale, as Fuggles will be 50% of the total.

The vines will be left alone to store up some energy for next spring. Next year: compost in January and drip irrigation. Plus the four other varieties I put in this year.

Anyone have a good recipe for Thistles? I have lots of them.
 
You don't prune, they die back to the root every year and start over, sort of like elk horns but not as crunchy. The root ball keeps getting bigger each year & (in theory) a better crop.
 
BootYtRappeR said:
How far back are you supposed to prune each year? Anyone Know?
Click to expand...

In the Fall, you can cut them an inch or two above the ground and do with the vines what you will.

Last year, I dried mine in the sun for a few days until they were good and brown. Then I soaked them in a tub of water until they were pliable and made a wreath of them, then dried them again in the oven, set on a very low temperature (~200oF), with the door ajar. I got the idea from an article in the October, 2005 issue of BYO. Made for a right nice Christmas wreath!:) I plan to do it again this year.
 
I picked my first harvest yesterday! I believe that picked little more than 1.5 oz of cascade off of two plants. I'll be able to get about 3/4 in a few more weeks.

The nuggets are about a month behind. I will probably get about 2 oz from them too. Most of the nuggets are pea-sized, some slightly larger.

I also converted an old dresser with three drawers into a hop oast. I drilled a ton of 1.5" holes in the drawer bottoms. Then lined the drawer bottom with reusable furnace filter meshing. This way the hops are 1" off the bottom. The back of the dresser is open at the base. I have a fan blowing into the back. The drawers are cracked open slightly so the air flow pushes out the moisture. The drying should take about 3-5 days.

This link has a photo album with hop pictures...

http://boozinsusansbrewery.spaces.live.com/
 
Checked on my Nuggets that BOSTON gave me while I was weeding the vegetable garden tonight...I'm not sure how many ounces there are (I'm sure not a whole lot since they are first year), but there are a lot more flowers than I was expecting. I cracked a few open and they smelled nice...loaded with lupulin.
 
My Nugget hops are just reaching maturity...papery texture, springy when squeezed, lots of dark yellow lupulin resin on fingers. I picked a few ounces this afternoon. I should be able to pick another couple of oz's in another week or so.

(Looks like Brussel's Sprouts)
hops2-8-17.JPG

(Almost ready for the brewpot)
hops3-8-17.JPG
 
Hey you North Carolina guys, I'm growing my first hops this year and am not really sure when to harvest. The Cascades are looking really good in size and appearance but when I pick one I get pretty much no aroma. Is this normal for this area and time of year? I was wondering how strong they'd be before drying?
 
I'm no expert, but I think you need to squeeze them to get aroma. My LHBS says this is the time to pick them. My don't smell w/o a squeeze. They definately have lupulin sacks under the leaves (brachs).

My nuggets have grown tremdously in the last week. They are at the full size now, last week just pee sized. They smell awesome when squeezed!! :cross:
 

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